What is an IP transit service?
Internet transit connects Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to access larger networks. IP Transit offers a reliable, high-performance and cost-effective solution based on a multi-homed and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) enabled platforms.
It allows operators with their own Autonomous System Number (ASN) to benefit from resilient, scalable, high-performance BGP connectivity directly to the Internet.
Learn more in our IP Transit brochure.
How does IP transit work?
An IP transit service involves paying a provider for access to their network, which opens up reliable, high-speed access to the rest of the internet.
To set this configuration up, your network will normally be connected to the transit provider’s network using a physical link like a fibre optic cable or a wireless connection. Through the BGP, your transit provider will then circulate your business’ IP addresses to the rest of the internet.
From then on, the transit provider’s network will carry both outgoing and incoming communications from/to a device on your network to/from a device on the internet.
IP transit vs transport
While IP transit refers to connecting ISPs to wider networks, IP transport is about the physical transmission of data between networks. It is concerned with the frameworks of protocols needed to pass through these numerous networks, prioritising security throughout.
Of course, another consideration is that data cannot be sent and received in its entirety. It must be broken down and sent in smaller parcels, with bandwidth restricting how much can be sent at any one time. The physical medium of transmission – whether it’s co-axial cables, a twisted-pair cable, or fibre optics – dictates the bandwidth and therefore, the speed of IP transport.
IP transit pricing
Depending upon the provider, pricing for IP transit services is based on usage, is tiered or comes with flat-rate billing.
Metered usage is measured per megabit-per-second (Mbps). It employs the 95th percentile billing methodology, so called because the top 5% of usage is not billed. The method takes a measurement every five minutes to determine the billed usage.
The best pricing plan for your business will depend upon your usage. If you anticipate large amounts of traffic over a prolonged period, a flat rate plan would be best for your business, since you’ll be charged for the speed of your connection rather than the bandwidth used.
Tiered pricing, on the other hand, is based on using a certain bandwidth. If you were to use more bandwidth, you would move up to the next tier, which would come with another flat rate.
IP transit vs peering
IP peering is when two ISPs agree to a mutual exchange of data, without any charge. Since the amount of data shared is usually equal from both sides, both benefit equally, which is why there is no fee.
This is unlike IP transit, where one organisation pays another one to connect to its ISP. The organisation being paid is upstream of the one paying, meaning that it’s higher up in the ISP hierarchy and can offer access to the entire internet.
IP transit vs DIA
Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) is exactly what it sounds like: your own connection to the internet. Because the connection belongs to you alone, you will always get the bandwidth you’ve paid for, with no traffic to reduce this.
Using IP transit, however, means using an indirect connection to the internet, usually through several different interconnections. As a result, your service will be affected by traffic.
While having DIA is generally more costly, it is more reliable and secure, and better suited to handling a larger number of users and larger amounts of data.
