Charge-Sensitive TCP and Rate Control in the Internet
Reviewer: Mark Meras (mm446)
Main Contribution
This paper by La and Anantharem discusses a new pricing scheme for TCP
communication that would optimize total user utility using only the
information available at the end hosts.
Key Ideas
- Increasing Internet congestion requires us to think about pricing
schemes to reduce congestion for those willing to pay for it. Flat rate
charging is inefficient and pricing per unit of bandwidth is required.
- By separating the system knowledge problem into two subproblems of
network and user problems, we can maintain proportional fairness through
incentive-compatible pricing.
- The users solve the user optimization problem on a larger time scale
while the window-based tramission rate control mechanism solves the
network problem on a smaller time scale
- Fairness is maintained (proof included) in this pricing scheme
Critique of Contribution
The work seems a good contribution to the set of knowledge about
bandwidth pricing schemes. Its major impact is the subdivision of the
problem into the user and network subproblems, allowing the users to
evaluate their pricing on an end-to-end model.
Open Question
Is there a way to incorporate level pricing into the scheme, a hybrid of
flat-level and per-unit pricing that allows users to pay for "levels" of
access? This scheme is used in the cellular industry, for example.