How to choose the right BGP Provider and ISP Peering Partner in India?

The right BGP provider is the one that filters routes properly, supports BGP communities, publishes a public looking glass, and backs its peering with a clear SLA - not just the one offering the lowest price. Ask about their maximum-prefix policy, which communities they support for traffic engineering, and their typical response time for BGP-specific issues before signing anything, since a poorly-supported ISP relationship causes more day-to-day BGP headaches than misconfiguration on your own end.

What to evaluate?

Look at BGP community support (can you tag routes for specific behaviors), prefix limits the ISP will accept from you, how strictly they filter routes on their side, IPv6 support, and the SLA terms backing the connection.

Questions to ask before signing?

Ask what BGP communities they support and document. Ask about their maximum-prefix policy. Ask whether they run a public looking glass so you can verify how your routes appear from their side. Ask about typical support response time for BGP-specific issues, not general connectivity issues.

Indian ISP BGP capabilities

Major Indian ISPs support BGP peering for business customers, though the depth of support (community tagging, prefix limits, dedicated BGP support contacts) varies by account tier. Confirm current terms directly with each provider before choosing. 

Single upstream vs multiple upstreams

A single upstream is simpler to manage but gives you no protection if that provider has an outage. Multiple upstreams cost more and add configuration complexity, but that redundancy is usually the entire reason you're implementing BGP in the first place.

Tier 1 vs Tier 2

Tier 1 providers reach the entire Internet without purchasing IP transit from another network. Tier 2 providers purchase transit from one or more upstream providers

For most Indian businesses, a well-supported Tier 2 relationship is more practical and often more responsive than a Tier 1 enterprise contract.

Red flags

Watch for ISPs that don't filter routes on their end, don't support BGP communities, or have no public looking glass tool. These are signs of an underdeveloped BGP practice on their side, regardless of what their sales team promises.