USA Route Servers
A focused listing of public route servers located within the United States, drawn from the broader RouteServer.org directory. Use these servers to inspect BGP routing tables and troubleshoot network reachability.
United States Route Servers
Below are the US-based public route servers and looking glass sites catalogued on RouteServer.org. These servers were verified and updated as of Summer 2009. Access is typically available via telnet — consult your browser or terminal client for compatibility.
- AT&T East
- AT&T West
- BBN Planet
- CerfNet
- Exodus
- GBLX
- GT Group
- HE (Hurricane Electric)
- Host.net
- Internet Ex PTT Metro
- nlayer comm
- Oregon (University of Oregon Route Views Project)
- SAVVIS
- Sprint (Zebra)
- Switch Comm.
- Telus-East
- Terremark
- Time Warner
- Utah
- Wiltel
Looking for other regions? The full World Route Servers directory covers Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and Africa. For BGP tutorials and expert resources, visit BGP Expert or Cisco Experts.
Public route servers in the United States give network operators, students, and enthusiasts a practical way to inspect the global routing table without operating their own BGP-speaking infrastructure. By connecting to one of these servers via telnet, users can issue commands to view route advertisements, check prefix reachability, and trace the paths that traffic takes across the internet. This kind of hands-on access is especially valuable for troubleshooting reachability issues, verifying that a given network is announcing its prefixes correctly, or simply learning how the border gateway protocol behaves in a live environment rather than in a lab simulation.
The US-based listings on RouteServer.org draw from a broad catalog of public looking glass sites and route servers maintained by various carriers, exchanges, and research networks. While many of these services have been operational for years, users should be aware that access methods and supported commands can vary from one server to the next. Some servers require a simple telnet connection, while others may offer web-based interfaces or limited command sets. It is always wise to review the specific instructions provided for each entry before connecting, especially when using a modern browser or terminal that may handle legacy protocols differently.
For anyone studying internet routing or managing a network, these public resources serve as a convenient reference point when a routing issue arises. Instead of relying solely on internal monitoring tools, an operator can cross-check their observations against what a third-party route server sees from a different vantage point on the network. This independent perspective can help isolate whether a problem is local to one network or part of a broader routing anomaly. The directory also reflects the wider global ecosystem of route servers, giving users a sense of how interconnected the internet's routing infrastructure truly is.
How to Use a Route Server
Click the telnet link or open a terminal and connect to the route server address. Once connected, you can query the BGP table to inspect routing information for a specific prefix. For example:
Route_server# show ip bgp x.x.x.x
This helps isolate routing issues by showing how a particular network is seen from that server's perspective. Firefox users can typically launch telnet sessions directly; Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP or Vista may require a configuration patch.