Subject: [gaia] Sponsored bandwidth scheme

From: Arjuna Sathiaseelan <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2014 05:39:03 +0000

Came to know about this via Soumya Sen:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2014/01/att-sponsored-data/

This is interesting because from our recent public access wifi service
(PAWS) trials here in the UK (www.publicaccesswifi.org) where home
owners share a part of their broadband for free with those who do not
have  - it's been evident from the usage that more than 50% of the
traffic was ads/trackers etc. Via the PAWS project we have been
arguing to provide free Internet access to those who dont have by
extending the stakeholder value chain to include more than the two
traditional parties (consumer and internet service provider) and
encourage new business models that allow governments, charities etc to
subside the cost of access.

We layout the reasons
here:http://www.sigcomm.org/ccr/papers/2013/April/2479957.2479966

So from the usage we have seen, it will be interesting to see if we
can have these reverse sponsored pricing models that will enable
subsidised access reducing the price entry points.

Would this pave the way for lowering the cost of access?

Regards
Arjuna

-- 
Arjuna Sathiaseelan | http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~as2330/