Metcalfe´s law is wrong - communications networks increase in value as they add members-but by how much?

This paper argues that Metcalfe´s law, which states that the value of a communications network is proportional to the square of the number of its users, is incorrect. By seeming to assure that the value of a network would increase quadratically - proportionately to the square of the number of its participants - while costs would, at most, grow linearly, Metcalfe´s law gave an air of credibility to the mad rush for growth and the neglect of profitability. The paper discusses the fundamental flaw of Metcalfe´s law and describes how Zipf´s law can be used as basis to justify the n log(n) rule-of-thumb valuation of a general communications network of size n.