AS249

AS249 is a low-numbered, legacy autonomous system registered under RIPE NCC to Packet Star Networks Limited, a UK private limited company based in Fareham, Hampshire (Companies House no. 10525852, incorporated 14 December 2016, formerly ETHERREACH LIMITED until 30 April 2024). Despite the two-digit ASN, this is an actively routed, contemporary transit-and-peering network rather than a dormant relic: the RIPE RDAP autnum (handle PACKETSTAR, status active) carries a top-level registration event dated 2002-08-21 and was last changed 2024-10-31. AS249 originates one IPv4 prefix (185.116.108.0/22, ~1,024 addresses) and four IPv6 prefixes (2a06:7e00::/29, 2a06:7e00::/32, 2a06:7e01::/32, 2a06:7e07::/32), with full RIS visibility (327/327 v4 peers, 324/324 v6). CAIDA ranks it 1815 with a customer cone of 17 ASNs / 419 prefixes / 114,560 addresses and an AS degree of 27 (7 customer, 15 peer, 5 provider). The operator runs an open peering policy (AS-SET AS249:AS-CUSTOMERS, also announcing to the LONAP route server) at LINX LON1, LONAP, and NL-ix, requiring private NNI above 5 Gbps and offering it optionally above 1 Gbps. Upstreams reported across bgp.he.net and bgp.tools include AS1299 (Arelion), AS2914 (NTT), AS3257 (GTT), and AS6762 (Telecom Italia Sparkle), with AS174 (Cogent) and AS9002 (RETN) also observed. Security posture is neutral: AS249 is absent from Spamhaus ASN-DROP (2026-05-29 edition), with no NANOG abuse threads and no documented BGP hijack or route-leak incidents, and only a single 0%-confidence AbuseIPDB IP within its prefix.

Operator

Packet Star Networks Limited (formerly ETHERREACH LIMITED until 30 April 2024); UK private limited company, Companies House no. 10525852, incorporated 14 December 2016; registered address Unit D4 Segensworth Business Centre, Segensworth Road, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 5RQ

[Confirmed] — find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10525852, peeringdb.com/org/37726

AS name / RIR / status

PACKETSTAR; RIPE NCC; active [Confirmed] — rdap.db.ripe.net/autnum/249

Country

United Kingdom (GB); CAIDA country tag EU [Confirmed] — find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10525852, api.asrank.caida.org

Allocated

2002-08-21 (RIPE RDAP autnum top-level registration event); last changed 2024-10-31 [Confirmed] — rdap.db.ripe.net/autnum/249 (corroborated by bgp.tools/as/249)

Org status

active independent UK private limited company; full network independence reached 2024; expanding mainland-European infrastructure [Confirmed for company; Likely for expansion claims] — find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10525852, as249.net

Contacts

noc@packetstar.com; peering@as249.net; abuse@packetstar.net; +44 (0)20 3833 6600; RDAP admin/tech Peter Appleton (Fareham, Hampshire; personal email redacted) [Confirmed] — peeringdb.com/asn/249, as249.net, rdap.db.ripe.net/autnum/249

Websites

https://packetstar.com (main); https://as249.net (peering/network info) [Confirmed] — packetstar.com, as249.net

Security/abuse context (NEUTRAL, DATED)

no notable signal as of 2026-06-20 — absent from Spamhaus ASN-DROP (2026-05-29), no NANOG abuse threads, no BGP hijack/route-leak records; one IP (194.46.58.85) in-prefix has AbuseIPDB reports at 0% confidence; Scamalytics lists the ISP "medium fraud risk" (unverified ISP-level heuristic)

Network & routing

Network type

transit/peering ISP; PeeringDB classes Cable/DSL/ISP, Content, Enterprise; offers IP transit, DIA/leased lines up to 10 Gbps, colocation, MPLS core [Confirmed] — peeringdb.com/asn/249, packetstar.com

Size

1 IPv4 prefix originated (185.116.108.0/22, ~1,024 addresses) + 4 IPv6 prefixes; customer cone 17 ASNs / 419 prefixes / 114,560 addresses; CAIDA rank 1815, clique member [Confirmed] — stat.ripe.net/data/routing-status?resource=249, api.asrank.caida.org

Routing/peering

AS degree total 27 (customer 7, peer 15, provider 5); RIS visibility 327/327 v4, 324/324 v6; ~22 observed BGP neighbours (RIPEstat); open peering policy, AS-SET AS249:AS-CUSTOMERS, also announces to LONAP route server [Confirmed] — stat.ripe.net, rdap.db.ripe.net/autnum/249, bgp.tools/as/249

Upstreams

AS1299 (Arelion/Telia Carrier), AS2914 (NTT America), AS3257 (GTT), AS6762 (Telecom Italia Sparkle); AS174 (Cogent) and AS9002 (RETN) also observed across sources [Confirmed] — bgp.he.net/AS249, bgp.tools/as/249

RPKI

Unknown — RIPEstat RPKI-validation requires a specific prefix; none supplied at query time, so per-prefix ROA status not confirmed [Unknown] — stat.ripe.net (rpki-validation skipped)

Routing history

first seen 2007-08-02 (prefix 81.163.0.0/16); last seen 2026-06-20 (2a06:7e01::/32) [Confirmed] — stat.ripe.net/data/routing-status?resource=249

Related ASNs

AS204044 (Packet Star Networks Limited's own downstream/customer AS) [Confirmed] — bgp.tools/as/249

Peers (sample)

AS6939 (Hurricane Electric), AS3257 (GTT), AS6830 (Liberty Global), plus Cloudflare, Akamai, Netflix, Apple; bgp.tools reports 595 total peers, bgp.he.net ~26 v4 / 17 v6 observed [Confirmed] — bgp.he.net/AS249, bgp.tools/as/249, peeringdb.com/asn/249

IXP presence

LINX LON1 (London), LONAP (London, 400G), NL-ix (Amsterdam, 400G); facilities across London (Equinix LD5/LD7/LD8, Telehouse North2/West), Manchester, Amsterdam, Frankfurt [Confirmed] — peeringdb.com/asn/249, bgp.tools/as/249

Traffic profile

1–5 Tbps reported with balanced ratios (PeeringDB self-reported) [Likely] — peeringdb.com/asn/249

Analyst note

A two-digit legacy ASN that is fully active today — not dormant. RDAP top-level registration event (2002-08-21) is a first-party RIPE registry fact and is recorded as allocated_date. RPKI per-prefix status is unverified (no prefix passed to the RIPEstat validation endpoint).