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Network feud leads to Net blackout
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that use one of the networks, buy connections from several providers simultaneously to avoid outages of this kind.
However, many businesses, individuals and even some ISPs have so-called single-homed network connections, which means they depend on a single provider to reach the Internet. (Think of this as a town with a single road leading in and out, instead of several different highways.)
These single-connection customers are the ones hardest hit by Level 3's decision. Because Level 3 and Cogent each uses direct connections to other networks to exchange traffic--rather than paying a third party to provide redundant or backup transmission service--there is no alternate route for data from one network to reach the other.
The result: blackouts such as those Bradham and other customers are seeing.
According to Cogent, between 5 percent and 10 percent of its customers were affected. Level 3 did not provide an estimate. Because some of those customers could be ISPs with thousands or hundreds of thousands of their own customers, the number of people affected could range into the millions.
CNET News.com readers have reported problems with businesses and home connections, however.
William Steele, a senior network engineer for Syncro Services, said his company noticed one such 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."
A spokesman for Time Warner Cable confirmed that many of the company's Road Runner cable modem customers would be affected.
"That means some sites they might normally visit are not available to them right now," the company said in a statement. "We are working to find alternate pathways so our customers can be reconnected with these Web sites as soon as possible."
In the past, network outages stemming from this kind of private contract dispute have prompted some to call for regulatory oversight, or at least legal action.
In 2001, a similar contract dispute led Cable & Wireless to cut off its connection to PSINet, one of the oldest Net backbone companies. After outcries by customers, the connection was restored several days later, however.
Even Cogent says it prefers to handle this kind of problem without government getting involved.
"We don't think there should be any involvement in terms of regulatory oversight," Cogent spokesman Jeff Henriksen said. "These are individual contracts based on specific needs of individual providers."
As the outage stretches on, however, it highlights fragility in what seems like a deeply interconnected Net. Many people remain unaware of the problem, and it can be expensive for users to address it.
"I have been pushing for years to have a redundant ISP for our traffic," Bradham said. "But we're a nonprofit. We don't have the money available to do that."
See more CNET content tagged:
Cogent Communications, Level 3 Communications Inc., network company, blackout, relationship
Cogent is a positive force on the Internet. They are bringing down bandwidth prices. The quality of their service is excellent and their technical support shines too.
Level-3 on the other hand is a brutish, old-fashioned, monopoly-wannabe. They are trying to control the internet. They have always pushed around other companies. Their arrogance is matched only by their business incompetance.
It's important the public come out against Level-3 and for Cogent.
Cogent can make our lives better. Level-3 will make our lives worse.
Level-3 is the enemy of the internet and the people.
Level-3 also mistreats their own employees. They treat their workers like numbered slaves.
Please get involved in the fight.
frequently am inundated with spam from Cogent's network. I hope
they are forced to actually pay to distribute their crap to other
networks like Level-3.
Cogent decided it was not going to do that. It bet on Level(3) not pulling the peering. It bet wrong. Now it got caught with its pants down. It seems now it is also rather clear who has larger network - it is Cogent's customers that are ******** about the issues a lot more than the Level(3) customers.
Cogent is a positive force on the Internet. They are bringing down bandwidth prices. The quality of their service is excellent and their technical support shines too.
Level-3 on the other hand is a brutish, old-fashioned, monopoly-wannabe. They are trying to control the internet. They have always pushed around other companies. Their arrogance is matched only by their business incompetance.
It's important the public come out against Level-3 and for Cogent.
Cogent can make our lives better. Level-3 will make our lives worse.
Level-3 is the enemy of the internet and the people.
Level-3 also mistreats their own employees. They treat their workers like numbered slaves.
Please get involved in the fight.
frequently am inundated with spam from Cogent's network. I hope
they are forced to actually pay to distribute their crap to other
networks like Level-3.
Cogent decided it was not going to do that. It bet on Level(3) not pulling the peering. It bet wrong. Now it got caught with its pants down. It seems now it is also rather clear who has larger network - it is Cogent's customers that are ******** about the issues a lot more than the Level(3) customers.
In the book "Friday" by Robert A. Heinlein, practically all the violence in the book was caused by these companies and factions within them, not by nations at war with each other for territory or dwindling natural resources (those kinds of wars we'll likely be seeing later, as we run out of oil and clean water in the next ten to twenty years as even a certain well-known oceanographer stated that they'll be gone in twenty years back in 1995). Interesting reading if you want to try interpreting the intentions and reasoning behind corporations' facades. LOL But now, the masks are slipping, and we catch glimpses of what they really care about.
"Sometimes, it's all about the gold." The main motivations for humans is power and money (which in many circles is one and the same), fame, and the other one, which I won't name, but leads to increases in population.
The Internet was supposed to be set up so that it could survive in the event of nuclear war, like a fishnet of sorts, back in 1969, when it started as the ARPAnet. One spot gets taken out, and stuff goes around it. Kind of like guerilla warfare in a way, you don't give the enemy a central position to target (if you can be seen, you can be hit, and if you can be hit, you can be killed). But, with control of the Internet in the hands of corporations, we are playthings to their whims. People don't get access to information, their e-mails never get sent to where they sent them, non-profits like the one in the story as well as small businesses suffer... We all lose. Not that we should allow governments to control the Internet, either, or else they'll likely create a neck-crushing grip on what people can say and do on the Internet, attempting to make it so that no single person of any culture gets offended.
