
Goodbye, P2P! P4P is Coming - terpua
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/goodbye_p2p_p4p_is_coming.php
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sah
_Unlike P2P, which selects random peers to share with [...]_

This is misleading. BitTorrent, for example, starts with a random set of
peers, but then prefers peers that deliver better bandwidth (that's what "tit
for tat" is all about). P4P isn't selecting peers that perform better at all,
it's selecting peers that _cost Verizon less_. Overall bandwidth performance
is the only relevant metric here -- hops are more about Verizon's costs than
your bandwidth.

The touted "performance boosts of 200 percent on average and increases of up
to 600 percent in some cases" occurred because peers were selected from within
Verizon's high-speed Fios network (see this write-up for more details:
<http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9893915-7.html?tag=nefd.top>). That's
selecting faster peers _a priori_ in a way that only works if you happen to be
a customer of a higher-speed service. (If you could identify Fios peers, it
would boost performance similarly for any peer on any ISPs to prefer them,
regardless of how far away they are.) Customers of lower-speed services would
find their P4P programs preferring slower-than-average peers, and the average
customer would find her P4P programs preferring average peers.

Figuring out the effects on the network overall is complicated, but so far
Verizon hasn't released any information about that.

