Peering Dispute Disrupts World of Warcraft

The Cogent-Telia peering dispute is causing major grief for gamers whose ISPs rely solely on Cogent for connectivity, who now find themselves unable to access World of Warcraft, the world's most popular online game. It turns out that Blizzard Entertainment, which operates Warcraft, uses Telia for its Internet backbone services. Blizzard has advised Warcraft players of the business dispute between Cogent and Telia, which is also being discussed on Warcraft community news sites. It's not clear whether this is affecting only Cogent networks in Europe, or the U.S. as well.

In de-peering Telia, Cogent is wagering that pressure from Telia's users will bring the European broadband giant back to the table to work out their differences. But the Warcraft issue can't be happy news for Cogent's ISP customers, who are no doubt fielding complaints from angry gamers.

For more on network provider disputes and online gaming, check out RampRate's column from 2006 titled "Every Time You Vote Against Net Neutrality, Your ISP Kills A Night Elf."