No links left behind

Sebastian Sonntag*, Lennart Schulte, Jukka Manner

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Today, smartphones are connected to one cellular network at a time, and the user is therefore fully dependent on the chosen operators network coverage and condition. Especially in government safety applications like rescue operations, the data need is greater than can be guaranteed by one operator network alone. Often, the solution is a portable system that is able to connect to multiple networks at once. Additionally, new multisim mobile devices are being introduced to the market offering this functionality to the end user as well. In this paper, we analyse the performance benefits of a transport layer approach to utilising multiple cellular networks with regard to throughput and availability. First, we provide a nationwide capacity analysis based on millions of measurements from deployed mobile networks in Finland. Then, we report our own measurements that were conducted utilising multiple mobile networks with Multipath TCP. All our findings suggest that a multipath transport with access to various operator networks has significant benefits concerning throughput and availability. In some cases, even the overall latency decreases.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)97-104
Number of pages8
JournalComputer Communications
Volume111
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2017
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Mobile network
  • Multi-homing
  • Multipath
  • Multisim

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