Understanding Delay Variations on Internet Paths

In this paper we investigate the network factors that may affect the user perceived end-to-end delay jitter. In particular, we identify the following three major factors: per hop queueing delay variations along an Internet path; intra-domain multi-path routing; and inter-domain route (i.e., AS path) alterations. By studying traceroute data collected on Internet paths, we find that 1) larger queueing delay variances are likely to be experienced at routers residing at boundaries of (or rather, links between) two (AS) network domains as well as the edge of the Internet; 2) intra-domain multi-path routing may have significant impact on end-to-end delay jitter; and 3) inter-domain route alteration adversely affects user perceived delay jitter. In this paper, we report on these results and discuss their implications in network engineering.