Path transparency measurements from the mobile edge with PATHspider

Network operators and equipment vendors can hesitate to deploy network protocol innovations in fear of breaking connectivity for end users. To assess the potential for evolution of the protocol stack, it is important to know the existing network impairments and opportunities to work around the impairments. While classical network measurement tools often focus on absolute performance values, PATHspider is an extensible framework for performing and analyzing A/B testing between two different protocols or different protocol extensions. It thus enables controlled experiments in search of protocol-dependent connectivity problems, and to identify differential treatment. This paper presents how PATHspider can be instrumented to assess path transparency over commercial mobile networks, using the MONROE platform. We provide here proof-of-concept results from measurements in a UK commercial mobile network, and lay out our future measurement plans for PATHspider using the MONROE testbed in Europe.