So please someon,e please tell me I am correct in saying to all these not so bright people that there really is not an 'Internet Backbone' that USWest, SISNA (who now claims to be the 3rd largest ISP/NSP and still have only a T1 to MCI, and claim that is a DS3) and all these other people who think that they are connected to the internet back bone.
Hang on one second, Christian. SISNA, as well as a couple of your very close neighbors, all subscribe to the odd end of that same DS3 and ALL call it THEIRS and THEIRS ALONE!! Some blithering idiots call it fiber. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but GW only has that DS3 cranked out to about 18Mb, right? When in doubt traceroute. To answer the question without being a bitter sod because I'm just as pissed at these arrogant #%@&ers for lying through their teeth (isn't that what business is about?), used to be (way back when glass was sand and Ethernet was king), the term "backbone" implied you were connected to at least one of the major IXes AND HAD FULL PEERING. This technicality was a verifyable way of saying that ALL your traffic went the shortest route possible to its destination, REGARDLESS if you were a customer or not, because NOBODY filtered you out. These days, the BYU marketing twits have it stuck in slo-mo that "backbone" means MCI, Sprint, AnyoneElse Inc or BestISP-USA, and you know what the sad part is? People eat it up. You have no idea what we go through trying to educate people that NAP connections PLUS NSP connections equals better reliability than a T-1 through SmallAdISP who's connected to someone recently termed "backbone" by Idiots On The Web Magazine (April issue, page 3248). I'm with ya 100% However, the realist inside remembers people local to you and me with big stinky mouths that are still in business Nationwide for some stupid reason, and that makes me realize that people like that will never go away. The silver lining is that customers will eventually realize what "good" really is, and that's when it'll be time to put up or shut up. Biting dogs on this side, barking dogs on that side. Carl Cogito Ergo Amicrosoft And, BTW, dear reader, don't CC me and the bloody list / group too!