At 4:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, October 30th Sprint (A Tier 1 Internet backbone provider) severed their peering connections with fellow Tier 1 Internet backbone provider Cogent Communications. This depeering was due to a contract dispute that Cogent claimed was already in litigation. Murdok broke this story within hours of the depeering.
Peering Into Internet Dispute
Level 3 has cutoff the peering connection to Cogent Communications, and that has disrupted Internet service for customers.