Wary of running afoul of the FCC's new net neutrality rules (which technically take effect on Saturday) transit providers and last mile ISPs have suddenly and magically been settling their differences and signing new arrangements that end years of squabbling on the interconnection front. For example, a year ago Level 3 was accusing Verizon of sabotaging peering points for a buck, and now they're the very best of friends.

A year ago, companies like Cogent and Level3 claimed AT&T, Verizon and Comcast were letting peering points saturate to kill settlement free peering and extract new direct interconnection tolls from the likes of Comcast.

But after Cogent and Level 3 hinted they'd use the new FCC rules to file complaints about this behavior, everybody is just getting along famously. Cogent now says companies like Comcast are added capacity wherever needed, and Cogent and AT&T this week were the latest companies to strike new interconnection deals both sides appear happy with.

"Both Cogent and AT&T's customers will benefit from this agreement for years to come," said Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer on the new AT&T deal. "We are putting customer needs at the forefront by enabling an expanded, secure and resilient interconnection environment."

Why it's almost as if the mere specter of real net neutrality rules have carriers getting along to the benefit of customers! That's quite a far cry from the industry claims that net neutrality rules would destroy the Internet as we know it, though surely the timing of these new deals (many of which don't include payment) is coincidental.