A Tier 2 network is an Internet service provider which engages in the practice of peering with other networks, but which also purchases IP transit to reach some portion of the Internet.1
Tier 2 providers are the most common Internet service providers, as it is much easier to purchase transit from a Tier 1 network than to peer with them and attempt to become a Tier 1 carrier.
The term Tier 3 is sometimes also used to describe networks who solely purchase IP transit from other networks to reach the Internet.
List of large or important Tier 2 networks
| Name | AS Number | August 2021 degree23 | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Electric | 6939 | 9243 | IPv4: Purchases transit from Arelion/AS1299.4 IPv6: Does not provide IPv6 routing/connectivity to Cogent/AS174.56 |
| Cogent Communications | 174 | 7041 | IPv6: Does not provide IPv6 routing/connectivity to Hurricane Electric/AS6939.56 |
| Telkom Indonesia International | 7713 | 551 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Cogent/AS174, Arelion/AS1299, NTT America/AS2914, Telecom Italia Sparkle/AS6762, Tata Communications/AS6453, Singtel/AS7473. |
| RETN | 9002 | 1446 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Telecom Italia Sparkle/AS6762. |
| next layer | 1764 | 987 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Cogent/AS174, Arelion/AS1299, NTT America/AS2914, GTT/AS3257. |
| meerfarbig | 34549 | 688 | Purchases transit from Arelion/AS1299, GTT. |
| Korea Telecom | 4766 | 578 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Arelion/AS1299, Cogent/AS174, Telecom Italia Sparkle/AS6762. |
| Fibrenoire | 22652 | 127 | Purchases transit from Arelion/AS1299, Cogent/AS174, Tata Communications/AS6453, GTT/AS3257. |
| SK broadband | 9318 | 537 | Purchases transit from Arelion/AS1299, Cogent/AS174, NTT America/AS2914, Tata Communications/AS6453, PCCW Global/AS3491, Verizon/AS701. |
| TDC | 3292 | 191 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Arelion/AS1299. |
| Internet Initiative Japan | 2497 | 329 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Cogent/AS174, Verizon/AS701, NTT America/AS2914. |
| Vodafone (formerly Cable and Wireless) | 1273 | 303 | Purchases transit from Arelion/AS1299. |
| KDDI | 2516 | 308 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Arelion/AS1299, Verizon/AS701, GTT/AS3257. |
| PT Mora Telematika Indonesia | 23947 | 243 | Purchases transit from Cogent/AS174, GTT/AS3257, Hurricane Electric/AS6939. |
| China Telecom | 4134/4809 | 318 | Purchases transit from Cogent/AS174, Verizon/AS701, Lumen/AS3356. |
| China Unicom | 4837 | 310 | Purchases transit from Cogent/AS174, Verizon/AS701, Lumen/AS3356, Orange S.A./AS5511. |
| Chunghwa Telecom | 3462 | 364 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Tata Communications/AS6453, NTT America/AS2914, Arelion/AS1299, Cogent/AS174. |
| British Telecom | 5400 | 151 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Arelion/AS1299, NTT America/AS2914. |
| Comcast | 7922 | 192 | Purchases transit from Tata Communications/AS6453, NTT America/AS2914. |
| Tele2 (formerly SWIPNet) | 1257 | 167 | Purchases transit from Cogent/AS174. |
| KCOM Group | 12390 | 69 | Purchases transit from KPN/AS286, Lumen/AS3356, Cogent/AS174, NTT America/AS2914. |
| Spirit Communications | 2711 | 82 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Cogent/AS174, Arelion/AS1299, NTT America/AS2914. |
| Stealth Communications | 8002 | 47 | Purchases transit from Cogent/AS174, NTT America/AS2914. |
| Internap | 14744 | 33 | Purchases transit from Cogent/AS174, NTT America/AS2914, Verizon/AS701. |
| FiberRing | 38930 | 35 | Purchases transit from NTT America/AS2914, Arelion/AS1299, Tata Communications/AS6453, Cogent/AS174. |
| Core-Backbone GmbH | 33891 | 1311 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Arelion/AS1299. |
| Fiber Telecom | 41327 | 2145 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, GTT/AS3257, Telecom Italia Sparkle/AS6762, Arelion/AS1299. |
| Singtel | 7473 | 359 | Purchases transit from Arelion/AS1299, Zayo/AS6461, Tata Communications/AS6453, PCCW Global/AS3491. |
| SG.GS | 24482 | 417 | Purchases IP transit from NTT America/AS2914, Cogent/AS174, Tata Communications/AS6453. |
| Turk Telekom International (d/b/a Euroweb.ro) |
9121/6663 | 250 | Purchases IP transit from Lumen/AS3356, Arelion/AS1299, NTT America/AS2914, Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier/AS3320, China Telecom/AS4134&AS4809. |
| EdgeUno | 7195 | 758 | Purchases transit from Lumen/AS3356, Cogent/AS174, Arelion/AS1299, NTT America/AS2914. |
| C Spire | 11272 | 523 | Purchases transit from Cogent/AS174, NTT America/AS2914, Zayo/AS6461. |
References
References
- Norton, William B. "What is a Tier 2 ISP?". DrPeering. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
- "AS Rank: A ranking of the largest Autonomous Systems (AS) in the Internet". asrank.caida.org.
- Visualizing Internet Topology at a Macroscopic Scale April 2005
- "CAIDA AS Rank". 2016-01-25. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
- "Cogent - Google - HE Fun". 2016-03-09. Archived from the original on 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
- Ben, Cartwright-Cox. "Network Partitions (HE and Cogent)". BGP.tools. Retrieved 2026-01-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)