Technology Futures

This news report suggests that some cable companies are actively blocking certain kinds of traffic on their networks. The target of such blocking is peer to peer file sharing, in which the subscribers are often sharing very large files like movies and TV shows. From a network operator perspective, what you see is a very small number of your customers using a disproportionately large chunk of your network bandwidth, which can degrade service for other customers and increase costs.

Of course, the whole issue of net neutrality comes into play here, where the argument is that Internet access providers should not block traffic or offer preferential treatment to certain kinds of data over other kinds. But the access providers are on the horns of a dilemma, because the peer to peer sharing does have a measurable impact on their network.

But almost all of the arguments for and against traffic blocking, the rights of access providers to manage their own traffic, and free speech issues are red herrings. The real problem is the outdated and obsolete business model that nearly every access provider is still using.

It made sense, more than a decade ago, to sell bandwidth by the bucket to users because all folks were doing back then was email and some light Web browsing. And the Web in the mid-nineties was most text and a few pictures. Today, the media-rich Web is filled with sound and movie files of all kinds, and everyone uses them--look at the popularity of YouTube.

The current business model does not provide any cost information to consumers; that is, the "cost" of downloading a few emails is exactly the same as the "cost" of downloading an entire movie in DVD format. This is a classic and well-understood economics problem. Current pricing, to users, makes it appear as if there is unlimited supply (of bandwidth), which in turn creates unlimited demand.

The solution is simple. Rather than trying to discourage customers from doing things they want to do, you change the pricing model so that it conveys more information about the real cost of downloading things like movies.

In other words, you move from a business model of networks based on bandwidth, which we know is not working, to a business model based on unlimited bandwidth but where pricing is based on the service you want to use. So users that like to do peer to peer file sharing subscribe not to a bucket of bandwidth but instead subscribe to a service designed specifically to support high performance file sharing, and the price of that service will be based on the real cost of providing the service.

It is simple economics. Communities like Danville, Virginia are already rolling out networks that do this. These multi-service, open networks support real competition and will start driving innovation on the network because the business model support innovation, rather than stifling it.

I have an American Express business card, and got an email to take part in an online survey. I spent ten minutes or so answering questions about my satisfaction with the company. Many of the questions were related to promotional offers and other solicitations the company sends out. Fine so far.

The last page of the survey thanked me for my participation, and offered me a $15 gift card from Amazon, if I would enter my email address. I don't buy from Amazon because I don't like the way they use and resell customer information, so I tried to click past this page and complete the survey. I could not.

So I have to assume that Amex probably negotiated a deal with Amazon. "You give us some $15 gift cards that we can use to make it look like we are giving our customers something of value, and in return, we'll harvest email addresses so that you can spam our customers for the rest of their lives."

What makes this so sad and pathetic is that the survey was about the amount of unsolicited offers the company sends out, and whether or not Amex users thought it was too much (or too little, though I doubt anyone checked that box). So the "reward" for answering the question, "Do we send you too many unsolicited offers?" is to manipulate us into signing up for more spam.

The way the survey was designed, you could not complete the survey without entering an email address. So I just closed the browser window. I then went to the American Express Web site to try to find out who I could complain to, and of course, there was no way to do that. All they had was a Web form and no indication of where the inquiries go or who might read them.

This is all symptomatic of a bigger issue that we see mostly with large corporations, who have simply abandoned real customer service simply because the technology allows them to. Bean counters "prove" how much money can be saved by firing customer service reps and replacing them with voice response systems (which rarely work). They "prove" how much can be saved by eliminating all contact information from company Web sites. But it seems that few CEOs ask the converse question: "How much business are we losing by alienating our customers with lousy service?"

Why is there a steady increase in the creation of new, small businesses? In part because technology enables small businesses to compete with big businesses, and in part because big businesses do such a fine job of driving customers away by the mis-use of technology and complete disregard for customers.

But wait, there's more. I tried to call Amex to get a mailing address so I could write a letter about this, and after fighting the voice response system for a while, I got a live person--from some other country! With an accent so thick that I could barely understand them. They had to literally spell out, letter by letter, the entire address. After two or three tries on each word, I still did not have the correct address and gave up. But I was able to use what information I did have to do an online search and make corrections. My prediction: Like many other companies, Amex will eventually discover that offshoring customer support hurts the bottom line, and will bring that operation back "onshore." There is a booming new kind of job opportunity, where customer service reps work directly from their homes for these kinds of customer service operations. It's a great opportunity for workers in rural areas....if they have reliable, affordable broadband.

Internet access providers in the UK are being challenged on their broadband speeds, which their customers claim are not as advertised. An independent study showed that 62% of customers were getting less than half the advertised bandwidth that their provider had promised.

The article has an unintentionally humorous quote from a member of the commission studying the problem, who said, "...there were good technical reasons for the gulf between advertised and actual speeds." Yes, like the service providers have not bothered to provision their equipment to actually deliver the advertised bandwidth.

Network architecture is important, and communities looking at making investments have to make sure they pick the right network architecture. A properly designed Layer 3 multi-service, open access network can easily deliver advertised bandwidth to customers, and some communities in America are already moving to this architecture, and away from the older systems that have been used for the last fifteen years. Design Nine designs ONLY multi-service networks that can deliver advertised speeds, because if communities are going to make these investments, businesses and residents need to know they are going to get their money's worth, rather than empty promises from equipment vendors selling systems that can't deliver.

If you have worried about having some alternative source of power during power outages but don't want to keep a gas-powered generator around, this new human-powered generator from Freeplay may be just the thing.

It uses foot power to generate enough electricity to charge cellphones and laptops and to run or charge other small wattage devices. It also comes with jumper cables so that you can jump start (literally, by jumping up and down on the pedal of this thing) a car. It comes with a cigarette lighter style 12 volt adapter so it can be used with any device that has a 12 volt charger.

This would be an ideal alternative energy source for someone that lives in a high rise apartment or condo where it is not possible to store a gas powered generator (and a can of gasoline).