TCP over Second (2.5G) and Third (3G) Generation Wireless Networks
RFC 3481
| Document | Type |
RFC - Best Current Practice
(February 2003; No errata)
Also known as BCP 71
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Last updated | 2015-10-14 | ||
| Stream | IETF | ||
| Formats | plain text pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
| Stream | WG state | (None) | |
| Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
| IESG | IESG state | RFC 3481 (Best Current Practice) | |
| Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| Telechat date | |||
| Responsible AD | Allison Mankin | ||
| IESG note | The revised draft came out with the fixes, Scott removed last block. | ||
| Send notices to | <falk@isi.edu> | ||
Network Working Group H. Inamura, Ed.
Request for Comments: 3481 NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
BCP: 71 G. Montenegro, Ed.
Category: Best Current Practice Sun Microsystems Laboratories
Europe
R. Ludwig
Ericsson Research
A. Gurtov
Sonera
F. Khafizov
Nortel Networks
February 2003
TCP over Second (2.5G) and Third (3G) Generation Wireless Networks
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document describes a profile for optimizing TCP to adapt so that
it handles paths including second (2.5G) and third (3G) generation
wireless networks. It describes the relevant characteristics of 2.5G
and 3G networks, and specific features of example deployments of such
networks. It then recommends TCP algorithm choices for nodes known
to be starting or ending on such paths, and it also discusses open
issues. The configuration options recommended in this document are
commonly found in modern TCP stacks, and are widely available
standards-track mechanisms that the community considers safe for use
on the general Internet.
Inamura, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 1]
RFC 3481 TCP over 2.5G/3G February 2003
Table of Contents
1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. 2.5G and 3G Link Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1 Latency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Data Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Asymmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 Delay Spikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.5 Packet Loss Due to Corruption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.6 Intersystem Handovers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7 Bandwidth Oscillation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3. Example 2.5G and 3G Deployments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1 2.5G Technologies: GPRS, HSCSD and CDMA2000 1XRTT. . . . 8
3.2 A 3G Technology: W-CDMA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 A 3G Technology: CDMA2000 1X-EV. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4. TCP over 2.5G and 3G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.1 Appropriate Window Size (Sender & Receiver). . . . . . . 11
4.2 Increased Initial Window (Sender). . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3 Limited Transmit (Sender). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.4 IP MTU Larger than Default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.5 Path MTU Discovery (Sender & Intermediate Routers) . . . 13
4.6 Selective Acknowledgments (Sender & Receiver). . . . . . 13
4.7 Explicit Congestion Notification (Sender, Receiver &
Intermediate Routers). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.8 TCP Timestamps Option (Sender & Receiver). . . . . . . . 13
4.9 Disabling RFC 1144 TCP/IP Header Compression (Wireless
Host) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.10 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5. Open Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
9. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
10. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
11. Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
12. Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Inamura, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 2]
RFC 3481 TCP over 2.5G/3G February 2003
1. Introduction
The second generation cellular systems are commonly referred to as
2G. The 2G phase began in the 1990s when digital voice encoding had
replaced analog systems (1G). 2G systems are based on various radio
technologies including frequency-, code- and time- division multiple
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