From 45% to 95% local routing: Quad9’s breakthrough in US Anycast performance

How strategic interconnection turned fragmented routing into nationwide consistency

Quad9 operates one of the world’s most widely used DNS security platforms, protecting over 100 million users from malicious domains while maintaining a global Anycast network designed for speed, resilience, and privacy.

But in the United States, the organization faced a unique set of challenges. While they needed to ensure that as many networks as possible routed DNS queries to the closest Quad9 location, the connectivity landscape made this goal difficult to achieve.

This written case study explores how Quad9 partnered with i3D.net to overcome these structural barriers and dramatically improve routing accuracy and DNS performance for users across the country. The video is a conversation between Zachary Gilman, Manager, Network and Interconnection at Quad9, and Martijn Schmidt, VP of Network at i3D.net, exploring these topics in depth.

The challenges: A fragmented landscape, routing inconsistency, and limited access

A fragmented connectivity landscape

Unlike Europe, where interconnection is heavily driven by dense peering ecosystems, or Asia, where regional peering norms dominate, the United States is a patchwork of different strategies and incentives that create their own unique challenges Each network within the region has its own mix of transit providers, IXPs, and, most importantly, interconnection philosophies.

For example, thousands of ASNs have no public peering at all, and rely exclusively on tier‑one transit, while others connect only to specific IXPs. This is often from a single exchange operator available in a small number of metros. Finally, others prefer private peering, but only with high‑volume networks.

“The US is such a diverse market in terms of public peering. A lot of networks are only connected to one set of exchanges. And on the other hand, you have equally large networks that are only connected to public peering on a completely different IXP. For a non-profit, trying to connect to all these IXPs to get as much coverage as possible was difficult.” 

Zachary Gilman, Manager, Network and Interconnection at Quad9

For an anycast service to deliver high performance, interconnection consistency and granularity are critical. If traffic has to detour to a completely different metro area just to reach the targeted network, latency and reliability suffer.

An organically grown network with inconsistent routing

Quad9’s US footprint grew organically over a number of years. Originally starting with just three locations, it eventually expanded to 20. Each metro had its own blend of tier‑one transit providers, which created unpredictable routing behavior. For example, Metro A might use transit providers A and B, Metro B might use providers B and C, and Metro C might use a completely different mix.

These inconsistencies caused routing imbalances. Some metros became “monoliths” that were too large to fail. This added risk and made it problematic to lose them for even a few hours, whether to do maintenance work or handle an outage in a manner transparent to end users. And these attracted far more traffic than intended simply because their transit blend happened to be more attractive to certain ASNs.

Limited access to IXPs and private peering

As a nonprofit with low‑bandwidth DNS traffic, Quad9 faced two structural disadvantages:

Joining every relevant IXP was cost‑prohibitive, especially given the sheer number of exchanges in the US.
Private peering was difficult to secure, because many networks evaluate peering value based on gigabits per second rather than the importance of DNS infrastructure.

Even when operators understood the value of DNS, most prioritized high‑volume peers, leaving Quad9 without access to many networks that would benefit from local routing

Partnering with i3D.net

Quad9 found a strategic partner in i3D.net, whose network architecture and interconnection philosophy aligned perfectly with Quad9’s needs.

A consistent tier‑one transit blend across all metros

i3D.net operates with a globally uniform transit mix across all major regions including the US. This strategy is applied consistently on every continent. Wherever available, i3D.net connects to NTT and Arelion, and maintains presence with Colt, Lumen, and Cirion in all regions except Asia.

By moving Quad9’s US anycast footprint onto this consistent foundation, the organization eliminated the routing inconsistencies that had plagued its organically grown network, preventing inefficient detours and “scenic routing.”

This uniformity ensured:

Predictable anycast behavior, making for easier failure planning
Balanced traffic distribution across the country
No more metro‑level overloads caused by transit asymmetry
Localized routing to a far larger degree than previously possible

“Our US network had grown organically, leaving us with an inconsistent transit blend across metros. i3D.net’s consistent tier‑one transit immediately fixed that and stabilized our traffic distribution.”

Zachary Gilman, Manager, Network and Interconnection at Quad9

An extensive presence across US IXPs

Further, i3D.net maintains an extensive presence across US IXPs, including many that some large networks use exclusively. By leveraging this footprint, Quad9 gained access to a far broader set of networks without needing to join each exchange individually. This dramatically expanded Quad9’s reach while reducing operational overhead.

Access to high-volume private peering

And finally, because i3D.net is a high‑bandwidth network with its own long-distance backbone, it qualifies for settlement‑free private peering with operators who would not consider peering directly with a low‑bandwidth DNS service.

Therefore, through i3D.net, Quad9 effectively gained:

Private peering with major networks
Access to operators who only peer with large‑scale traffic sources
A level of interconnection that would otherwise be unattainable for a nonprofit

This trifecta created the foundation Quad9 needed to optimize its routing nationwide.

The result: A dramatic leap in routing accuracy and performance

From 40–50% to 95% of local routing

Before the partnership, only about 40–50% of ASNs in some metros routed to the nearest Quad9 location. After integrating with i3D.net’s consistent transit and broad peering reach, Quad9 saw that number rise to approximately 95%.

This improvement didn’t just show up in latency graphs. It was also noticed by the community. Many users actively monitor 9.9.9.9 with tools like Smokeping from their homes or offices. When they saw traffic becoming more local and latency dropping, they reached out to Quad9 to share their appreciation, saying their community had “got some love.”

Therefore, the result was not only lower latency and higher resilience, but also measurable user satisfaction and direct feedback from the people who rely on Quad9 every day.

Even traffic distribution across the US

The consistent transit blend eliminated the “monolith” metros that previously absorbed a disproportionate amount of the total traffic volume in the US. Load is now evenly distributed, ensuring optimal performance and reducing the risk of localized resource exhaustion.

Broader coverage without overhead

Quad9 gained access to more IXPs, more private peers, and more ASNs, without needing to expand its own physical footprint or negotiate of individual agreements. This allowed the organization to focus on its mission of security, privacy, and DNS reliability, rather than network‑building logistics.

A faster, more resilient anycast network for 10 million US users

The partnership with i3D.net strengthened Quad9’s US presence in a way that directly benefits end users. Queries now reach the closest resolver far more consistently, improving both speed and reliability across the country.

Delivering on their mission to bring better DNS services to their users

Quad9’s collaboration with i3D.net demonstrates how strategic interconnection can transform the performance of a global anycast network, even in a situation as complex as Quad9 found itself in the US. By leveraging i3D.net’s consistent transit blend, extensive public peering, and key private peering relationships, Quad9 achieved a level of routing accuracy and coverage that would have been nearly impossible to build independently.

The result is a faster, more predictable, and more resilient DNS experience for millions of users, reinforcing Quad9’s mission to provide secure, privacy‑respecting DNS services worldwide.

Contact our team to see how we can help your DNS services!

Company Description

Quad9 is a not-for-profit, free, recursive, Anycast DNS platform that provides end users robust security protections, high performance and privacy.

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