After taking over Unitymedia, Vodafone is separating from the last remnants of the previous parent company Liberty Global in routing and peering. The integration of the former business areas into the Vodafone network should bring improvements to Netflix, Twitch, Facebook, Microsoft or Google.
Alternatives to Amsterdam or Frankfurt aM
Until autumn 2019, Unitymedia was still part of the British Liberty Global and its “Aorta” (ASN6830) was still used for routing and peering even after Unitymedia was taken over by Vodafone. So far, the data packets have passed through the aorta in Frankfurt and Amsterdam on the way to their destination. As Vodafone explained today, data traffic from customers from North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg is now flowing through several new regional “entrances and exits” via a “different fiber optic data highway” than before to the Internet and back
From now on, Vodafone wants to route the data packets from North Rhine-Westphalia on their way to the Internet via direct connections from Vodafone in Amsterdam and Düsseldorf, while the data packets from Hesse are to be forwarded to other networks via Frankfurt from now on.
< p class = "p text-width">The data traffic from Baden-Württemberg, on the other hand, is routed via Munich or Frankfurt. Thanks to the new routes via regional nodes, the data packets should in many cases now reach their destination much more directly. Vodafone speaks with the data traffic coming from the regions according to the current status of up to 10 Tbit/s on working days.
Better connection of known services
For the customer, the new routing should be reflected in better connections to numerous well-known services. Vodafone specifically names the servers from Netflix, Twitch, Facebook, Microsoft or Google that will benefit from the new route. The saved intermediate steps in many cases shorten the runtime that a data packet needs to get to its destination, says Vodafone. With the new routing, accessed websites could also benefit from the lower runtime.
Vodafone sees peering policy as an advantage
In parallel to the new routing, Vodafone has expanded the capacity at several private and public transfer points. In summary, data traffic at all of Vodafone's nationwide transfer points is currently up to 20 Tbit/s per day. As Vodafone further explains, the company benefits from its open peering policy when routing traffic flows, which also enables smaller providers to connect to the Vodafone network. In fact, Vodafone's peering policy is much less restrictive than, for example, Liberty Global or Deutsche Telekom. Guido Weissbrich, network manager at Vodafone, said: “All locations are designed in such a way that capacities can be expanded as required and without any significant delay. In our network planning, we also rely on an open peering policy – if it helps our customers, we also connect smaller providers directly to our network. This is where we differ from many other providers. “
More fiber optics planned in the local network
At the end of January, Vodafone had already connected the main lines of its network directly to the Berlin Internet hub BCIX (Berlin Commercial Internet Exchange). Most recently, Vodafone also announced that it would use more fiber optics in the local network and reduce the size of the coaxial network sections. Previous coax amplifier points are to become fiber optic nodes in order to shorten the last meters to the household with coax and to connect fewer households via amplifier points.
Update 07.05.2021 2:53 pm
As the member “flh667” noticed in the forum, Vodafone is connected to the AMS-IX with two links with 200 Gbit/s each, while the former Unitymedia area is only connected with one of these links. According to the user, this is often noticeable at rush hour, when “some services have some packet loss and the speeds are severely impaired”. The assumption made by flh667: “Either Vodafone has forgotten that you have two links on the AMS-IX, or someone was negligent.”
However, neither of the two assumptions is true. As a spokesman explained on request, Vodafone will migrate everything on the AMS-IX to just one port with 200 Gbit/s. The former Unitymedia area is therefore already at the status that Vodafone will also have in the future with currently two links. In return, there is a new link at the NL-ix in Düsseldorf, which is still being upgraded. A port with 100 Gbit/s is already available on the NL-ix.
ComputerBase has received information about this article from Vodafone under NDA. The only requirement was the earliest possible publication time.