Internet outages

Here's a question about the content of nanog (the list)... I was
originally pointed to nanog as a place to hear about Internet
outage/problems. Well, so far (over about a month), I think I've seen two

In theory, you should be able to get this information from your
direct provider. While every written peering agreement I've seen
includes a paragraph about notifying other providers about scheduled
and unscheduled outages; it is rare in customer agreements. Unlike
the telephone, electrical, or nuclear industries; there is no government
reporting requirements. In the 'new' privatized Internet, it is up to
you to negotiate with your provider and for providers to negotiate
with each other.

I've talked to a number of managers at large and small providers. They
say they don't see any "real" customer demand for this. "Real" being
defined in management terms "affecting the bottom line."

The response for the engineers at those providers is also fairly
predicatable. The engineers say "Would you rather we spend the time
fixing the problem, or telling you there is a problem?"

Fortunately there is a wide range of providers. If you look around,
I suspect you will find some providers are a bit more proactive about
informing their customers than others.

Come on folk. The useful, as opposed to ISP-bashing, answers are:

  o All ISPs have an outage mailing list. Ask your ISP to get on theirs.

  o For overall info, Stan Barber is running an outage mailing list.

randy