Horrible lag on Balmung the past two evenings.

[Raist]

Your ISP can resolve it because the breakdown is at the exchange point between Level3 and Ormuco. That last hop before the private IP is Level3, the first hop after that is Ormuco. Sometimes the fix isn't a very immediate one. They may need to request bandwidth increases and such...install additional port cards maybe, maybe even remove an existing router and bring in a more robust one. These things can drag out for a while, depending on how bad the pissing contest gets. On the other hand, your ISP can alter your routing much quicker to try to avoid the troubled hop(s).

Your ISP has the resources and ability to rather quickly change you to using a different peer (at least any of the larger ones in the US will), or possibly change the pathing so you come in on a different vector (you could go NYC to Montreal, or over towards Buffalo and slingshot Toronto--might put you on a different port coming into Montreal even with the same ISP). Here is a breakdown of the peering options available for connecting to Ormuco:

AS3257 	Tinet SpA
AS3356 	Level 3 Communications, Inc.
AS701 	Verizon Business/UUnet
AS174 	Cogent Communications
AS6453 	TATA COMMUNICATIONS (AMERICA) INC

TiNet is more foreign country focused, but the other 4 making up roughly 71% of their peering are major providers throughout the US and beyond.

Your ISP is free to peer with anyone of them and most likely peer with at least two of them already, if not more. My ISP (TWC-SC) peers directly with TATA and Level3 right here in the Carolinas, and one hop further to another trunk just one state over (Georgia) picks up Cogent. They frequently flip me amongst these three ISP's routinely.

Literally...in virtually no time flat I can get flipped from going to Raleigh-Durham or Charlotte or Atlanta to any one of the other two. Seriously, at the drop of a hat, they can cycle my modem remotely and I am updated. I have had the modem cycle in the middle of Expert Roulette, logged back in before I get booted, continued the run and then checked my connection and find I have switched peers and am now running a different route to Montreal. Not kidding, I have actually had it change twice in one night...TATA when I got home, ate dinner and came back and was on Cogent, and before I went to bed they flipped me back to TATA again.

It simply should be one of the quickest ways to get an alternate route and <hopefully> avoid a troublesome segment. Another is to use a flexible VPN service with tunnels all over the place to choose from. Both approaches can accomplish the same means to an end. You are flopping around on Level3...change the route so you come in on either someone else's lines or at least use a different path on the same ISP (like those car2.Montreal lines of Level3--routes with those routers regular show up in posts where people are having issues).

Your ISP may be your best advocate for resolving routing issues if you find them.