A progressive analysis of Internet market: from best effort to quality of service

In this paper, the equilibrium outcomes of the Internet quality of service (QoS) game model are analyzed when two rural Internet Access Providers (IAPs) interact with several business and technical strategies such as technology, best effort (BE) or QoS, pricing scheme (flat-rate pricing or a two-part tariff), and investment in network capacity. Considering the IAPs with BE and flat-rate pricing as the current Internet, the equilibrium points in this model show a progressive path of market behavior toward the future Internet market. In conclusion, the IAPs with a strategy set of {QoS, flat-rate pricing, 2K network capacity} would be a plausible and socially desirable market situation in the future.