The Internet, a growing network of networks, is an often touted and often misunderstoodtechnology. It has its own infrastructure complete with service providers, private networks, usercommunities, international links, etc. similar to telephone or telegraph industries. However, theInternet is more decentralized and less application-specific than traditional telecommunicationindustries. These differences extend beyond the technology of the Internet to the economics andpolicies.This paper explores Internet economics, a growing field which encompasses the technology,economics, and policy surrounding the Internet. It identifies different communities who haveoverlapping interests in this field and how their preconceived notions of how the Internet operatescreate contradictory views on how this technology will continue to evolve in a self-sustainingmanner. Specifically, it explores the issue of usage sensitive pricing versus flat-fee pricing asapplied to the Internet. It provides anecdotal evidence to support general views communitieshave towards pricing issues. It identifies roadblocks to implement usage sensitive pricing on theInternet. It describes short-term projects that will provide better data to enable a betterunderstanding of the issues.
