On Nov 3, 2008, at 10:02 AM, Eric Van Tol wrote:
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 8:55 AM
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
Can anyone explain to me why end users find it so important to label
carriers as "Tier 1" or "Tier 2"?
In my experience, end users generally don't know and almost never
care. It's the sales people who talk about tiers.
Regards
Marshall
The prevailing theory in the heads of prospective customers is that
a "Tier 1" is somehow inherently better than a "Tier 2" (or lower),
even though they don't quite understand the concepts behind why the
"Tier" designation even exist(s/ed). These labels, at least to me,
are no longer very relevant in today's internet world. In fact,
would anyone agree that being a "Tier 1", as Cogent believes
themselves to be, leaves that network in a very painful position
when things like their frequent peering disputes happen?
For an NSP, it's obviously a "good thing" to be SFI-only, as in
theory, it _should_ lower your costs. YMMV, as mentioned in a
previous thread. However, what does it really matter to an end-
user, especially if they are biased towards using "Tier 1" networks
only? Why does a network who purchases transit give the impression
to end users that that network's internet genitalia is somehow
smaller than, say, Verizon or AT&T? I can see merit in touting the
size and coverage of the actual network, but it's always been my
understanding that this is not the true definition of the tiered
system.
-evt
