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South Africa's international internet speeds often lag, despite improved local performance thanks to NAP Africa Exchange at Teraco data centres
Driving SD-WAN Adoption in South Africa
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When it comes to international internet speeds in South Africa, many users still experience slow performance, especially when accessing content or services hosted outside the country. However, the reality is that the internet landscape in South Africa has evolved dramatically in recent years, with a large portion of traffic now being localised. The key player behind this transformation is NAP Africa Exchange, which has created peering opportunities at Teraco data centres in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban. These peering exchanges have greatly improved the overall user experience for many services, yet international traffic still poses challenges.
NAP Africa Exchange has revolutionised South Africaās internet by enabling local peering between major internet service providers (ISPs), cloud providers, and content delivery networks (CDNs). By peering at Teraco, traffic that was previously routed internationally can now stay within the country, greatly improving latency and speeds.
For example, international giants like Google, Facebook, Netflix, and Microsoft now host their content or services locally at Teraco data centres. This means that approximately 80% of traffic is now local, significantly reducing the need to traverse expensive and slow international links. For most users, this localisation of traffic provides a much faster and more reliable internet experience when accessing popular cloud platforms and CDNs.
Despite the localisation of the majority of traffic, 20% of traffic still traverses international routes. This traffic often suffers from performance issues such as high latency, packet loss, and inconsistent speeds. The last-mile connection is often the culprit, as poor-quality links can lead to packet loss, which heavily impacts throughput when using the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). TCP is designed to reduce the transmission rate when it detects packet loss, assuming that itās due to congestion in the network. This behaviour, known as TCP congestion control, results in a significant drop in throughput and can slow down international connections.
Fusion SD-WAN, a leading solution in South Africa, is designed to tackle these challenges head-on, especially when it comes to improving international speed. One of the key factors that negatively impact international traffic is packet loss over the last mile, which directly affects TCP performance. Fusion SD-WAN mitigates these issues by establishing a UDP tunnel for traffic, avoiding the built-in congestion controls of TCP.
Packet loss is especially problematic because of how TCP reacts to it. TCP is designed to interpret packet loss as a signal that the network is congested, leading to a reduction in the rate at which data is sent. This process slows down the overall connection, particularly over long-distance international routes where packet loss can occur more frequently.
Googleās BBR (Bottleneck Bandwidth and Round-trip propagation time) congestion control algorithm is a modern solution designed to overcome the limitations of traditional TCP congestion control. Instead of relying solely on packet loss to detect congestion, BBR uses bandwidth measurements and round-trip time to optimize the sending rate. This allows BBR to maintain high throughput even in the presence of packet loss, making it a far more efficient congestion control mechanism for international traffic.
Fusionās SD-WAN utilises UDP tunnelling to avoid the limitations of TCP over lossy connections. Unlike TCP, which reduces its sending rate when packet loss occurs, UDP doesnāt have built-in congestion control. This allows Fusion SD-WAN to maintain higher throughput even when packet loss is present on the last mile connection. By encapsulating traffic within a UDP tunnel, Fusionās SD-WAN ensures that packet loss over the last mile doesnāt negatively impact overall throughput. This is especially useful in international scenarios where the last mile might experience occasional packet loss, yet the core network remains stable.
Fusion SD-WAN operates using a hub-and-spoke architecture, where branch offices or remote sites connect to a central hub. This architecture is particularly advantageous for managing international traffic because the central hub can be located in a data centre with highly reliable and low-latency international connectivity.
In this model, traffic from a remote branch destined for an international service will first be routed to the hub, which is connected to a high-performance backbone with direct international access. This approach avoids the risks of international routing from branch offices over unreliable last-mile links and instead leverages the robust infrastructure of the central hub.
Through this architecture, Fusionās SD-WAN:
Aggregates multiple last-mile connections: Whether fibre, fixed wireless, or LTE, ensuring traffic can take the best available path.
Manages bandwidth efficiently: Dynamically optimising traffic over multiple connections, ensuring that even if one link experiences issues, performance is maintained.
Provides resiliency: By using multiple links and UDP tunnels, Fusion SD-WAN avoids the performance bottlenecks typically seen with TCP on lossy connections.
For businesses in South Africa that deal with international traffic, adopting Fusion SD-WAN is a game-changer. The combination of advanced traffic management, resilient architecture, and intelligent routing makes it possible to overcome the limitations of international bandwidth. By addressing the last mile issues that impact international throughput, Fusion SD-WAN provides a more reliable and faster experience, particularly for businesses that need consistent access to international services and cloud platforms.
While South Africa has made great strides in localising traffic with the help of NAP Africa Exchange at Teraco, international speeds still present a challenge due to the complexities of last-mile connections and TCP congestion control. Fusion SD-WAN offers a powerful solution by mitigating the effects of packet loss, using UDP tunnelling, and employing a hub-and-spoke architecture to improve international speeds. For businesses seeking better international connectivity, Fusion SD-WAN is an essential tool to overcome the persistent challenges of slow and unreliable international internet.
Ronald Bartels ensures that Internet inhabiting things are connected reliably online at Fusion Broadband South Africa - the leading specialized SD-WAN Last Mile provider in South Africa. Learn more about the best SD-WAN in the world: šContact Fusionāļø