A User-Influenced Pricing Mechanism for Internet Access
Gergely Biczók19
and Tuan Anh Trinh19 
| (19) |
High Speed Networks Laboratory Dept. of Telecommunications and Media Informatics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, |
Abstract
Proper pricing schemes are vital components to the continuing success of the Internet. In this paper, we propose a new pricing
scheme for Internet access called user-influenced pricing. Our main contribution is threefold: first, we show how user-influenced
pricing can provide the ISP with calculable revenues, while giving the users a chance to lower their costs via voting for
their preferred pricing scheme. Second, we develop a cooperative weighted voting game which models the decision-making process,
and we derive equilibrium solutions to analyze possible outcomes of the vote. Third, we investigate the distribution of power
and we show that users with medium generated traffic volume are pivotal to the outcome. Finally, we discuss the practical
feasibility of the proposed mechanism regarding user population, revenue planning and charging.
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