2nd Root Server in Europe

(this is slightly off-topic for dns-wg, but I hope it helps to
make the issues at hand easier to understand. I don't think
that dns-wg should become a discussion list for ISP economics,
so please be considerate if you respond to this..)

On Tue, 21 Jan 1997 16:56:58 +0100  Marcel Schneider wrote:
> > As long as European major connectivity providers are ignoring each other
> > and having their best interconnection points being MAE-East or the NY Nap
> > all this seems useless to me...
> 
> Agreements, policies. Also my (personal) opinion. But as long 
> as Peter Lothberg <roll at Stupi.SE> et al are attempting to tell us 
> 'route your inter-European IP packets over the US' nothing will improve.
> The owners of 150+ MB links to the US can easily sell this opinion,
> but it is absurd.

Several people have told me they pay as much for a line to
the USA, as a line between two European countries. The former
is usually more useful, as for the latter you still need to
obtain transit to other places, which has to be paid for too.

Hence, a typical setup is a line to the USA, and some local peering,
which is often only for national traffic.

Personally, I think that for this reason Peter's comments
are valid. It has nothing to do with Internet politics, but
everything to do with extremely high prices for international
lines in Europe. Europe hasn't changed much in this regard.

Geert Jan