IP transit, carriers, and ASN in colocation: how to choose
Connectivity determines resilience and a large share of the final cost of your hosting, yet it is frequently treated as an afterthought. Here are the concepts that matter, without needless jargon.
Estimate my cost →Transit or peering? #
IP transit provides access to the entire internet through an upstream carrier. Peering means exchanging traffic directly with another network, often through an internet exchange. Transit is simple and complete but paid; peering cuts cost and latency on part of your traffic. The two work together.
Do you need your own ASN? #
An ASN (autonomous system number) is your network's identity on the internet, obtained from your regional registry (RIPE NCC in Europe). With your own ASN and IP addresses, you can multi-home: connect to several carriers over BGP and keep running if one goes down.
Diversity is resilience #
A single carrier is a single point of failure. Best practice is to have several genuinely diverse carriers present. The catch is knowing which carriers are actually present in the data center's Meet-Me Room: a hard piece of information to obtain, and a decisive one.
FAQ #
The traffic exchange can be, but costs remain: the port, the cross-connect, the exchange membership. Peering reduces transit; it does not remove it.
Written on 1 September 2026.
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