[AusNOG] Netflix in AU, break up Go4, or TPG peering breakup?

[Mark Newton]

On 21 Jul 2014, at 22:09, Joseph Goldman <joe at apcs.com.au> wrote:

> I personally (as the person who brought up government mandates) was actually suggesting that ISP's (those that deliver internet access to end users, specifically, vs say content hosters like Netflix) be forced to join IX's, in an attempt to break up Go4 and make most domestic transit affordable for everyone.

Okay, I'll bite:

It's 2014. Why is the Go4 so important to you?

It doesn't appear to be relevant to the medium-sized parts of the industry anymore.
There was a time when it utterly dominated discussion on aussie-isp, but that was
a very long time ago, and these days it's barely mentioned at all.

I doubt it's meaningful to Telstra anymore: their peering policy would very likely
be exactly the same without the ACCC-mandated ruling, except for the fact that they'd
probably de-peer AAPT.  

And let's not forget Optus:  They don't want to meet you at peering exchanges either.
Their choice, without Telstra's monopoly legacy.  Abolishing the Go4 won't change 
their behavior either.

So why does anyone else care about it anymore?  How is it meaningfully different from the 
situation you'd be in if you were American, and Level(3) and AT&T declined to peer
with you because it was more commercially beneficial for them to sell you traffic
instead?

I'm not saying you shouldn't break out the Peering Playbook and see if you can 
make it cheaper for Telstra and Optus to peer with you than not peer with you.  Fair
game, 'n' all that.

But, invoking the Government to swoop in and make it all better for you?  Really?

Suggestion:  Buy transit from non-Go4 suppliers (such as, for example, Vocus). Peer
aggressively at the -IX's to maximize the amount of domestic carriage you can do 
for zero marginal cost.  Maintain connections to Telstra and Optus, buying domestic
transit only, on short term contracts where they know you're playing them off
against each other on price.  In this marketplace, domestic transit is
virtually indistinguishable from paid peering anyway, so sign up for that and see
how far down you can drive your Telstra spend by moving your traffic away from
Telstra.

(or in your case, Optus)

If you're an eyeball ISP with 80% of your traffic heading internationally, and you
pick up half of the remainder with peering, only 10% of your total traffic mix
will need to come from a Go4 member. 

What do you think would happen to bandwidth prices in this country if more of you
lot behaved like that, instead of stitching up long-term high-bandwidth transit
contracts with Telstra and Optus, or signing up with VISP suppliers who take away
your decision-making control about your bandwidth supplies?

  - mark