Friday, October 31, 2008
Sprint-Cogent Dispute May Disrupt CM/ECF Access for Cogent Customers
A news report today on the PCWorld Business Center states:
The courts have been instructed "The only guidance we can provide you at this time is to inform [Cogent customers] that we are working to find a resolution with Sprint, but short of the Cogent user switching to another ISP they will have to wait until Sprint restores communication with Cogent. A notice explaining that Cogent subscribers may be experiencing access difficulties is being placed on the PACER and uscourts.gov websites, with directions to contact the local court if they have filing questions." ¶ 11:45 AM
Since Sprint provides internet connectivity to the US Courts, CM/ECF and PACER may be unavailable to Cogent customers until traffic exchange is restored. This disruption will also affect email service between those customers and the courts.Sprint-Nextel has decided to sever its Internet connection with Cogent, another Internet service provider, according to a statement from Cogent.
Internet health data supplied by Keynote Systems indicates that Cogent and Sprint are no longer exchanging traffic.
As a result, it is no longer possible for many Sprint customers and Cogent customers to directly communicate across the Internet.
The courts have been instructed "The only guidance we can provide you at this time is to inform [Cogent customers] that we are working to find a resolution with Sprint, but short of the Cogent user switching to another ISP they will have to wait until Sprint restores communication with Cogent. A notice explaining that Cogent subscribers may be experiencing access difficulties is being placed on the PACER and uscourts.gov websites, with directions to contact the local court if they have filing questions." ¶ 11:45 AM
