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How Networks Interact — Peering and Transit Explained

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."

7 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdot Users... by alfs+boner · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Ahh... Slashdot- because people care what kommunity kollege kidz think ;)

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  2. bogle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    This is all irrelevant because I am GOD!

  3. Re:Summary Clarification by Money+for+Nothin' · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Golly, what do you mean? Politicians have only the public's best interests at heart.

    Well, Democratic politicians anyway - after all, only Democrats care about people... And they NEVER make mistakes in government!

    This country is going to be taken over in November by an ideologue socialist (presently masquerading as a moderate to garner votes) as President and an technological moron as VP.

  4. Re:Summary Clarification by mikael_j · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    This country is going to be taken over in November by an ideologue socialist (presently masquerading as a moderate to garner votes) as President and an technological moron as VP.

    If you are implying that Obama is a socialist then you seriously need to remove your head from your ass and pay attention to the rest of the world, Obama is pretty far out to the right, only in the US and a few other countries would he be considered a socialist...

    /Mikael

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  5. Re:Summary Clarification by m.ducharme · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Repeat after me boys and girls; Barack Obama is not a Socialist.

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  6. Re:Summary Clarification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    No, he's a Socialist. It's just that Old Europe is so steeped in leftism they probably think anyone to the right of communism is on the right wing.

  7. Re:Summary Clarification by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    CRAP! I didn't scroll down far enough before posting....sorry for the dupe....

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