Subject: [gaia] Fwd: Survey on Smart Data Pricing for Affordable Internet access

From: Arjuna Sathiaseelan <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2014 09:28:35 +0000

This is an extremely useful information from John about our survey..

From: John C Klensin <[email-masked]>
Date: 4 November 2014 09:21
Subject: Re: Survey on Smart Data Pricing for Affordable Internet access
To: Arjuna Sathiaseelan <[email-masked]>

--On Monday, November 03, 2014 09:56 +0000 Arjuna Sathiaseelan
<[email-masked]> wrote:

> All,
>
> As part of the newly formed IRTF GAIA RG, we are conducting a
> research study to better understand how
> innovative pricing models for "data" can help bring Internet
> access to the millions of people in the world who have so far
> been left disconnected. We wish to ask several questions about
> how pricing models for "data" would be most attractive to
> network operators, as well as the challenges that might come
> with them.

> We would appreciate if this can be filled by the network
> operators, VNOs, the community wireless network operators etc
> in the mailing list. Incase you know of any other NOs, could
>...

Arjuna,

I'm not currently a network operator although I spent some time
in the middle of the sorts of decisions you are concerned about
(see below).  I am, or have recently, consulted with a few on
issues close to these and can, perhaps, provide some useful
insight and free advice.

First, much of the information you are asking for in the survey
is considered strategic and _extremely_ sensitive.  The
situation would be different in some small ISPs and network
operators, but, especially in the larger ones, these kinds of
strategic considerations are compartmentalized off from the
people in the company who actually operate the networks,
discussed on a "need to know" basis, and kept away from both
researchers and regulators and especially from competitors.  In
your particular case and given Google's involvement in community
fiber experiment and their terms of use allowing them to data
mine anything, putting the survey on a Google site would be
considered equivalent to handing it to a competitor.

So, while you might be some interesting results, I hope you
understand that you are likely to end up with a highly biased
cross section of the community.

Also, while I like your survey instrument in general, there are
a number of important models, including some variations of
services barter, that you have left out and that have
occasionally been proven useful in developing areas.  There are
also some new efforts to reinvent the old model of mini-IPSs
(see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvdFUIufwFE -- note English
subtitles are available).  That example project is focused in
very high speeds and high density urban areas, but the model of
very small area delivery ISPs (and other essentially bottom-up
aggregation arrangements) has been used effectively before in
developing areas.

If you have not already done so, I recommend that you talk with
Steve Huter at NRSC (link below) and/or with Randy Bush about
existing models in Least Developed Areas that you might not have
on your radar.  Steve might even be useful to recruit into the
RG if he can make the time available.  You can tell him I
recommended that you contact him.

Good luck.  Let me know if I can be of help.  And feel free to
circulate any parts of this note that would be helpful to the
GAIA mailing list.

    john

Since we don't know each other, for identification in this
context:
   Ph.D., MIT, 1979, Computer Applications and Use in the Social
and Policy Sciences.  Some background in Economics, most in
Political Communications, Data modeling and analysis of
large-scale observational data, survey and opinion measurement,
scientific databases, information retrieval, etc.
   Member of Sponsored Research Staff, Research Scientist,
Lecturer, Principal Research Scientist; MIT, 1967-1993
   Co-founder Network Startup Resource Center (see
http://www.nsrc.org/)
   Formerly, Distinguished Engineering Fellow, MCI and MCI
Worldcom (including partial design lead for low-end and dialup
access services)
   Formerly, Internet Architecture Vice President, AT&T.
   Internet Hall of Fame, Pioneer, initial group.
... and some other things, including hanging around the IETF and
assorted other standards bodies, the latter at management levels.

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