Cogent/Level 3 depeering

Wed Oct 5 17:43:51 UTC 2005

Matthew Crocker wrote:
> 
>>> I opened a billing/support ticket with Cogent.   I'm not planning  on 
>>> paying my bill or continuing the contract if they cannot  provide 
>>> full BGP tables and full Internet transport (barring  outages).   
>>> Luckily I have 2 other providers so I can still reach  Level 3.
>>>
>>
>> I'm curious where in your contract you think Cogent guaranteed you  
>> connectivity to Level 3?
> 

Undereducated rant to follow...

While I realize that the "nuke survivable" thing is probably an old 
wives tale, it seems ridiculous that "the Internet" can't adjust by 
routing any packets that used to go directly from Cogent to Level 3 
though some 3rd (and) 4th (and) 5th set of providers that are connected 
in some fashion to both...

Level 3 and Cogent can't be operating in a vacuums - if we can get to 
Kevin Bacon in 6 degrees, Level 3 and Cogent should be able to get to 
each other in under 30 hops through other providers.

And why isn't this apparently happening automatically? Pardon the 
density of my brain matter here, but I thought that was what BGP was all 
about?

I welcome any education the group wishes to drop on me in this matter.

-- 
Jeff Shultz