For now at least, a temporary truce has been reached between backbone providers Level 3 and Cogent, so their customers once again can reach any destination on the Net at any time. See the report here. And so far, to restore this happy state of affairs, neither the FCC nor Congress, nor even the UN, has had to get involved, although some on the Hill couldn't resist a little grandstanding.

Last week I explained here why these types of interconnection disputes are almost always better left to the marketplace for resolution, especially in market segemnts that are as competitive as the Internet long-haul backbone segment.

I still think the dispute between Level 3 and Cogent will be resolved without regulatory intervention and in a way that does not lead to major disruptions of Internet traffic. But stay tuned.