Building Flexible, Low-Cost Wireless Access Networks with Magma

Abstract

Good Internet connectivity has become a basic necessity all over the world. Although more than one-third of the global population does not have access to the Internet [46], commercial network operators claim that today's Internet has reached the user footprint that seems commercially viable to serve [22]. Reaching these users requires reducing the cost of providing Internet access to enable actors beyond traditional, large-scale commercial operators to build sustainable, scalable network infrastructure. Operators need effective ways to reduce costs through less expensive equipment and software and less reliance on highly skilled network administrators. At the same time, providers need ways to manage their limited network resources effectively to enable sustainable network operation - typical network policies in today's commercial networks would be "rate limit customer C to X Mbps until they have sent Y GB in interval t1, then limit to Z Mbps for interval t2."