IP Transit Explained: What's Behind Your Internet Uplink?

IP Transit is the service that connects your network to the entire rest of the internet. A carrier with its own Autonomous System (AS51202 in our case) announces your IP prefixes via BGP to all other networks and carries your traffic to every reachable destination - and back.

Transit vs. peering

Two paths carry data onto the internet. With peering, two networks exchange their traffic directly and usually for free - ideal for destinations within those networks. Transit, by contrast, is the paid full-reach uplink: you reach every destination, even where you have no peering of your own. A good transit provider combines both - many direct peerings for low latency plus full transit reach.

The 95/5 billing method explained

Transit is usually billed by usage rather than a flat rate - fairly, via the 95/5 percentile method. Your throughput is sampled every five minutes; at the end of the month the top 5% of samples are discarded. Short load spikes therefore cost you nothing. You are billed on the 95th-percentile value per Mbit/s above your agreed commit.

Why RPKI and full IPv6 are essential

RPKI (Resource Public Key Infrastructure) cryptographically signs which AS may announce which prefixes. This prevents route hijacks and mis-announcements - an increasingly expected security standard. Equally important is real dual-stack: full IPv4 and IPv6 support keeps your services reachable for every user.

DDoS-protected transit

Classic transit delivers pure connectivity. DDoS-protected transit integrates attack defence directly into the uplink: detection and mitigation run in the carrier network, so volumetric attacks are filtered before they reach your port. You save yourself a separate scrubbing solution.

Conclusion

Good IP Transit is more than a line: redundant hardware, fair billing, security standards like RPKI and integrated DDoS protection make the difference between "online" and "reliably online".