With REM’s song blazing in my ears, I realized that as of yesterday “I couldn’t get there from here” was possible for a large number (15%-17%) of people online.

A dispute between Level 3 and Cogent left thousands of Internet users, including Time Warner’s Road Runner clients, struggling online Thursday after a dispute between the two service providers left large portions of the Internet unable to talk to each other.

The problems first become public knowledge after Level 3 Communications Inc. started refusing to accept traffic from rival Cogent Communications Group Inc., thereby rendering large portions of the Internet unreachable by others. Normally, large providers like Cogent and Level 3 handed off traffic from one network to each other free of charge. Recenly however, Level 3 claimed that it was handling too much Cogent traffic, and it appears to blame part of it on unfair pricing practices. This move might be directly trying to force Cogent to raise its prices, which at $10 per megabit are far below the market average of $60 or so per megabit.