Cogent/Level 3 depeering

Wed Oct 5 19:52:10 UTC 2005

Matthew Crocker wrote:

> Ok,  I *pay* Cogent for 'Direct Internet Access' which is IP Transit  
> service.  I *cannot* get to part of the internet via Cogent right  now.  
> I also *pay* Sprint and GNAPS for 'Direct Internet Access' and  I can 
> get to all parts of the internet via their networks.   I *used*  to be 
> triple redundant to *all* of the Internet but now I only have  *two* 
> connections to Level 3.   My packets are reaching their  destination 
> because I'm smart enough to be multi-homed,  that doesn't  remove the 
> responsibility of Cogent to do what I *pay them to do*.   Cogent is 
> *not* providing complete Internet access, I really don't  care who's 
> fault it is.

Right now *neither* Cogent nor Level3 are providing complete Direct 
Internet Access.  This is a self-solving problem - why would anyone buy 
internet access (or renew existing contracts as they expire) from either 
of these networks when neither of them connect to the complete 
internet?[1]  Either one of them caves in and buys access to the other 
(or to another network that will transit to the other), or they repeer, 
or they BOTH lose sales.

Your weapon is your sales rep.  Use your sales rep to make your position 
clear to your network provider.  If you are presently a customer of 
either network you need to contact them now.

Contact your account manager and demand service credit.  Contact your 
sales rep and notify them that you will not be renewing your present 
service with them or buying any service from in the future unless you 
get your service credit AND this problem is immediately fixed.

For extra measure, copy the message to your other providers.  This puts 
them on notice that if they ever try such a stunt they will end up with 
the same problem.

Then start your search for a replacement provider.  If every Cogent and 
Level3 customer did this today, this problem would be solved by the end 
of the week, guaranteed.  Service credit demands will get their 
attention but if every current customer says "we are going to cancel 
this service and buy from someone else who actually connects to the 
complete internet and not just a subset of the internet" then the 
complaints flooding in from the SALES department will really get their 
attention.  Neither of them can afford to have their sales stream dry up 
while they play chicken.

jc

[1]  Then there's the publicity problem.  I can't find any news articles 
online about this depeering.  Write or call your local newspaper (or 
favorite tech magazine) and explain why this is news and you want them 
to cover it.  A flurry of articles about how some businesses can no 
longer access the "complete internet" due to a connection and routing 
spat between 2 large backbone internet providers will be juicy news for 
the business section and add to each network's sales problems.