Disclaimer: My mum works for AT&T on internet related stuff. This post has large elements of truth to it, especially for dumb hops over tier 1 which should be

Disclaimer: My mum works for AT&T on internet related stuff. This post has large elements of truth to it, especially for dumb hops over tier 1 which should be much cheaper than they're currently billed, but there's a lot more going on at AT&T than most people realize. Especially across the oceans. It's not quite as simplistic as this take makes it out to be, since the 5%ile case for networking a packet over tier 1 really is expensive to handle, maintain, bill, and provision. That said, there should be better regulations on tier 1 inclusion. On the other hand, they did make deep investments into infrastructure that took decades to become profitable. Often times with government assurances. It's one of the reasons telephony had such high penetration in Canada (75%) at a time when it was much lower in France (~25%), Bell was given assurances that we're now paying for in more expensive internet. Not saying it's right, but it's like this for understandable reasons, and it's not strictly raw corruption.