Internet Traffic Disrupted as Providers Feud - Large portions of network unreachable by others

MSNBC ^ | Oct. 6, 2005

[anymouse]

Thousands of Internet users struggled to send e-mail and keep their Web sites running Thursday after a dispute between two service providers left large portions of the Internet unable to talk to each other.

Computer technicians scrambled to shore up their networks after Level 3 Communications Inc. refused to accept traffic from rival Cogent Communications Group Inc., rendering large portions of the Internet unreachable by others.

[anymouse]

Tragedy of the commons or just a turf war?

[Racehorse]

Doesn't read like a turf war.  More like a price war with customers held hostage:

"The usability and value people get out of the Internet is highly dependent on its ability to be ubiquitous and affordable, and I think what Level 3 is attempting to do is undermine both of those core principles," {Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer] said in an interview.

Like other large, wholesale Internet service providers, Cogent and Level 3 handed off traffic from one network to each other free of charge, until Level 3 said that it was handling too much Cogent traffic.

"We felt that there was an imbalance and we were disadvantaged in that relationship and we were ending up with what amounts to free capacity," Level 3 spokeswoman Jennifer Daumler said.

Cogent's Schaeffer said Level 3 was simply trying to get Cogent to raise its prices, which at $10 per megabit are far below the market average of $60 or so per megabit.

[LegendHasIt]

A few years ago when there was only one ISP serving the whole county I live in, they used to rutinely block the IPs to all of my websites because I offered competition to their web site design / hosting business and offered a free local informational / local news site that competed (and beat) that run by the local newspaper and hosted by them.

Every time I caught them, at it they said "Oh sorry, it must have been an accident; I have no idea how it happened". Finally they quit when I threatened to sue the heck out of them.