Internet traffic jam?

I came across an article recently by one of the pioneers of the Internet, Larry Roberts, for whom I worked many years ago. Larry's article was insightful and pointed out that there are some reasons to believe that there should be classes of service for those accessing the Internet. Larry is a visionary in network protocols and has started yet another provider organization, this time to provide Internet traffic carriers with the ability to throttle traffic "flows" based on class of service.

In reading the article it struck me as odd that Larry would advocate using bit rate to determine class of service and therefore the fees associated with Internet access. I have a relatively slow broadband access rate in my home office and pay a modest rate for the service I receive. Power users on the other hand might pay a larger fee for their higher grade of service. My thought was that I would rather pay for the grade of service the information I requested gets from my ISP rather than just the bit rate I am able to get from the carrier. This "Contracted Information Rate" would allow agreement between me and my service provider on what grade of service they would be willing to provide as measured over a set period of time. This would allow me to be assured of receiving a set service level regardless of the bit rate of my access link, realizing that there would be a limit to the service I could receive if I continue to have a relatively slow access path. Measuring this access would be relatively easy over a longer period of time rather than just complaining about not achieving peak bit rates on my link over a very short span of time.

It is very clear that the more bandwidth demanding applications that are developed and delivered over the Internet the more likely we are to have occasional slowdowns. The service providers have every right to charge for the grade of service delivered to end users but at the same time the end users have a right to receive a quality of service that is appropriate to their use and applications. Restricting rate flows is OK as long as it is being done in a way that achieves the agreed to objectives of both parties involved. Also, I do not want to pay for poor performance from a carrier based on bit rates when what I really care about is getting or transmitting the information I am interested in. It is also clear that we can not expect to be able to continue to simply "fill the pipe" with information and expect performance to be at link speeds at all times. Networks do not work that way in the long run. Maximize the utilization of the network asset, yes, but do not expect to fill it 24/7 and achieve any acceptable performance.

This may all seem to be an argument over the same thing but I feel that there is a very fine difference. The technology solution that offers a way for me to send or receive information within a certain time frame "absolutely, positively" will win my business and ultimately allow everyone involved to win as well.