According to one embodiment, an apparatus that makes improved routing decisions is provided that includes a receiver, a retriever, a proximity engine, and a transmitter. The receiver may be configured to receive a request from a source. The retriever may be configured to retrieve a plurality of providers capable of servicing the request. The proximity engine may be configured to rank the plurality of providers based on weights indicative of a network distance. The weights may correspond to a first Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) community attribute associated with the source and at least a second BGP community attribute associated with at least one of the providers in the plurality of providers. The transmitter may be configured to transmit the request to the provider in the plurality of providers with the highest ranking.