[LINK] IPTv

[Scott Howard]

On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 11:28 PM, Kim Holburn <kim at holburn.net> wrote:

> > Not sure whether this is a *good* reason or not, but keep in mind
> > that Telstra/BigPond and Optus refuse to peer with any other ISP.
> > This means it costs non-Telstra/Optus ISPs money to exchange data.
> > Hence you find that unmetered sites tend to be those that peer with
> > AARNET and PIPE.
>
> So effectively Telstra is blocking unmetered internet for most
> Australians.
>

You do realize that this is _exactly_ the same model that exists in the US,
and basically the rest of the world - right?

The Tier 1 ISP's in the US (ie, the equivalent of Telstra/Optus to some
extent) peer with nobody but themselves - just like in Australia.  Many of
the other players peer with each other at public peering exchanges - just
like in Australia.

As an end user, buying transit from a tier 1 will normally cost you more
than from one of the other players (despite the fact that that the Tier 1's
aren't paying a cent for their actual traffic, only for the network to move
it) - just like in Australia.

The only real difference between Australia and the US is that the cost of
transporting the traffic to a suitable place to hand-off to the next viable
provider is much cheaper - in many cases the difference between a few miles
and many, many thousands of miles.

(Yes, I've massively oversimplied the peering environment, but it'strue
enough to make the point)

  Scott.