As U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell wrote: "As the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed, the Internet deserves the highest protection from governmental intrusion." (More quotes here, if you're interested, and no, it's not a real commercial site: www.cyberwolfman.com/quotes.htm)
Oops. I'm ranting again, aren't I? LOL
- CyberWoLfman
In the book "Friday" by Robert A. Heinlein, practically all the violence in the book was caused by these companies and factions within them, not by nations at war with each other for territory or dwindling natural resources (those kinds of wars we'll likely be seeing later, as we run out of oil and clean water in the next ten to twenty years as even a certain well-known oceanographer stated that they'll be gone in twenty years back in 1995). Interesting reading if you want to try interpreting the intentions and reasoning behind corporations' facades. LOL But now, the masks are slipping, and we catch glimpses of what they really care about.
"Sometimes, it's all about the gold." The main motivations for humans is power and money (which in many circles is one and the same), fame, and the other one, which I won't name, but leads to increases in population.
The Internet was supposed to be set up so that it could survive in the event of nuclear war, like a fishnet of sorts, back in 1969, when it started as the ARPAnet. One spot gets taken out, and stuff goes around it. Kind of like guerilla warfare in a way, you don't give the enemy a central position to target (if you can be seen, you can be hit, and if you can be hit, you can be killed). But, with control of the Internet in the hands of corporations, we are playthings to their whims. People don't get access to information, their e-mails never get sent to where they sent them, non-profits like the one in the story as well as small businesses suffer... We all lose. Not that we should allow governments to control the Internet, either, or else they'll likely create a neck-crushing grip on what people can say and do on the Internet, attempting to make it so that no single person of any culture gets offended.
As U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell wrote: "As the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed, the Internet deserves the highest protection from governmental intrusion." (More quotes here, if you're interested, and no, it's not a real commercial site: www.cyberwolfman.com/quotes.htm)
Oops. I'm ranting again, aren't I? LOL
- CyberWoLfman
Cogent has a comparable Network, and Level 3 wants money.
I have never, had a problem with Cogent, as a CUSTOMER, not as a whiney complainer to their net op's.
2 years and running 1 connection issue that got resolved in 10 minutes. Now that is service. TimeWarner? Lets wait 2 days. Level 3? Lets not talk how long it takes them.
When i called Cogent about the situation, they explained down to detail. Level3 kept claiming it was a business decision, and when i told them that they need to rethink their position, i was told to give my information for submission to their legal counsel. I hope, for the sake of the Internet, Level 3's stock price plummets, they get delisted, and declare bankruptcy, so Cogent can buy them out. Then the end of the problem.
And being pre-warned about it, makes it even worse.
Two thumbs down for Cogent.
Cogent has a comparable Network, and Level 3 wants money.
I have never, had a problem with Cogent, as a CUSTOMER, not as a whiney complainer to their net op's.
2 years and running 1 connection issue that got resolved in 10 minutes. Now that is service. TimeWarner? Lets wait 2 days. Level 3? Lets not talk how long it takes them.
When i called Cogent about the situation, they explained down to detail. Level3 kept claiming it was a business decision, and when i told them that they need to rethink their position, i was told to give my information for submission to their legal counsel. I hope, for the sake of the Internet, Level 3's stock price plummets, they get delisted, and declare bankruptcy, so Cogent can buy them out. Then the end of the problem.
And being pre-warned about it, makes it even worse.
Two thumbs down for Cogent.
much invested in a smooth operating internet to allow this petty
BS to continue. If they want the Gov't to seize them and take
over, let them keep this blackout going.
There is no such thing as excess profits if you are in business
but stealth beats crude tricks like this. I'd rather have $.0001 or
less on every internet connection than risk losing the whole
thing.
Unbelieveable!
SEW
much invested in a smooth operating internet to allow this petty
BS to continue. If they want the Gov't to seize them and take
over, let them keep this blackout going.
There is no such thing as excess profits if you are in business
but stealth beats crude tricks like this. I'd rather have $.0001 or
less on every internet connection than risk losing the whole
thing.
Unbelieveable!
SEW
One of them are:
http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/cyberia-l/msg42080.html
One of them are:
http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/cyberia-l/msg42080.html
There would probably be no problem if there was an equal balance in the exchange of data over the two networks.
There would probably be no problem if there was an equal balance in the exchange of data over the two networks.
Level-3 3-5 Cogent
http://ahseng.blogsome.com
Level-3 3-5 Cogent
http://ahseng.blogsome.com
- Personally, I'd like to sue those involved
- by ericnn24 October 6, 2005 8:55 PM PDT
- My customers have been complaining they cannot reach our website to complete their orders and emails automatically generated to our shipping hub are being undelivered. This started yesterday and with no warning. I'm basically screwed.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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