> Just make it illegal to sell more capacity than you have and the problem is solved.
No. The result would be that you would pay 100 times more for your Internet connection. Or, alternatively, that you cannot get a guaranteed bandwidth, but you pay per GB.
Your solution would mean that Level3's peers can only sell 13.6 million 1 Mbps connections without overselling their bandwidth. Even if Level3's peers have several other Internet wholesale agreements -- let's say they actually have 5 times that capacity (most likely an overstatement) -- all Level3's peers would only be able to sell 68 million 1 Mbps connections. That would be some expensive 1 Mbps connections!
No. The result would be that you would pay 100 times more for your Internet connection. Or, alternatively, that you cannot get a guaranteed bandwidth, but you pay per GB.
This article: http://blog.level3.com/global-connectivity/observations-inte... states that Level3 has 13,600 Gbps of capacity with its peers.
Your solution would mean that Level3's peers can only sell 13.6 million 1 Mbps connections without overselling their bandwidth. Even if Level3's peers have several other Internet wholesale agreements -- let's say they actually have 5 times that capacity (most likely an overstatement) -- all Level3's peers would only be able to sell 68 million 1 Mbps connections. That would be some expensive 1 Mbps connections!