[e2e] Skype and congestion collapse.

[Michael Welzl]

> one of the big differences between audio and video
> is that people can leave video running and often pointing out the window
at
> "interesting" scenary (e.g. a road:)
> but with audio, you tend to want to engage in a conversation with someone
at the other end, and if the quality aint
> good enough, you get voluntary congestion avoidance - users "hang up"

I have a problem with that point of view. Let's ignore the other reasons why
Skype will not cause congestion collapse for a second:
* just not enough traffic
* if congested, users will pay, revenue will in turn increase capacities
   (if i got david right)

So we have the only reason above: users tend to hang up.
Let's say we have an application (SoIP, where S = "singing") that requires
quite a bit of bandwidth. What would stop users from filling all the
capacity?
Okay, the ones who can't get in simply hang up - and you could come up
with an interesting pricing strategy etc etc

But: what about my ftp download?
It's supposed to be a multi service network, after all...


> btw, TCP friendliness _is_ selfish - its in your own interest to do as you
would be done by.

that seems strange to me. can you elaborate?


cheers,
Michael