Why the Internet will not be metered John Levine, "author and expert" (snicker) does this mediocre write up of some excellent papers by AT&T Labs researcher Andrew Odlyzko. Odlyzko writes at length, in lucid detail, about the history of the communications industry (focusing on mail, telegraph, telephone etc.) and how it has been effected by pricing policies etc. The conclusion is that Internet use will not be metered, and even perhaps that micropayment schemes online will not work. I am not sure if i agree with the latter, but the research is pretty convincing.