[arin-ppml] Restricting IPv4 allocations by device type

[James Hess]

Oh, sorry..  some mobile phones are workstations, some are not, I suppose.
Many provide web browsing, e-mail services,  ones that allow the user
to  program/create, install, and use any applications of their choice,
those are workstations.

However, a mobile customer may be able to swap their  workstation
mobile phone with a non-workstation model at any time  they want,  if
the mobile provider is selling a general service..

in this case, the phone isn't actually  a permanent part of the
provider's network, the provider is just the ISP,  and the end user
plugs in whatever phone they want at any time they want, with no
inherent requirement to know about the mobile customer's equipment,
any more than a dialup ISP  can tell  if the user dialing in is a
workstation, or embedded device.

The average mobile phone owner won't ever be applying to any RIR for
IP addresses (in my estimation)..

In that case, the utilization justification is  "number of active
mobile subscribers"  at any point in time  (e.g.. number of people),
not  "number of mobile phones"
that coincidentally happen to be the type of the device the subscriber
picks to attach  at any given point in time.

If the customer  reasonably might  attach a device with general
computing capabilities  at any time they want  (without having to
subscribe to or buy an additional service in order to do so beyond
what they have),  then   that end-user is much like any  dialup or DSL
subscriber, right?

I  don't expect  broadband providers to have  to justify  IPs  for DVR
equipment, if the customer chooses  to plug that in one day, instead
of a PC.

End user _can_  plug in a PC at any time..   they could also choose to
plug nothing in,  and keep the service ready, in case they need it
some day years later.


--
-J