On 3/03/25 15:46, Josh Luthman via NANOG wrote:
What does it matter if they are the only option within 100 miles?
there are still plenty of transit providers No, there isn't. I literally just got an email from HE minutes ago and their closest point is an 80 mile drive. As I stated in my previous post, "We have had to build fiber about 20 route miles ($1MM) to reach our second provider. Our first provider was 4 route miles." Not everyone has the luxury of spending a million bucks to get a second fiber option.
That means HE had to build fiber about 100 miles ($5MM) to reach the location where you are peering with them. Not everyone has the luxury of spending 5 million bucks to peer with you for free.
Competition is not a luxury everyone has. Bringing awareness to (IMO bad) practices like BGP fees is a good thing for network operators.
You're welcome to become the competition. It should be about 100 miles ($5MM) to reach a place 100 miles away where there's another option. Will you be able to make enough money to justify this, or will you have to charge fees to your downstreams?