There are a few ranking ranking sites out there for IP. Which is more credible and which is not especially for those who needs to evaluate upstreams. Each claim to have their own algorithm (some are secret) to rank each upstream so it may not be easy to dispute if they are right or wrong. Perhaps we shall go by the industry knowledge about their connectivity especially in Asia.
Let's start with Netconfig.
One AS that stood out is AT&T. They have already left the wholesale market and are not longer active in that space. I am not sure if they even have any more customers connected in Asia at all. Yet they are still ranked number 2. In US, I am sure as they are still the incumbent there. However, for those connecting to AT&T in Asia, I believe you will find alot of routes missing and have to go all the way to US and back. And what is Rostelecom doing up there? They are not even a Tier 1 and probably only have presence in Europe?
For SingTel (an Asian carrier), you should get quite good connectivity in Asia but then it is also not a Tier 1 and have little POPs in US and Europe.
Let's define Tier 1. There are a few different interpretations out there but the universally accepted ones is one that doesn't buy transit from anyone.
Next is Fixed and Orbit.
This also doesn't seem right. AT&T is still there and Hurricane electric (HE) who is also not a Tier 1. They are also not that successful in Asia. Sprint is also not longer active in this space. And what's Swisscom doing up there?
Next will be Caida.
Ok, this looks more like it. Those top few are really very active in the market place and winning quite a fair bit of customers so they deserved to be up there. However, for level 3 (AS3356), the connectivity is only in US and Europe as they do not have any POPs in Asia. They have under AS3549 (ex-Global Crossing) which they acquired quite recently but it is still a separate AS number.
Sparkle (AS6762) may be abit high up there as most European ISPs will not consider them a strong contender in those markets. One reason could be because they are cable owner in SMW3/SMW4 and will be stronger in the South Asia market due to this factor.
Lastly, the Renesys. Sorry, you can't see this as it is a paid access (it's not cheap).
This is rather similar to Caida site. It does carefully track the customers acquisitions or even losses by each of the upstream. The reason is the number of prefix is one of the measurement. Whenever an upstream announces new prefix, that means their routing table has increased in size. This matters as it shows the amount of routes you have. Take for example Level 3 (ranked #1), it has about 288k IPv4 prefixes (according to Caida) whereas SingTel (ranked #28) has 29k.
No dispute for Level 3 in US. They are the undisputed number 1. However, under their Europe and Asia backbone ranking, Level 3 is also number 1. There is some problem here though as in Europe, TeliaNet (TeliaSonera) AS1299 should be number 1 as they have the most number of ISP connected (~90%). In Asia, Level 3 (AS3356) do not even have a POP in Asia and they are still separate from AS3549 (ex-Global Crossing). You will be in trouble if you connect to them for Asia routes. All routes from Asia will still have to go back to US and back. The other issue is of course the cost. It is quite expensive to buy an access to Renesys as it is not free. It is probably the most accurate of them all but the only paid service around. Well, good services and product comes at a price. That's how this world works generally.
Let's start with Netconfig.
One AS that stood out is AT&T. They have already left the wholesale market and are not longer active in that space. I am not sure if they even have any more customers connected in Asia at all. Yet they are still ranked number 2. In US, I am sure as they are still the incumbent there. However, for those connecting to AT&T in Asia, I believe you will find alot of routes missing and have to go all the way to US and back. And what is Rostelecom doing up there? They are not even a Tier 1 and probably only have presence in Europe?
For SingTel (an Asian carrier), you should get quite good connectivity in Asia but then it is also not a Tier 1 and have little POPs in US and Europe.
Let's define Tier 1. There are a few different interpretations out there but the universally accepted ones is one that doesn't buy transit from anyone.
Next is Fixed and Orbit.
This also doesn't seem right. AT&T is still there and Hurricane electric (HE) who is also not a Tier 1. They are also not that successful in Asia. Sprint is also not longer active in this space. And what's Swisscom doing up there?
Next will be Caida.
Ok, this looks more like it. Those top few are really very active in the market place and winning quite a fair bit of customers so they deserved to be up there. However, for level 3 (AS3356), the connectivity is only in US and Europe as they do not have any POPs in Asia. They have under AS3549 (ex-Global Crossing) which they acquired quite recently but it is still a separate AS number.
Sparkle (AS6762) may be abit high up there as most European ISPs will not consider them a strong contender in those markets. One reason could be because they are cable owner in SMW3/SMW4 and will be stronger in the South Asia market due to this factor.
Lastly, the Renesys. Sorry, you can't see this as it is a paid access (it's not cheap).
This is rather similar to Caida site. It does carefully track the customers acquisitions or even losses by each of the upstream. The reason is the number of prefix is one of the measurement. Whenever an upstream announces new prefix, that means their routing table has increased in size. This matters as it shows the amount of routes you have. Take for example Level 3 (ranked #1), it has about 288k IPv4 prefixes (according to Caida) whereas SingTel (ranked #28) has 29k.
No dispute for Level 3 in US. They are the undisputed number 1. However, under their Europe and Asia backbone ranking, Level 3 is also number 1. There is some problem here though as in Europe, TeliaNet (TeliaSonera) AS1299 should be number 1 as they have the most number of ISP connected (~90%). In Asia, Level 3 (AS3356) do not even have a POP in Asia and they are still separate from AS3549 (ex-Global Crossing). You will be in trouble if you connect to them for Asia routes. All routes from Asia will still have to go back to US and back. The other issue is of course the cost. It is quite expensive to buy an access to Renesys as it is not free. It is probably the most accurate of them all but the only paid service around. Well, good services and product comes at a price. That's how this world works generally.
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