One has to think of Metcalfe’s Law when discussing VoIP peering. Metcalfe’s Law states that the value of a network increases exponentially with the number of users that are added to the network. So n2 would represent the value of the network. Since you can’t connect to yourself the value becomes (n-1)2.
What does this mean to you? The longer you wait to join a peering network, the more value the network has to you. There has been dissent in cyberspace as some academicians have theorized that the value is not as great as Metcalfe predicted.
While I think it best to steer clear of such detailed discussions here, VoIP peering may be the perfect application for this law as the value of peering becomes infinitely greater than the alternative which is paying for minutes.
In fact, service providers, the government and enterprises are beginning to see the benefits of peering. The more networks that peer with one another, the greater the benefits to all those entities on the network.
Indeed, I think of VoIP peering as the ideal application of Metcalfe’s law in action. There is economic incentive to join a VoIP peering network and your savings grows exponentially as more users are interconnected.
