Imagine that a potential customer has landed on one of your marketing videos and is eagerly watching—when the video suddenly cuts out. Annoyed, he or she tries to reload, and finally gives up, moving on. You’ve just lost a possible sale. What went on, and how can you avoid this happening again? Quite possibly, it may be a peering issue.
The role of peering connections in problematic connections
What is peering? Peering occurs when two different internet networks agree to send data back and forth to each other at no charge. And as with any relationship, your experience is only going to be as good as what your internet peering points can support. For example, according to a white paper by De Cix, even a 2-second delay in the loading time for a website is sufficient to increase the bounce rate more than 100%.
This has become a major challenge, as data consumption by end users continues to rise. As the De Cix white paper notes, global Internet traffic volume has increased by more than 40% every year in recent years. Overall, the paper also found that peering outperformed transit paths more than 90% of the time. However, real life evidence shows that peering is not immune to congestion problems.
When this happens, the quality of the user experience decreases. Real-time video and voice applications are particularly affected. There will be latency (gaps in sound or images), and possibly data loss along the way, all of which affect users.
Public vs. private peering
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The objective of peering is to get your data across as efficiently and quickly as possible, taking into account other considerations as well such as security. Depending on your needs, you can opt for public or private peering.
With public peering, you connect to a peering provider, which will have set up one or more data centers around a regional internet exchange (IX). Traffic from the peering provider’s members will flow through these peering data centers, which serve as interchanges between members. The more interchanges that a data packet encounters on its way to its destination, the higher the potential latency for the receiver.
With private peering, two networks will agree to peer directly over a private connection. While highly efficient, the cost is often higher, and there may also be security risks. Organizations need to weigh the benefits of marginally better user experience against the costs incurred.
As an example, free peering usually means that you will be sharing capacity at a neutral interchange (IX), while paid peering will ensure that you are allocated dedicated capacity. Free peering doesn’t come with SLA, while paid peering does. For example, Telin’s paid peering service, which is part of our Global Internet Services (GIS), comes with 95% to 99.9% IP Transit SLA, depending on the service level selected.
Finally, paid peering comes with a commitment from the provider to ensure a certain number of eyeballs, why free peering doesn’t.
Why do eyeballs matter?
At the end of the day, the goal is to deliver content to as many viewers as possible in your target audiences. Therefore, whether you are looking at public or private peering, you should definitely look for peering providers who have access to the largest amount of eyeballs in your targeted area. For example, if you want to access Indonesia’s large population, Telin would be a logical choice as its parent company, Telkom, has the most eyeballs in Indonesia. On the other hand, if you were targeting a different geographical area of the world, you should look at the strongest peering providers there. By doing so, you can help ensure that your data is reaching the widest possible audience.
Want to learn more?
As a regional infrastructure and digital solutions provider, Telin has extensive experience in assisting customers with their digital transformation. If you need help, our experts can help you discuss what kinds of peering solutions would be most effective for your needs. Simply send us an email at marketing@telin.net for a free consultation. Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay connected with Telin!