IP Convergence: Beyond VoIP, Beyond Cost Savings

I like the idea of Option 2 - the self provisioning internet circuit, and it quite fits nicely with the challenges that may be posed by net neutrality debates. But I'm not sure it answers any more questions or problems than Option 1. TELUS lets customers pick between 95P and per Gig usage, usually allowing the customer to change every month, if they so desire (making the billing match up is a bit of a nightmare, but that's another story)....

The appeal of Option 2 is that you don't have to make hard decisions (or guesses) ever month on what your usage is like, and it also gives both the carrier and the customer the knowledge of exact available bandwidth in the network.  I think you could even build a buffer into Option 2 - like a floating ceiling, and offer reduced levels of Q0S, depending on how sensitive the customer is to monthly pricing, perhaps they would get 100 Mbps of *clean* bandwidth, and pay accordingly, and if they happened to exceed that ceiling, they could choose to get an additional 50 Mbps of "average, tier 2" bandwidth" at a reduced price.... it wouldn't be as great as the Tier 1, Premium bandwidth, but it could cover their butts, and help them manage costs in the event they have a ridiculous traffic spike.

-jules-dreaming-at-5:00am