Re: What's the point of prepend communities?

[Jason Lixfeld <jason+nanog () lixfeld ca>]

Hi Bill,

> On Oct 26, 2017, at 2:37 PM, William Herrin <bill () herrin us> wrote:
>
> BGP routing is based on "distance". Distance in BGP is primarily calculated as the number of ASNs in the AS Path. 
> Prepends make a path more distance, encouraging routers to choose a different path if one is available.

I understand how prepends fit in the context of best path selection, but my question was more the difference between a 
customer signalling the ISP to prepend their AS using a BGP community stamped to a prefix vs. the customer prepending 
their own AS instead.