How Networks Interact — Peering and Transit Explained 92
Raindeer writes to share his article about peering and transit between networks, which begins:
"In 2005, AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre famously told BusinessWeek, 'What they [Google, Vonage, and others] would like to do is to use my pipes free. But I ain't going to let them do that...Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?'
The story of how the Internet is structured economically is not so much a story about net neutrality, but rather it's a story about how ISPs actually do use AT&T's pipes for free, and about why AT&T actually wants them to do so. These inter-ISP sharing arrangements are known as 'peering' or 'transit,' and they are the two mechanisms that underlie the interconnection of networks that form the Internet. In this article, I'll take a look at the economics of peering and transit in order to give you a better sense of how traffic flows from point A to point B on the Internet, and how it does so mostly without problems, despite the fact that the Internet is a patchwork quilt of networks run by companies, schools, and governments."
Re:Summary Clarification (Score:5, Insightful)
With the importance of the infrastructure, maybe the "money" component should be taken out of the equation and the infrastructure to be commonly owned. Who remembers the privatization of utilities where the performance goes down and the price goes up. Maybe it is time to see the internet infrastructure as the modern common good instead of a private playground for big corporations.
These guys are worse then the cellular companies. (Score:5, Insightful)
At least the cellphone carriers only overcharge *one* end of the conversation for airtime. These beggers are arguing that they should get to charge BOTH ends the full price of the traffic.
the bulk of "his" pipes... (Score:4, Insightful)
..the public paid for over and over and over again way back when, plus later on they (that company and others) got shedloads more cash to upgrade those pipes, yet failed to do so, to the tune of 200 billion bucks [newnetworks.com]. As in further, why aren't a lot of fatcats in jail yet for fraud? In true let it all hang out slashdot fashion, fuck those assholes. The "pipes" everywhere, leading from the smallest house to the big cross continental lines, should be taken back to public ownership and run as a commons or public co-op type deal, like the interstate road system is, or municipal water supply, or the public post office. charge a simple flat fee that pays for costs, then a little more, and it goes to improving and extending the networks, and get the private profit part out of the picture completely. I've had both a community telco experience and then be forced to use one of the old bells, no comparison, much better service and cheaper rates with the community telco model. And I certainly remember the olden days when those jerks got given a monopoly and abused it for decades. Screw 'em, they have proven to be greedy fucks forever, eminent domain seize the pipes and be done with it, then see to sticking some of those Cxx goons in jail for fraud, and make those "shareholders" in those asshole companies pay back the full 200 billion they stole, based on an exact proportion shares they hold and their part of that 200 billion dollars ripped off from the public. Fucking thieves. And then that would be lesson to other greedy companies and "stockholders" in the future if they are granted a pretty nice slice of some big public service pie and fail to do anything with it but rape it into the ground and screw everyone over.
Re:Summary Clarification (Score:3, Insightful)
All the techies like me out there should realize that these are fuzzy terms. 'Peering', 'transit' and 'customer' are merely common contract arrangements and are not technical definitions. In theory any pair of networks could have a contract for exchanging traffic that says basically anything they want.
From googling around and various research papers (it seems to be a hot area in economics since it follows different market rules) there seem to be two sets of definitions that can be associated with peering or transit. So when reading an article pay attention to which definition they are using.
Specifically, while almost every one includes "peers don't pay while transit is paid for by the smaller guy", some articles include "peers only route packets to customers" but others don't. Although be careful, because occasionally the term "peering" is even expanded to include all forms of traffic exchange including transit.
Pollyanna Peering World? (Score:4, Insightful)
Sounds like Mr. Raindeer has never been the innocent victim of a peering dispute. I have. Sure, the system mostly works, but it's hardly a socialist's or open-sourcer's dream.
Re:Didn't realize peering == free (Score:2, Insightful)
Fundamentally it's all about trade - you peer when both parties feel there is equal value in doing so.. nothing else.
As soon as one side can say "You need us, we don't need you"... one becomes a customer.
Water Thief!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
'What they [Google, Vonage, and others] would like to do is to use my pipes free. But I ain't going to let them do that..
This guy is stealing "water" from Google, Vonage and many others in order to sell his otherwise unuseful pipes.
In my humble opinion he's so hypocrite that he should be shot dead for being such a axxxole.
Re:The root problem that needs fixing... (Score:2, Insightful)
they meant "What they [Google --content provider--, Vonage --service provider--, and others --various providers--]
You forgot the fact that Google and Vonage pay for their linkups too, which would make them, directly or indirectly, a paying customer of AT&T.
If they happen to be "peered" to AT&T and aren't paying by the bit, then AT&T considers access to those content providers' networks, and content demand from their own to be important enough for a settlement free interconnect.
It's the nature of the beast. Google's services are demanded by AT&T's paying customers. If you couldn't get to Google on an AT&T line, then there's no point in having AT&T.