CNET: Network feud leads to Net blackout

[highplainsdem]

http://news.com.com/Network+feud+leads+to+Net+blackout/2100-1038_3-5889592.html?part=rss&tag=5889592&subj=news


Network feud leads to Net blackout
Published: October 5, 2005, 5:00 PM PDT
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Two major Internet backbone companies are feuding, potentially cutting off significant swaths of the Internet for some of each other's customers.

On Wednesday, network company Level 3 Communications cut off its direct "peering" connections to another big network company called Cogent Communications. That technical action means that some customers on each company's network now will find it impossible, or slower, to get to Web sites on the other company's network.

William Steele, a senior network engineer for Syncro Services, said his company noticed the problem Wednesday morning.

"There are some people I can't send an e-mail to," Steele said. "At home, I have Road Runner as an ISP, and wasn't even able to remotely connect in order to manage our servers."

<snip>


I've already posted this in GD, where some people were wondering if various sites were down, or being censored.

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Ah, maybe this explains Blogspot being down

along with AmericaBlog and Eschaton.

[Stand and Fight]

3. I was just wondering about that...

Tried to go to AmericaBlog and read about Rove's possible pending indictment and couldn't get to it. Maybe this explains it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Dump the jerks and get a proper internet company. Hit them by boycott

Don't pay for non-service.

[Triana]

4. slow as frozen molasses here...

...has been for the last few weeks. May or may not be related but it has been painfully slow.

[Orsino]

5. Pissing match.

I've seen it before. A "peer" is another provider with whom you want to exchange traffic, and so you don't charge or make money off the connection, as opposed to the way you treat a paying customer. Until they agree again to be peers, don't expect any resolution. You should still be able to get to most destinations, but depending on how those destinations get their access they just might become invisible to some users.