Notion of cost and quality in telecommunication networks: an abstract approach

With the advent of complex, integrated networks providing a variety of services, the notion of quality becomes an important factor in the design and usage of such networks. An abstract approach toward understanding the notion of cost in the context of providing services with differentiated levels of quality is presented. Several interesting results are presented that challenge the deeply entrenched notion of telescopically varying rates to ´larger´ users of services. The authors also present a means whereby compensating levels of prices can be set for users of different classes.