Robertl30: In fact, bandwidth is often free. When two network providers peer (i.e., where PSINet and UUNet meet at an interchange like MAE West), no incremental charge is incurred when a packet is passed from one peer to the other. At the "center" (metaphorical center -- the Internet has no center), bandwidth is free. Most packet-transactions on the Internet are free. In this example, who would pay whom? Would PSINet pay UUNet for relaying packets to its customers, or would UUNet pay PSINet for making its customers' packets available to UUNet's customers?

Per-bit pricing models are not an artefact of actual network costs. Rather, they reflect a way of recouping sunk costs for network infrastructure and a way of covering recurring costs for maintaing and operating network infrastructure.

It's true that the further away you get from an interchange, the more likely you are to encounter a bizmodel that involves per-bit pricing; but it's important that we don't regard this as an immutable law of network operations. Rather, it reflects one of many business models that have beeen tried by network operators.

Many network operators are pleased to provide unmetered connections (i.e., Earthlink). There is no implicit "theft of service" in the usage of network services on someone's network, as there is no implicit costs associated with that usage. Any costs are circumstantial, not universal.