Observations of an Internet Middleman (Level3) (was: RIP Network Neutrality (was: Wow its been quiet here...

Sat May 10 23:32:27 UTC 2014

In these situations, I find it helps to mentally implement structural
separation.

So you have level3-Transit and Level3-CDN as separate companies.

Netflix pays Level3-CDN to make content available locally in many cities.

It is up to the ISP to find the most efficient way to connect to the
Level3-CDN node(s).

As a CDN, does Level3 offer free peering with ISPs who only have to pay
for ports in a big switch ? ?

Similarly, if there were Comcast-Transit and Comcast-ISP, and I purchase
transit from Comcast-Transit, does it offer good connectivity around the
world, or is it just a shell company that serves the Comcast-ISP ?