In May, regional ISPs opened their mail to discover that UUNet was canceling their free ride. Traditionally, midsize ISPs have "peering agreements" with national networks, whereby each side carries the other's traffic. But now the big boys are demanding compensation.
It may sound sensible, but smaller ISPs, such as Whole Earth Networks, are protesting that UUNet is ruining the cooperative spirit of the Net. Forking out extra money puts them at a disadvantage, they argue.
Does this spell the end of the mom-and-pop ISP? Hardly. "Consolidation is inevitable," points out Hal Varian, an economist at UC Berkeley. "But there aren't a lot of economies of scale in user support and handholding, which is an important part of what local ISPs do."
-Steve G. Steinberg
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