Direct IP-based mobile-to-mobile communications: first phase results

• Authors: S. E. Davies;S. Gardner
• Venue: Proceedings of the ACM international workshop on Performance monitoring, measurement, and evaluation of heterogeneous wireless and wired networks
• Year: 2006

The networking world is showing increasing interest in changing from circuit-based to a complete packet-based system. The change has been slow for many years but is now accelerating from the dated Tim-Division Multiplexed (TDM) narrowband networks to an IP-based broadband network system. This offers several key advantages, including, simpler up-grades, lower costs, and integrated support for a wide range of high-value voice, data, and video applications and services.Many factors have converged to make the market ripe for the change from circuit to packet. The emergence of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) as a access technology for broadband along with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is now proving increasingly competitive with TDM networks and is just one example of many that are pushing for the migration of circuit to packet based networks. TVoIP and 3G are amongst the other examples that will inventively lead to an entire IP-based world.This paper investigates a disadvantage that mobile packet-based networks presently hold. It addresses the difficult task of transmitting IP -based services from one mobile device to another when using standard mobile services in the UK. The issues surround the type of IP address provided to a device from the mobile provider on connection. The IP number is both DHCP served and not publicly routable. Although it is possible to undertake such a process via a private APN, the cost for such an arrangement, together with a suitable backhaul, would be a major barrier to the practical implementation of such a service for many users