I have to say that Jim makes a fairly convincing case. I guess the only way to force the issue would be for the Europeans to cut the transatlantic links and see who blinks first. Would American NSPs start throwing cables across the pond? I don't know. Nonetheless, there is an argument that American networks benefit greatly from the leverage which being in the US provides, leverage dependent purely on the number of hosts within the States and independent of regulation, tarriffs, etc. I think the argument is undermined by the fact that peering in Europe is in a fairly dismal state. Were there a MAE-{London, Paris, Prague} I somehow think that the big five at least might throw a T3 or two over. Until that happens, nothing will change. Maybe as access points start springing up in Japan, the Phillipines, etc., the roadblocks to such a cooperative project will start to be removed. __ Todd Graham Lewis Linux! Core Engineering Mindspring Enterprises tlewis@mindspring.com (800) 719 4664, x2804