The FCC is about to reclassify "Broadband Internet Access Service" as an information service instead of Telecommunications Service. This prombpted the following question which isn't about the FCC action per say. This is about how does one define Transit provider vs ISP ? Cogent for instance acts as a transit provider to other networks but also sells connectivity to companies. Peer1 in Canada used to sell "transit" to a then small emerging ISP, but as its sole transit provider, provided the BGP management as well as peering at Torix. Is the service to the ISP still called "transit" ? Or would ISP be defined as the organsation which assigns IPs to end users via PPPoE of DHCP ? One could argue that a network which assigns 4 or less IPs per customer would be an ISP. But what about IPv6 where the ISP could give each end user a /64 ? Just curious to see if there are agreed upon definitions from the network operators's point of view. I note that large companies tend to do everything from transit, to residential ISP, business ISP, libraries, airports etc. For Bell Canada, it is almost all under AS577. So separating what is telecom and what is information becomes more "interesting". As a point of reference this is what I *think* the FCC defines as an ISP: ## 23. Broadband Internet access service also does not include virtual private network (VPN) services, content delivery networks (CDNs), hosting or data storage services, or Internet backbone services (if those services are separate from broadband Internet access service), consistent with past Commission precedent.69 The Commission has historically distinguished these services from “mass market” services, as they do not provide the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or substantially all Internet endpoints.70 We do not disturb that finding here. 24. Finally, we observe that to the extent that coffee shops, bookstores, airlines, private end- user networks such as libraries and universities, and other businesses acquire broadband Internet access service from a broadband provider to enable patrons to access the Internet from their respective establishments, provision of such service by the premise operator would not itself be considered a broadband Internet access service unless it was offered to patrons as a retail mass market service, as we define it here.71 Likewise, when a user employs, for example, a wireless router or a Wi-Fi hotspot to create a personal Wi-Fi network that is not intentionally offered for the benefit of others, he or she is not offering a broadband Internet access service, under our definition, because the user is not marketing and selling such service to residential customers, small business, and other end-user customers such as schools and libraries. ## The full 210 proposed FCC decision is at: https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-347927A1.pdf