Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez presented on measuring mobile network performance using the ICSI Netalyzr tool. The tool allows users to run tests on their own devices to diagnose connectivity characteristics and identify issues. Analysis of Netalyzr data from over 1.6 million sessions has provided insights into complex operator networks and configurations. Preliminary findings include variability in radio access network latency compared to IP latency, limited IPv6 support, and privacy leaks by some operators in HTTP headers. Further analysis may help understand evolving mobile traffic patterns and their impact on network performance and user experience.

1. APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez
ICSI-Berkeley
Beyond the radio:
Exploring the terra incognita of mobile
networks with the ICSI Netalyzr
Work done in collaboration with:
Srikanth Sundaresan, Christian Kreibich, Nicholas Weaver and Vern Paxson

2. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
The uncertain mobile future
2
IoT
Video
streaming
Augmented
Reality
+

3. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
Anticipating future traffic demands
3
• LTE deployment
• Network sharing agreements
• IPv6 support
• Peering (Cloud-mobile integration)
• LTE-Direct
• WiFi off-loading

4. ?1
Can we improve user’s network
experience by understanding how
networks actually work and how
applications behave?

5. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
Measuring mobile performance:
Classic E2E Model
User
paris.myisp.com
Web Server
www.moscow.com
5
Uplink: 2.10 Mbps
Downlink: 6.06 Mbps
RTT: 112 ms
Loss: 0.1 %

6. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
User
paris.myisp.com
Web Server
www.moscow.com
Hidden
Proxies
Bufferbloat
Handset
configuration
MTU
Carte Figurative des Pertes Successives en hommes de
l’Armée Francaise dans la Campagne de Russie (1812-1813)
— Charles Minard.1869
CGNs
EDNS
support
DNSSEC
Caches
and CDNs
How the (mobile) Internet really is
6
IPv6

7. 2
The ICSI Netalyzr Project

8. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
• User-run tool to diagnose connectivity
characteristics from the edge of the Internet
• Checks for behavioral anomalies, network
properties, privacy and security issues for
[everybody]
• Runs more than 120 tests
• Started in 2009 as a JAVA applet
• 1.6M sessions, 170 countries
• Native Android version since November 2013
• 29K installs, 130 countries
The ICSI Netalyzr Story
8
The ICSI Netalyzr
Project
sponsors:

9. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
• Large footprint (large number of operators and countries)
• High fidelity data:
• Full control of both end-points
• “You measure what you see!”
• Ability to collect contextual information
• Research outcome: ACM IMC, PAM, ACM CoNEXT, ACM
MobiSys, USENIX FOCI, …
9
Advantages of measuring from the
“edge” of the network

10. 33
Preliminary observations

11. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
Latency(ms)
0
50
100
150
200
HSPA+ LTE
RAN Latency GGSN/P-GW Latency
Default DNS Latency OpenDNS Latency
GoogleDNS Latency Akamai CDN Latency
11
RAN latency
vs IP latency
?

12. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015 12
RAN latency
vs IP latency
CDN /
EDNS
IDENTIFIED LOCAL
AKAMAI CACHE
IDENTIFIED LOCAL
GOOGLE CACHE
EDNS SUPPORT
0 25 50 75 100
% OF OPERATORS

13. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
• Complex and/or heterodox network deployments
• Low number of P-GW/GGSNs per operator: higher RTT
• Testimonial IPv6 support (including DNS)
13
RAN latency
vs IP latencyIP deployment

14. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015 14
3
Proxies MUST use the HTTP VIA header (RFC 2616)
Hidden HTTP
proxies
HTTP PROXY
HEADER
MODIFICATION
IMAGE
TRANSCODING
FOLLOWS URL
PRIVACY
LEAKS
0 25 50 75 100
% OF OPERATORS

15. 34
Conclusions and
next steps

16. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015
• Can we measure performance with a single metric?
• Fixing the IP Core can also improve user’s Internet
experience, privacy and security
• Understanding mobile traffic:
• How do mobile traffic and the network behave “in the wild”?
• What is the IoT?
16
Conclusions and next steps

17. Try Netalyzr and tell us what
you’d like to know about
your network!
17
narseo@icsi.berkeley.edu
netalyzr-help@icsi.berkeley.edu
http://www.netalyzr.icsi.berkely.edu/publications

18. Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez (ICSI-Berkeley) | APRICOT 2015 Plenary | 03/2015 18
3
• 8% of mobile operators leak personal information in HTTP
headers:
• IMEI/IMSI/MSISDN
• Perma-cookies: x-uidh, x-acr
• “User monetization”
• Enables user tracking by malicious parties
User’s
privacy