Boss, I don’t think it’s FR:
C:\>tracert www.freerepublic.com
Tracing route to www.freerepublic.com [209.157.64.201]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
[Redacted first 8 hops to keep fumbly fingers from bothering me]
9 25 ms 22 ms 23 ms xe-0.equinix.asbnva01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [206.223
.115.12]
10 22 ms 21 ms 21 ms ae-6.r21.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.1
13]
11 181 ms 179 ms 184 ms ae-4.r20.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.1
03]
12 198 ms 197 ms 204 ms ae-1.r07.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.5
3]
13 233 ms 233 ms 137 ms xe-0-2-0.r20.mlpsca01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250
.4.38]
14 92 ms 160 ms 96 ms xe-6-4.r03.mlpsca01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3
.7]
15 117 ms 96 ms 100 ms mg-2.a00.mlpsca01.us.da.verio.net [129.250.25.19
4]
16 98 ms 96 ms 93 ms mg-1.a01.mlpsca01.us.da.verio.net [129.250.24.19
5]
17 98 ms 100 ms 100 ms 128.242.105.82
18 93 ms 96 ms 94 ms 209.157.64.201
Trace complete.
Those backbone servers shouldn’t be showing those triple digit latency times.
I ran / posted tracerts on two of the debate threads, verified with info posted by others, and the nodes at ntt.net (mainly) and verio.net (lesser extent) have consistently been a huge drag on transit times.
Wow....good catch!