Level3 and Cogent, two giant Internet backbone carriers, are embroiled in an escalating cycle of hostility, which hit a new level this week when Level3 summarily cut off all traffic flowing from Cogent’s Internet space through theirs, causing customers of both Level3 and Cogent to lose their Internet connectivity.

At issue, Level3 claims, is a huge drain on resources, particularly bandwidth, which Cogent’s Internet traffic is causing for Level3.

But regardless of the drain, and the ultimate issue, to cut someone (or thousands of someones) off from the Internet, particularly in such a fashion, violates just about every unwritten law, and not a few written tenets, of playing nice on the Internet. And so as might be expected, Level3’s action has raised a hue and cry across the industry.

Said Basex CEO Jonathan Spira, “Thou shalt not stop Internet traffic…

[Continue reading Level3 and Cogent Duke It Out, Users Lose Connectivity]

[tags]email,internet providers,level3,cogent,internet connectivity[/tags]