Everyone (of importance) agrees that in order to claim you're a backbone you have to (now, not a year ago) be connected to at least 2 public NAPs/MAEs and have at least one circuit that runs at DS3 or higher speed.
No, that is not correct. A US Internet "backbone" is one which connects to ALL the NAP/MAEs in the US. Not just two. All of them. Everyone else is just a "regional", of one size or another.
Name any ISP which meets that critiera. [Hint: who is at MAE-Chicago right now?] Once you start doing BGP peering at T3 speeds in two geographically distinct regions, you're playing in big leagues. There is a tier below that of BGP peering at one location; there is the tier above it of peering at *lots* of places rather than just a few, but IMHO once you have the multiple peering points you can call yourself a backbone or core provider, and I'll gladly testify to that in a deposition or in court if you start going around suing people who use it. -george william herbert gherbert@crl.com