[ih] History of the Economics of the Internet?

[Dave Crocker]

On 7/30/2026 4:17 PM, Steve Crocker via Internet-history wrote:
> The Arpanet leased lines and IMPs and the BBN network management were all paid via directly from (D)ARPA.  Each site paid for its own hardware interface to its IMP and was responsible for any software changes it needed.  There were no monthly charges or usage charges.


At some point, that funding model changed.

Might be worth developing a summary chart, over time, of the model(s) 
from start of Arpanet until the Internet went fully commercial.

This, of course, covers multiple government agencies and, I assume, 20+ 
years, and in at least some cases entails changes to individual models, 
over time.  Arpanet, Internet/Arpanet, Internet/Milnet, CSNet, NSFNet, 
etc., etc.

d/

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Dave Crocker

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