RE: [at-l] internet access not trail related

[AT-L <AT-L@fallingwater.com>]

		Clayton writes >> This is a little confusing, but here
goes. The service provider that
		originates a long distance VOICE call has to pay a
termination fee to the
		service provider that terminates the call. However, in
the case of ISPs
		there are no long distance calls originating on the
ISPs' equipment
		therefore they never pay any of these fees. There are
however calls that
		terminate on their equipment therefore they receive fees
from the Bells
		where the calls originated. <<

We need to be careful in our terms of ISP. Most ISP's buy bandwidth off
the internet backbone. These fees are for a fixed bandwidth (T1, T3, and
up) regardless of the amount of actual traffic. 

These are like pipes. You buy a 6" pipe you can pump say a 1000 gallons
a minute. With a 3" pipe you're limited to say 250 gallons a minute (not
the actual number here).  However, if you buy a 6 inch pipe and only
pump 500 gallons a minute you've got lots of unused capacity you paying
for and not getting. 

I can go out tomorrow and order a T1 and set myself up as an ISP start
selling internet connections. I wouldn't receive any income from the
phone companies. I due purchase a full time connection and in effect act
as my own ISP. I also have a dialup connection on one of my servers to
connect to the net when I'm out of the office. Believe me all the money
is outbound.

The backbone is carried by the main carriers (ie. MCI, UUNET, AT&T
etc.). So unless your ISP is also maintaining the backbone, they do not
receive any fees. This includes the vast majority of ISP's scattered
around the country.

I don't know if I've made it any less confusing.

Ron


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