> Put another way, since _every_ network does this, if you do > not want to buy from 'such networks', you cannot buy transit.
Let's put it another 'nother way. Would an end user get better connectivity by buying from a reseller of transit? In other words, buying transit from a network which also buys transit. Presumably up near the top of the chain (Tier 1 vicinity), that transit reseller has a lot of peering in place with other folks in the same neighborhood (Tier 1 vicinity). But as long as a network is a transit reseller (i.e. they buy transit), then they are less likely to suffer from partition events caused by fractious peering negotiations. --Michael Dillon frac*tious (frakshus) adj. 1. Inclined to make trouble; unruly. 2. Having a peevish nature; cranky. Also likely to cause your network having connectivity to only a fraction of the Internet.
