Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!raybed2!rayssd!anomaly!mpd From: mpd@anomaly.SBS.COM (Michael P. Deignan) Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp Subject: Re: UUPSI's new rules Message-ID: <1991Mar13.012437.24023@anomaly.SBS.COM> Date: 13 Mar 91 01:24:37 GMT References: <1991Mar11.143824.24170@searchtech.com> <2517@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> Organization: Small Business Systems, Inc., Esmond, RI 02917 Lines: 47 murray@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (John Murray) writes: >First, think about this: In a newsfeed, what's more costly, providing the >downlink-side (the rest of the world) of a full or sizeable feed to a >leaf site or (relatively) small cluster of sites, or providing the >uplink side for all the posts that originate from that site or sites? >Well, lessee, 15 MB/day for the down side, and an average of >(15 MB / 18000 sites ) * number of sites in this cluster, for the >up side. If this little cluster is, say 100 sites (!) the uplink side is >still well under 1% of the total cost in bandwidth. Mail volume ignored, >since even a high-volume mailing list or two run from this cluster isn't >going to put a dent in these numbers. Praise Gene Spafford! Someone finally posted a message about volume! Clearly, the volume inbound to PSI from their "leaf sites" could, at most, be 15 megabytes, if the maximum outbound volume was 15 megabytes. So, it would seem to lead one to the conclusion that at most a completely unrestricted inbound/outbound feed should cost no more than $150. ($75 per inbound/outbound side) However, most sites do not feed PSI 15megs of inbound traffic. Otherwise, PSI wouldn't have 15mb, they would have 15mb * # of sites they feed. So, the amount of inbound traffic per site is clearly minimal, or roughly the 15mb / # sites they feed - which is really an overstatement, since PSI may get their news from non-subscribers like UUNET, where PSI pays for the news. Of course, with some subscribers, this might not be entirely true, since a university would have a potentially higher mail volume than a "normal" site. Then again, how many universities use PSI's $75/mo connection? What we have here is an attempt to limit the amount of inbound traffic by PIS in an attempt to make unconnected sites pay $75 for their own mail/news inbound feed. (Why doesn't PSI offer an "inbound only" service for, say, $25/mo?) Why, that would cut into the "bottom line", by gosh! In PSI offered a complete "non-restrictive" news/mail feed, for slightly more money (like, $100/mo) to cover the inbound "non-leaf-site" mail/news, this would probably be acceptable to most customers. MD -- -- Michael P. Deignan / -- Domain: mpd@anomaly.sbs.com / "The Mother Of All Battles" -- UUCP: ...!uunet!rayssd!anomaly!mpd / apparently had an abortion... -- Telebit: +1 401 455 0347 /