How do these Tier-1 providers make money. Who pays them for being the
backbone?
The Tier-2 providers, data centers and major Internet sites like
Netflix, Google, Yahoo, etc.
The telecom I work for is technically a Tier-2 provider. We buy
connectivity to several Tier-1 providers in several locations around
the country. When Netflix went on the "Net Neutrality Warpath" they
temporarily throttled down the peering connections with almost
everybody (including us) and slammed the snot out of Comcast,
regardless of the fact that they had peering connections with most
Tier-1s and a few of the Tier-2s
The Tier-1 providers have interconnect agreements with each other and
the deal of being a Tier-1 provider is that you handle the traffic for
any other Tier-1 provider on an as-need basis. A company, such as
netflix or a Tier-2 provider may be connected to just one or two
Tier-1 providers. The Tier-1 provider will route the traffic from
Tier-2 to Tier-2 or from netflix to any Tier-2 across any Tier-1
network as needed.
AG