A newly released report contends major US ISPs are allowing Internet congestion to occur by not upgrading their peering connections. Level 3 Communications, a communications-services provider, studied 51 of its peer ISPs around the world and found that customers are experiencing delayed or dropped packets throughout the day on congested connections to six ISPs, five of which are in the US. The company also said that rather than ensure that their networks can meet demand, ISPs generally expect payments from either the network middlemen or from content providers to deliver content to consumers. In other words, they save the higher bandwidth connections for those content or intermediate network providers that pay. Level 3 didn’t name specific ISPs engaged in this practice. Level 3 is seeking to change US laws to address this issue. However, said PC World, Level 3 has engaged in similar practices and may be more concerned about business than about customer service or consumer fairness. (PC World)(Ars Technica)(Level 3 Communications Blog)
