I worded that really poorly. What I meant was, what factors of internet use are scarce such that the use of them by one internet user interferes with the use by another user.RPB wrote:Not sure what you are asking; but taking your question as asked:bnc wrote:What resources required for internet service to exist are limited?
Example: Most of the Texas Hill Country=
1) no DSL available in most areas; what is available is more costly than in Metropolitan areas
2) no fibre optic nor cable available... priced roughly 10 times higher than metro areas
3) limited wireless availability, depending which side of a hill you live
4) Satellite mostly available
5) Dialup available
Land, for example, is scarce in this sense. By occupying my land, there is less land available for everyone else. Conversely, sunlight is not scarce in this sense, it is superabundant. If I go outside and enjoy the sunlight it does not impact other people to do the same, there is no way to "use up" all the sunlight so that others are left in the dark.
To use a shooting example just look at a typical indoor range. Most ranges have some sort of fee schedule involving a lane and time along with number of guns and number of people per lane. The lanes are clearly scarce since they are not infinite in number and, therefore, limit the amount of customers the range can service. If I am using one lane, there is one lane less for everyone else, thus limiting the number of customers that can be served. Time is quite similar, in that the time that I use a lane for is time in the lane that nobody else can have in that lane, again limiting the amount of service available to others. But the number of guns I bring, on the other hand, does not impact the availability of the shooting ranger's services. If I take a lane for an hour with one gun it has no impact on the guy next to me, or the guy waiting in line behind me, any differently then if I took a lane for an hour with 3 guns. Therefore, the number of guns someone brings to the range is not a scarce resource and does not limit the availability of the range's services, and shouldn't be charged for; it costs the range nothing if you bring another gun in if you are still in one lane for one hour. You might make the same argument against charging based on the number of rounds fired, but that might be legitimate if the backstops can only handle so many rounds before replacement or repair.
So, what factors (infrastructural resources) of the internet are similarly scarce like lanes and time are at the shooting range? Bandwidth, time, number of websites accessed, downloaded/uploaded material, other stuff? (I'm not to savvy on IT infrastructure stuff)