Peering Request - basic rules

The main objective of the peering request is to make it as easy for the other party to agree to peer with your network. So all the relevant information that they need to decide whether they want to peer with you should be in there, but nothing more.

When a network gets to a certain size, it is worth to start  peering, i.e. make direct connection with other networks and exchange the traffic directly rather than paying an ISP to transport packets.

As a rule, no money changes hands in a peering relationship. All over the globe there are Internet Exchanges (IXes) that help people who want to peer connect to each other.


Smaller networks commonly want to peer with everyone, but big networks only want to peer with other big networks. The goal of the peering request is to make it easy for the other party to say “yes” as possible. Key to successful establishment of peering partnership is respecting peering request etiquette.

The first rule to respect when emailing peering requests is using a subject line like this: “Peering request from Me (AS65700) to You (AS64939)”. Your message must explain who you are and why peering with you is a good idea. Learn more about peering policy in the article  Peering Request Etiquette.