In article <00c601bf9e3a$5d0d2ea0$0a8d473f@redconnect.net>, "Dustin Goodwin" <dustin@clickthings.com> wrote:

Of course the one piece of information (peering status and utilization) that would be good indicator of capacity of a ISP is always held as confidential.

That is not universally true.

Thank god people work around the rules to let customers and perspective customers know the truth about peering status. Personally I am ready for government to step in and force public reporting of peering capacity and utilization.

Is there precedent for such things in other industries? There are many, many examples of organizations that perform tests on the finished products and services an industry produces without any mandated oversight of how they are made. Currently there is a lack of quality Internet service testing and reporting organizations, but that will not necessarily always be the case. -- Shields.