Traffic ratio of an ISP

Thu Jun 20 20:27:09 UTC 2019

Dear Mike,
Regardless of very few direct answers, I found this discussion very interesting. I think one possible reason for not having any specific numbers, as some members have already pointed out, is there doesn’t exist any. As an outsider, with zero hands-on experience in ISP field apart from studying, my understanding is, ISPs just visualize their own traffic using monitoring tools and label themselves. I wish there were any literature on this topic. I’d love to read that.
Thank you for your reply.

-
Prasun

Regards,
Prasun Kanti Dey
Ph.D. Candidate,
Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
University of Central Florida
web: https://prasunkantidey.github.io/portfolio/

> On Jun 20, 2019, at 10:16 AM, Mike Hammett <nanog at ics-il.net> wrote:
> 
> The problem you're running into, Prasun, is that people either aren't actually reading what you're saying or have poor comprehension skills. Very few people are directly addressing what you're asking.
> 
> 
> 
> -----
> Mike Hammett
> Intelligent Computing Solutions
> 
> Midwest Internet Exchange
> 
> The Brothers WISP
> 
> From: "Prasun Dey" <prasun at nevada.unr.edu>
> To: "Josh Luthman" <josh at imaginenetworksllc.com>
> Cc: nanog at nanog.org
> Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2019 3:42:38 PM
> Subject: Re: Traffic ratio of an ISP
> 
> Josh, 
> That’s great. I’m assuming your traffic is mainly inbound. So, my question is, do you have a threshold that defines your traffic ratio type.
> I’m taking an example from this thread. Say, your average incoming traffic is ~45 gbps, and outgoing traffic is ~4.5 gbps. So, your outbound:inbound = 1:10. What are you? Heavy Inbound?
> Extending this example, if your ratio is 1:7 or 1:6, then, what would you claim to be? A ‘Mostly Inbound’? Or still call yourself as Heavy Inbound? I’m just trying to understand what is the community practice?
> Thank you. 
> 
> -
> Prasun
> 
> Regards,
> Prasun Kanti Dey
> Ph.D. Candidate,
> Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
> University of Central Florida
> web: https://prasunkantidey.github.io/portfolio/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jun 19, 2019, at 4:23 PM, Josh Luthman <josh at imaginenetworksllc.com> wrote:
> 
> >my question was more like to understand when an ISP decides to claim itself as any of these (Heavy Outbound/ Inbound or Balanced)
> 
> Maybe I'm missing something but it's as simple as looking at the interface graphs.  We see a whole lot of green for inbound and a little little blue line for outbound.  We are an ISP with residential and commercial customers.
> 
> Josh Luthman
> Office: 937-552-2340
> Direct: 937-552-2343
> 1100 Wayne St
> Suite 1337
> Troy, OH 45373
> 
> 
>> On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 4:20 PM Prasun Dey <prasun at nevada.unr.edu> wrote:
>> Hi Martijn and Josh,
>> Thank you for your detailed explanation. Let me explain my requirement so that you may help me better.
>> According to PeeringDB, Charter (Access), Sprint (Transit), Amazon (Content) all three of them are ‘Balanced’. While, Cable One, an Access ISP says it is Heavy Inbound, while Akamai, Netflix (Content) are Heavy Outbound. On the other hand, Cox, another access ISP, it says that it is Mostly Inbound.
>> So, my question was more like to understand when an ISP decides to claim itself as any of these (Heavy Outbound/ Inbound or Balanced)? From an ISP’s own point of view, at what point, it says, my outbound:inbound is something, so I’m Heavy Outbound. 
>> Please ignore my lack of knowledge in this area. I’m sorry I should’ve done a better job in formulating my question earlier.
>> Thank you.
>> 
>> -
>> Prasun
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Prasun Kanti Dey
>> Ph.D. Candidate,
>> Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
>> University of Central Florida
>> web: https://prasunkantidey.github.io/portfolio/
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Jun 19, 2019, at 2:13 PM, i3D.net - Martijn Schmidt <martijnschmidt at i3d.net> wrote:
>> 
>> It kinda depends on the application that's being used. For example, videogaming has a ratio somewhere around 1:2.5 since you're only transmitting metadata about the players environment across the wire. The actual video is typically rendered at the end user's side. So it's not very bandwidth heavy. 
>> 
>> Compare that with a videostream (watching a movie or TV series) and you're pumping the rendered video across the wire, so there's a very different ratio. Your return path traffic would pretty much consist of control stuff only (like pushing the pause button).
>> 
>> Some networks are dedicated to serving one type of content, whereas others might have a blend of different kinds of content. Same story for an access network geared to business users which want to use emails and such, vs residential end users looking for the evening's entertainment.
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> Martijn 
>> 
>>> On 19 June 2019 19:54:45 CEST, Josh Luthman <josh at imaginenetworksllc.com> wrote:
>>> If you're asking an ISP, consumers will always be inbound.  It's the end user.  The outbound would be where the information is coming from, like data centers.
>>> 
>>> I'm not sure you're going to get any better answer without a more specific question.
>>> 
>>> Josh Luthman
>>> Office: 937-552-2340
>>> Direct: 937-552-2343
>>> 1100 Wayne St
>>> Suite 1337
>>> Troy, OH 45373
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 12:50 PM Prasun Dey <prasun at nevada.unr.edu> wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>> Good morning.
>>>> I’m a Ph.D. candidate from University of Central Florida. I have a query, I hope you can help me with it or at least point me to the right direction.
>>>> I’ve seen from PeeringDB that every ISP reveals its traffic ratio as Heavy/ Mostly Inbound or Balanced or Heavy/ Mostly Outbound. 
>>>> I’m wondering if there is any specific ratio numbers for them. In Norton’s Internet Peering Playbook or some other literary work, they mention the outbound:inbound traffic ratio as 1:1.2 to up to 1:3 for Balanced. But, I couldn’t find the other values.
>>>> I’d really appreciate your help if you can please mention what Outbound:Inbound ratios that network admins use frequently to represent their traffic ratios for 
>>>> 1. Heavy Inbound:
>>>> 2. Mostly Inbound:
>>>> 3. Mostly Outbound:
>>>> 4. Heavy Outbound:
>>>> 
>>>> Thank you.
>>>> -
>>>> Prasun
>>>> -- 
>>>> Sincerely,
>>>> Prasun Kanti Dey,
>>>> Ph.D. candidate,
>>>> Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
>>>> University of Central Florida.
>> 
>> -- 
>> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
>> 
> 
> 
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