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The Web: Traffic 'toll' contentious
UPI ^ | February 1, 2006 | UPI

Posted on 02/01/2006 12:40:06 PM PST by 2Jim_Brown

CHICAGO, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- The surviving Baby Bells -- Verizon, Bell South and AT&T/SBC -- have disclosed that they may someday charge new fees to digital businesses, sites like Google and Yahoo!, that generate substantial traffic on the Internet. The explicit rationale? These firms are taking up too much bandwidth. But telecom experts tell United Press International's The Web that they are worried that such a "toll road" could take a toll on the future growth of the Internet.

"The mere mention of the words 'toll road' sound like government regulation is right behind," Chris Consorte, president and chief executive officer of Integrated Direct LLC, an interactive online ad agency based in New York, told The Web. "The minute we're talking about a bandwidth fee is the minute entrepreneurs begin to second-think great ideas and developing their businesses." By Gene Koprowski

(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: babybells; internet
Some companies from the surviving Baby Bells say that they may someday charge fees to digital businesses.
1 posted on 02/01/2006 12:40:08 PM PST by 2Jim_Brown
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To: 2Jim_Brown

Let's kill the golden goose then we will get more gold eggs...


2 posted on 02/01/2006 12:46:54 PM PST by DaveyB (Ignorance is part of the human condition - atheism makes it permanent!)
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To: 2Jim_Brown

Hello, what are they talking about ? Digital Businesses pay fees to telecom companies to carry the internet traffic. If the fees aren't big enough, the telecom companies need to adjust their rates.

This is pure BS, plain and simple. If I buy a T1 connection to the internet, I am paying for a 1.54 MB bandwidth. Are they telling me that Yahoo, Google and the like aren't paying as much as I am for the same bandwidth ?


3 posted on 02/01/2006 12:53:17 PM PST by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
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To: 2Jim_Brown
Google can fight dirty on this too. Just imagine a search result screen like this:

No standard web pages containing all your search terms were found.

Your search - star - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:


How would AT&T feel about losing their DSL customers to companies that don't charge web sites extra money?

4 posted on 02/01/2006 1:16:12 PM PST by KarlInOhio (During wartime, some whistles should not be blown. - Orson Scott Card)
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To: 2Jim_Brown
The explicit rationale? These firms are taking up too much bandwidth.

This is bullcrap. Google pays for bandwidth, and I pay for bandwidth. The "pipe" owners are already making money on both sides. They are just trying to get into something other than a commodity business.

5 posted on 02/01/2006 2:11:54 PM PST by zeugma (Muslims are varelse...)
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