Level 3, Cogent to Continue Exchanging Traffic

Level 3 Communications Inc. and Cogent Communications Inc. have resolved their differences.

Level 3 had said earlier this month it was terminating its peering relationship with the ISP because the terms of the companies previous agreement no longer benefited Level 3.

Cogent was sending far more traffic to the Level 3 network than Level 3 was sending to Cogent’s network, explained Sureel Choksi, executive vice president of Level 3 Communications, on Oct. 7. traffic received by Level 3 in a peering relationship must be moved across Level 3’s network at considerable expense. Simply put, this means that, without paying, Cogent was using far more of Level 3’s network, far more of the time, than the reverse.

The wholesaler said despite multiple attempts to contact Cogent that it would no longer provide free peering services, the ISP did not respond, and apparently did not let its customers know they stood to lose their connections.

Today, after three weeks of negotiations, the companies announced they will continue exchanging Internet traffic, now that they have modified their original peering agreement. One of the clauses calls for payments to be made if certain traffic exchange obligations are not met. The companies are keeping the agreements specific terms confidential.

Level 3 added it will not disconnect Ethernets customers on Nov. 9, as the customer had previously announced.