Just think if the Internet had been designed by the telephone companies:
- We would have four different internets, with gateways that restricted what could flow through them.
- You would have to buy your computer from your ISP, and you couldn’t switch ISPs and keep the same computer unless the remainder when you divided the MAC address by four was equal to the remainder when you divided the third octet of your IP address by four. (did you get that?)
- Packets between ISPs would be billed at the rate of $125/megabyte if they carried email.
I’m hoping to see some of this change during my lifetime.