A Study of Caribbean Interconnection &Traffic Exchange
LAC INTERNET TRAFFIC ISSUES
www.caribnog.org
CaribNOG Research TeamStephen Lee; Andre Edwards; Steve Spence; Bevil Wooding
BACKGROUND
Understanding the
Caribbean Context
REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY
A Tale of Cable, Communities,
Competition and Commerce
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
ARCOS-1 – 960 GB /s 24 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
FIBRALINK – 320 GB /s 4 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
CFX -1 – 150 GB /s 3 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
GCN - 2.1 TB /s 15 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
ECFS - 1.34 TB /s 14 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
MAYA 1 – 20 GB /s 7 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
AMERICAS 2 - 2.5 GB /s 9 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
SG-CS - 3 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
TC-CS – 1.9 TB /s 3 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
PANAM – 5 GB /s 8 Landings
Caribbean Cable Connectivity Maps
SAM 1 - 1.2 TB /s 13 Landings
IMPLICATIONS• Adequate coverage for immediate demand
– 17 active fiber systems
– Aggregate capacity of 12.4 Gbps
• Multiple cable systems and operators– Operator and service choice
– Redundant routes
• Demand continues to grow; opportunities still exist– Additional capacity
– New service models
ISSUES: Domestic Connectivity
• Overall, cost of connectivity is high– Some DSL users pay the same price for 256
Kbps that US / EU users pay for 10+ Mbps
• Low QoS even on links rated at high speeds– Low latency but slow speeds
– High levels of contention and congestion
– Sub-optimal engineering
• Service providers not able to resolve L2 and L3 issues
PEERING AND TRANSIT
Connecting the Caribbean
- a Question of Packets or Rackets?
TRANSIT RELATIONSHIPS
• Buy International Transit Direct or Via Dominant Local Provider
• Transit is typically to Miami
– Nap of the Americas (NOTA) is the
Caribbean’s default ‘regional’ IXP
• Insignificant levels of inter-island transit
PEERING RELATIONSHIPS• Four regional Internet Exchange Points
– Haiti, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Curacao
• Membership: small ISPs and development agencies• Unsuccessful operational models
• No peering within region by major ISPs– Traffic exchanged between major ISPs in Miami and
New York
– No direct peering (based on public data)
• IXP Development – Work In Progress – St. Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, Grenada, BVI, St Vincent
PARTIAL CARIBBEAN PEERING MAP
COLUMBUS NETWORKS
AS23520
CWJ-1AS10292
COGENTAS174
SPRINTAS1239
TELIANETAS1299
CW-CAYMANAS6639
CWDOMAS11139
CWWI-AS
AS10278
ACT2000AS19246
CABLE AND WIRELESS
AS1273
TT-TSO1-LACNIC
AS5639
INFO-CHANNEL
AS22917
TRAFFIC PATH TESTS
Real Data…Real Issues
TESTING REGIME• Purpose
– Obtain empirical data concerning traffic routes
• Methodology– Traceroutes from Internet-connected PCs
• Between ISPs in same country• Between ISPs in different countries• Within single ISP network, one country• Within single ISP network across two countries
• Results– Path taken by data packets traversing region
TESTING REGIME
• ISP Networks Tested
– LIME; TSTT; Flow; Caribbean Cable Communications; ACT Online; iNet; Belize Telemedia
TSTT Trinidad to Flow Jamaica1 2 ms 5 ms 2 ms 192.168.0.22 145 ms 33 ms 41 ms 186-45-192-1.dynamic.tstt.net.tt [186.45.192.1]3 27 ms 27 ms 27 ms 201.238.123.46.business.static.tstt.net.tt [201.238.123.46]4 28 ms 28 ms 28 ms 201.238.77.22.business.static.tstt.net.tt [201.238.77.22]5 29 ms 33 ms 34 ms 201.238.77.21.business.static.tstt.net.tt [201.238.77.21]6 100 ms 110 ms 99 ms gige7-13.usa.nmi-edge05.columbus-networks.com
[63.245.68.81]7 119 ms 121 ms 111 ms xe-1-0-1.usa.nmi-teracore02.columbus-networks.com
[63.245.5.96]8 104 ms 117 ms 127 ms xe-3-1-0.usa.nam-core02.columbus-networks.com [63.245.5.71]9 121 ms 121 ms 134 ms 63.245.47.86
10 122 ms 124 ms 156 ms xe-1-1-0-h1-hfc01.flowja.com [72.252.25.177]11 * * * Request timed out.12 126 ms 145 ms 140 ms 505-h1-hfc02.flowja.com [72.252.25.193]
Flow Trinidad to TSTT (T’dad)1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.5.12 * * * Request timed out.3 57 ms 10 ms 8 ms 200.1.111.2414 32 ms 14 ms 10 ms 200.1.111.785 43 ms 81 ms 13 ms 200.1.111.636 77 ms 72 ms 71 ms so-0-3-0-2.usa.nmi-core02.columbus-networks.com [63.245.44.21]7 121 ms 62 ms 64 ms xe-0-1-0.usa.nmi-teracore01.columbus-networks.com
[63.245.5.92]8 74 ms 77 ms <1 ms tengige2-3.usa.nmi-edge05.columbus-networks.com [63.245.5.97]9 155 ms 148 ms 159 ms 63.245.68.82
10 150 ms <1 ms <1 ms 201.238.77.22.business.static.tstt.net.tt [201.238.77.22]11 198 ms 160 ms 60 ms 201.238.123.37.business.static.tstt.net.tt [201.238.123.37]12 178 ms 156 ms <1 ms 201.238.123.38.business.static.tstt.net.tt [201.238.123.38]13 168 ms <1 ms <1 ms 186-45-197-175.dynamic.tstt.net.tt [186.45.197.175]
TRAFFIC PATH IMPLICATIONS
Reading the tea leaves
IMPLICATIONS• Inefficient and expensive traffic routes
• Caribbean ISPs pay exorbitant transit costs to US IXs– Costs passed on to consumers
– Providers offer reduced services to keep costs down
• Low speeds and latency problems on local loops
• Large ISPs own primary transit routes and have little incentive to peer within the region
– LIME and Flow dominate in traffic and infrastructure
• Transit model discriminates against development of regional content– Favors consumption of US content;
– ISPs argue that customers prefer international content
THE WAY FORWARD
Problems have Solutions
• Increased Stakeholder Awareness
– Governments; Providers; NGO Groups, etc
• Proliferation of Caribbean IXPs
– CTU / PCH / CANTO / CARICOM
• New Intra Regional Transit Models
– Increase Short Haul Transit route Options
• Regional Technical Community
– Networking, Capacity Building & Participation in International Fora
• Promote Development of Local (Regional) Content Industry
• More Informed Regulatory Frameworks
THE WAY FORWARD
Q&A
THANK YOU
www.caribnog.org
CaribNOG Research TeamStephen Lee; Andre Edwards; Steve Spence,
REFERENCESrobtex AS Analysis
http://www.robtex.com/as/
Greg’s Cable Maphttp://www.cablemap.info/
DNSstuff.comhttp://www.dnsstuff.com
ARIN Whois-RWShttp://whois.arin.net/ui
The Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA)http://www.caida.org/
PeeringDBhttps://www.peeringdb.com/
DrPeeringhttp://drpeering.net/
Caribbean - Telecoms Market Overview & Statistics – February 2010Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd., http://www.budde.com.au
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