Some public data on prices and demand for U.S. interstate bandwidth in use from 1990 to 2009 are now conveniently available on the web. The source data, which are also freely available, are interstate access price-cap tariff filings made publicly at the FCC. Derived datasets compile demand and prices for trunking and special access interstate … Continue reading twenty years of bandwidth prices and demand
Second Life‘s users, who now average about 62,000 concurrent logins, now consume more than a billion minutes of voice communication per month. Amidst some controversy over the merits and demerits of voice in virtual worlds, Second Life implemented voice communication in August, 2007. Vivox provides Second Life’s voice communication using VoIP. Judging by its use, … Continue reading the peculiar business of voice communication
In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, Bell System local telephone operating companies had $12.8 million in uncollectible revenue. That was 1.3% of total operating revenue, up from about 0.4% of total operating revenue in the early 1920s. Perhaps new measures addressing uncollectibles were instituted about 1934. In any case, in 1934 uncollectibles … Continue reading historical perspective on bad debt
In his recent presentation, David Clark opined that for a typical big U.S. local access internet service provider (ISP), e.g. Verizon or Comcast, network usage costs might be $0.05 to $0.10 per gigabyte (GB). This is a usage cost that has nothing to do with the peak rate. For a rural ISP such as a … Continue reading some data points on network cost
Ninety-five years ago, on December 19, 1913, AT&T Vice President Nathan Kingsbury sent the U.S. Attorney General a letter in which AT&T agreed to allow other companies to interconnect with AT&T in order to provide long-distance telephone services. This Kingsbury Commitment was the beginning of access reform in the U.S. The U.S. access reform centennial … Continue reading celebrating access reform