I have a customer who's trying to decide whether to renew their existing
transit contract or not for a POP they have in the UK and wondering what's
good for transit options out there.
Looking for:
- Good peering/reachability to other networks (I've already started perusing
the LINX peer list)
- Decent BGP community set (at a minimum RTBH and local pref, obviously the
richer the better)
- v6 support
- Own the last mile a bonus
Can anyone offer any recommendations?
Cheers,
GTG
you may wish to also post to the UKNOF (UK Network Operators Forum) list
Thanks
Chris
Hi Gary,
Are you after full transit or UK/Europe only?
For full transit all the big carriers are in most of the major UK PoPs
(it would be handy if you mentioned the PoP name!). Just look on each
carriers website and check their PoP list. Most major teir 1s meet
your requirements, tier 2's I've seen that meet youre requirements
with present in the UK are Hibernia, IIX/IXReach/Allegro, Init7 etc.
If you want a UK or European view only, I know networks like Enta
which are well peered offer their European partial transit view for
less than the cost of a full table feed. I'm sure there are others
too.
+1 for Chris's advice, reach out on UKNOF.
Cheers,
James.
It seems some time if you want a good uplink you have to rent a L2
channel to another country for that 
So that can be an option too.
Suggestion ....Hibernia Networks ?
Faisal Imtiaz
Snappy Internet & Telecom
Its Layer 3 network now includes the lowest latency route across the Atlantic. Our new cable system: http://www.hibernianetworks.com/corp/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Hibernia_Express_Financial_FINAL.pdf.
Roderick Beck
Sales - Europe and the Americas
Hibernia Networks
This e-mail and any attachments thereto is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may be proprietary and/or legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email, and any attachments thereto, without the prior written permission of the sender is strictly prohibited. If you receive this e-mail in error, please immediately telephone or e-mail the sender and permanently delete the original copy and any copy of this e-mail, and any printout thereof. All documents, contracts or agreements referred or attached to this e-mail are SUBJECT TO CONTRACT. The contents of an attachment to this e-mail may contain software viruses that could damage your own computer system. While Hibernia Networks has taken every reasonable precaution to minimize this risk, we cannot accept liability for any damage that you sustain as a result of software viruses. You should carry out your own virus checks before opening any attachment.
Hi Gary,
For full transit all the big carriers are in most of the major UK PoPs
(it would be handy if you mentioned the PoP name!). Just look on each
carriers website and check their PoP list.
As per James, you did forget to point out where the PoP is. The location
matters, as - contrary to what James says - if you're not in London you
can quite often find some large gaps in 'big carrier' availability.
(Actually, there are plenty of places in London where that is true as
well).
As for more direct answers:
- Good peering/reachability to other networks (I've already started perusing
the LINX peer list)
I'd suggest that your client just peer directly, if it's available in
the PoP. 
- Decent BGP community set (at a minimum RTBH and local pref, obviously the
richer the better)- v6 support
You should be good here with most of the bigger operators. It's mostly
the smaller tier-2s that don't tend to get these right. Easy to avoid.
- Own the last mile a bonus
This is trickier in the UK. There aren't *that* many people with their
own fibre in the ground; quite often it's all, or partially, leased DF.
Most with their own fibre _and_ sizeable transit business, are the big
telcos (whom I'd avoid buying from, personally). On the other hand, this
does not seem to be an issue for a well-built/planned network.
A few bits of advice:
- Prices are changing a lot, so don't sign contracts >12 months
- Put 3356 in that list of 'big telcos'*
* Very little seems to be going well for them in the UK lately.
More details on location & commitments, and whether you wish to peer
directly, will probably help narrow down recommendations.
Regards,