Another dispute is brewing between two ISPs, this time between Sprint and Cogent.
Sprint-Nextel has decided to sever its Internet connection with Cogent, another Internet service provider, according to a statement from Cogent.
As a result, it is no longer possible for many Sprint customers and Cogent customers to directly communicate across the Internet.
The two ISPs are currently engaged in litigation over their exchange of Internet traffic, so-called peering. In shutting down the peering between the two, Sprint violated a contractual obligation to exchange Internet traffic with Cogent on a settlement-free peering basis, according to Cogent.
It’s not clear what terms are that the two companies are fight about nor which Web sites are affected. It is clear that this carrier has had similar disagreements with other carriers in the past, including a major riff between Level 3 communications back in 2005 that blocked several web sites. Before I start grandstanding about this disagreement between ISPs as the main reason why we need net neutrality, we may need to investigate Cogent and why this company has several disputes with other ISPs over exchanging traffic.