[ppml] ARIN IP conservation and FREE IP Addresses

[Michael Thomas - Mathbox]

On the ARIN web site at:
http://www.arin.net/billing/fee_schedule.html#ipv4_alloc

The price for an X-large allocation (blocks larger than /14, I.E. a /13
qualifies) is $18,000.00. That is the top fee for IP addresses. If the same
ARIN subscriber needs more IP addresses, up to and including another /13 or
more, there is no additional charge. No additonal charge! Free! I have two
issues with this fee structure.

First, lets price that /13 at the /22 rate. The /22 rate is $1.22 per IP
address ($1250 / 1024 = $1.22). For those who do not know how many IP
addresses there are in a /13 (I didn't without calculating it), there are
524,288. Now $1.22 * 524288 = $639631.36. No wonder small allocation
subscribers think IP pricing is unfair. Should ARIN decrease the smaller
allocation rates or increase the larger allocation rates?

Second, while there have been proposals to "charge legacy holders a fee",
"increase the allocation fees to promote conservation", and , "increase the
IPV4 allocation fees to push subscribers to IPV6", ARIN is willing to
provide any IPV4 address block over the initial /13 for free. Is this good
stewardship? Do you think that fee schedule promotes conservation? I do not.
Before we ask others to conserve more and pay more, lets cleanup our own
act.

Michael Thomas
Mathbox
978-683-6718
1-877-MATHBOX (Toll Free)