Re: OpenTransit (france telecom) depeers cogent

[Richard A Steenbergen <ras () e-gerbil net>]

On Thu, Apr 14, 2005 at 10:38:28AM -0700, Steve Gibbard wrote:
> > On Thu, Apr 14, 2005 at 11:28:00AM -0400, dgolding () gmu edu wrote:
>
> > > in depeering. However, dealing with Cogent on peering matters is
> > > incredibly unpleasant. I can understand networks and peering
> > > coordinators feeling that it just isn't worth it.
>
> Just for the record, I've dealt with Cogent's peering people on behalf of 
> a few networks over the last two years, and in my experience they've been 
> extremely pleasant to work with.

Since I forgot to mention it in my last e-mail, Cogent does indeed have 
some exceptionally good folks working for them, particularly their peering 
people. However, we all know that in this particular case the issue is not 
about personalities, technical competence, ratios, etc.

Anyone who doesn't know that Cogent has severely disrupted the IP transit 
industry's economy across the board with its pricing has been hiding under 
a rock for the past few years. They've recently slashed their prices to 
even more absurdly low new levels, and are actively targetting their 
peers' customers, particularly in Europe. Anyone who didn't expect to see 
exactly this kind of fallout as a result really hasn't been paying 
attention.

What remains to be seen from all of this is who blinks first, if anyone 
else jumps in at the same time, and if any of it changes anything in the 
marketplace.

-- 
Richard A Steenbergen <ras () e-gerbil net>       http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras
GPG Key ID: 0xF8B12CBC (7535 7F59 8204 ED1F CC1C 53AF 4C41 5ECA F8B1 2CBC)