bstempleton@watmath.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (06/07/83)
Well, we all know the net goes to hundreds of sites, but I would like to
know how much the net really costs. To do this I must find the cost of
every link. thus I would like you to send me the costs of all your news
links. This is a combination of a fixed costs per article plus a cost
per byte. I would like each site to tell me the costs of the links it
has. For example, assume about 95 bytes per second out of a 1200 baud
modem and 25 out of a 300 baud. (or whatever figures you happen to have)
Each news transfer requires two file transfers, and uucico delays around
5 seconds on each, so add about 10 seconds of phone cost to your fixed
costs. Check the cost of the phone call from Bell and figure out the
fixed costs and cost per Kbyte. (I would like the figures in cost per K)
Add a penny or two to the fixed cost to include processing and storage
on your machine. If you have accounting on your machine, make the fixed
cost what it *really* is.
If you have a dedicated line, work out some simple fixed cost based on
what you know about what it costs to maintain your network, or how much
the dedicated tty port costs or whatever. Otherwise, I'll assume a cost
of $.02 per article. Which each cost you send me, send me the cost in a
line with something like:
site1<--->site2 $.06 + $.02/K
In order to avoid duplication, please check with your neighbour to see if
he/she has sent me stuff on your link. In general, you should send me
the information on the link you got this article from, not the sender.
Anyway, mail the person on the site that sent you the article to see who is
sending. I'll weed out duplicates anyway. To make it easier for me,
put "site1" and "site2" in sort(1) order.
What do we get from this? An idea of what people pay for the net, so you
can legitimately claim to the person that goofed "You just wasted $60 of
other people's money" or to the person who suggests posting some huge
source to net.sources "That will cost $400 of other people's money".
Anyway, mail me the data, and if I get enough of the links (I think there
are over 700 now) I will be able to work this out. Mail to me at
{decvax,linus!utzoo,allegra,ihnp4}!watmath!bstempleton
bstempleton@watmath.uucp
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Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304