A Shortcut Through the IPX: Measuring Latencies in Global Mobile Roaming with Regional Breakouts

In the rapidly evolving field of mobile communications, the demand for seamless worldwide connectivity for Internet of Things (IoT) devices introduces distinct challenges. With IoT verticals expanding and international roaming becoming crucial for numerous IoT applications, ensuring high Quality of Service (QoS) has become a critical issue, especially as IoT deployments largely rely on the IPX network for seamless global connectivity. To improve QoS in mobile roaming, we conduct an extensive study, analyzing QoS metrics for over 530,000 roaming IoT devices worldwide. Our novel measurement methodology provides unique insights into individual network segments, including visited and home networks, and the global IPX network. By integrating this data with additional sources, we offer a comprehensive view of the global mobile roaming ecosystem for the first time. Our research highlights the impact of regional breakouts on optimizing QoS for international roaming, demonstrating their significance with the analyzed datasets, which we make available to the research community.