Flyguy

I got to thinking and I was wondering. Why do we all need to go thorugh middlemen to access the internet? I mean, why can't we all build our own servers and just log on? How complicated can it really be? Is it a matter of bandwidth? Is it all the equipment involved? Isn't the internet supposed to be free? What is it that keeps up from doing this? Just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this pondering thought.

soopafreek

it's all about the connections... and unfortunately, the middle men "own" them. telecom monopolies.

but yeah, you'd need a lot of equipment.

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aaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!

bendsley

Because Tier 1 internet providers charge royalty fees to "access" their networks. I don't think you want to pay these.

Tier 1 providers offer many benefits. Typically, a Tier 1 provider has SLAs (service-level agreements) which include 99.9 percent uptime guarantees, impressive security, continuous and clean power, and protection from fire, earthquakes, and other disasters. The impressive power of a Tier 1 provider is its backbone. They provide you clear passage while other providers may send you across the bumpy back roads. A Tier 1 provider takes you from the West Coast to the East Coast in one big hop, while others may pass you along to various locations across the United States. Also, a Tier 1 Provider's service is usually more costly then what a Tier 2 or Tier 3 Provider may charge, because the Tier 1 provider offers a very extensive network, security, reliability and quality service.

The list of major Tier 1 providers include: AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, Cable and Wireless, GTE, IBM, MCI (UUNet), Qwest and Sprint.

-- Tier 1 operators typically have operations in more than one country
-- Tier 1 operators own and operate their own physical networks, and either own or part-own their international submarine cable links.
-- Tier 1 operators have revenue-neutral peering agreements with other Tier 1 operators, and generally do not pay for transit.

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"You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane."

mikec

oh man, thank you for the laugh, I needed that today!!!

/sarcasm

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Until the 20th century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see, and hear. Since the initial publication of the charted electromagnetic spectrum, humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear is less than one millionth of reality

rukkyg

Just think how big the internet is and then think how it would cost money to make it. The people who made it made it so they'd make money, not so you could have free internet.

Cryptie

Imagine if your question had been "Why can't we build our own phone system", it's more or less a matter of the amount of connections that would have to be laid, and who owns the existing connections. And as to rukkyg's comment about it was made to make money, it wasn't, the greedy bastards came later

Cynthetiq

some one had to pay for the infrastucture and to maintain it. the government subsidized it for years... as did the education groups.

Sty

There's no middleman, it's all about networks owned by different entities interconnecting network blocks of different size (talking about IP only). You're part of that network, although your networks size is propably very small compared to the next leg.

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br,
Sty

I route, therefore you exist