What is IP Transit and How Does it Work?
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In practice, an IP transit provider gives your network access to the full global routing table, meaning your Autonomous System (AS) can reach every other reachable network on the internet.
Think of each ISP’s backbone like a privately maintained highway network. Paying for IP transit is like purchasing the right to travel on their highways and all interconnected roads, not just the ones they own. The difference is that in IP networking, providers also manage routing policies, path selection and performance optimization, ensuring your traffic takes the most efficient path possible.
What is IP Transit?
Also known as internet transit or internet protocol transit, IP transit is the paid service that allows organizations to connect to the wider internet through an ISP’s infrastructure.
Key characteristics include:
- Commercial service: Paid service where customers purchase access to the internet via an ISPs infrastructure.
- Global connectivity: Provides customers access to the entire global internet, enabling data to transit multiple networks in order to reach any destination.
- BGP-based: Uses BGP to orchestrate and manage routing of data packets across networks.
- Full routing table: Customers receive access to publicly accessible locations on the internet.
How Does IP Transit Work?
Autonomous System Number (ASN)
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
What are the Tiers of IP Transit Providers?
Tier 1
- Global reach: Provide extensive global coverage and together form the backbone of the internet.
- Settlement-free peering: Exchange data packet traffic with other Tier 1 networks on a non-commercial basis.
- No transit purchases: Tier 1 providers do not buy peering services from other upstream carriers.
- Examples include: AT&T, GTT, Verizon and Lumen Technologies.
Tier 2
- Regional focus: Provide national or regional coverage with their networks.
- Mixed relationships: Use both peering and transit arrangements to facilitate customer data traffic.
- Purchase transit: Buy transit from Tier 1 providers to enable their customers’ traffic to reach outside their own networks.
- Examples include: Cox and Charter.
Tier 3
- Local service: Have smaller networks and are often based in single metropolitan regions.
- Transit-only: Purchase transit from Tier 1 and 2 providers.
- Last-mile: Serve as so-called “last-mile” providers connecting end-users to the internet.
- Cost-effective option: Service from a Tier 3 provider avoids direct transit costs from Tier 1 ISPs.
How is IP Transit Priced?
There are three primary billing schemes for IP transit services; usage-based, flat-rate and tiered pricing that each address the same set of pricing factors.
Usage-based pricing:
- “95th percentile billing”: This is the most common option and measures usage in 5 minute increments.
- Metered service: Based on megabits per second (Mbps) usage.
Flat-rate pricing:
- Fixed monthly expense: Customers pay for a set amount of bandwidth per month, whether or not it’s used.
- Sustained usage: This options works best for customers with consistently large bandwidth needs.
Tiered pricing:
- Bandwidth tiers: Customers pay for a specific amount of bandwidth in a tiered model.
- Scalability: Good for customers starting small but looking to grow rapidly.
A sample of the factors that go into setting pricing and deciding which scheme will best suit your organization’s needs:
- Bandwidth requirements: The more bandwidth you need, the more you’ll pay, regardless of billing method.
- Geographic location: Rural areas often lack local infrastructure and therefore can incur higher prices.
- Contract length: Longer terms often merit lower prices.
- Additional services: Features such as DDoS protection and other security offerings will affect final costs.
What to Look For in an IP Transit Provider
While there are many factors that go into deciding on a provider, tier and pricing scheme, to ensure you get the performance, reliability and cost-effectiveness you need these are crucial for any enterprise not to overlook:
- Global coverage: Look for a Tier 1 provider with points of presence in the same locations as your facilities.
- Peering relationships: For direct routing and reduced latency, look for providers with existing peering relationships with the networks you use most.
- Uptime guarantees: Look for service level agreements (SLAs) that offer 99.99% or better uptime.
- IPv6 support: Providers should offer dual-stack support for IPv4 and IPv6.
Improve Your Connectivity with GTT
GTT’s IP transit service uses our leading Tier 1 IP network (AS3257) to provide high-performance, low-latency connectivity for our customers. Our global network includes hundreds of points of presence across six continents, ensuring optimally short hops between routes. GTT transit provides advanced security features like Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), BGP communities and available 100Gig ports, ensuring flexible scaling.
When you’re ready for enhanced connectivity, contact GTT to learn how our internet transit service can optimize your network performance and provide the global reach your business demands. Our team of experts will design a solution that meets your enterprise requirements and budget.
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