Verizon and Cogent settle differences, agree to boost Internet quality

Verizon and Cogent announced an interconnection agreement that should improve Internet quality for Verizon's FiOS and DSL customers. The good news may be thanks partly to the Federal Communications Commission decision to reclassify broadband providers as common carriers, because Cogent could have complained to the FCC if the deal wasn't signed. Cogent, a transit provider that distributes traffic on behalf of businesses that deliver services over the Internet, has fought bitterly with Internet providers such as Verizon over whether it should have to pay for connections to their networks.

Cogent has maintained that the peering agreements should remain "settlement-free," without money changing hands, and says it won't have to pay Verizon under the new agreement. The fights reached a fever pitch when Cogent was distributing traffic from Netflix, which accounts for about a third of North American Internet traffic during peak usage hours. Netflix agreed to pay Verizon for direct connections to its network in 2014, relieving much of the stress on the Cogent-Verizon connections. But according to Cogent founder and CEO Dave Schaeffer, the Cogent/Verizon links are still "massively oversubscribed," causing performance problems when Verizon customers access the websites of Cogent customers. Cogent had threatened to file complaints to the FCC, as allowed by the commission's Open Internet Order. But that won't be necessary, at least in the case of Verizon, because of the agreement.