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Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dave turliku who wrote (28691)	8/6/1999 12:11:00 AM
From: steve beckle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 41369

Regarding free internet -- I work for Lucent so I know a little something about the internet. I'll bet Mr. Gates didn't mention how he would offer QoS (Quality of Service) options for free. As the net carries more video, voice, graphics, etc, there will have to be a way for users to pay more for better service, e.g. you want that video stream to keep coming, so what's it worth to you? I see the day soon (I think AT&T already has premium services) where the more you pay, the higher priority your socket traffic gets. How? The IP data packet header will use the QoS portion to tell the NEW MORE EXPENSIVE router to handle your traffic ahead of the guy downloading an HTML document or a picture of Hulk Hogan. Bottom line -- I don't see anyone offering service that's worth a damn if it's free. How long are they going to bleed red ink upgrading the network to provide enhanced services, which is really what the net is going to be all about real soon. The old adage that there's no free lunch never applied more than here. If anything is going to be free, it's circuit switched long distance voice traffic since the digital switch must now compete with the internet. Maybe Bill can buy some old 5ESS(r) switches and let us call him for free, eh?