Toward network controlled IP traffic offloading

Operator controlled IP traffic offloading in cellular networks has been a lively topic in both product and standard development during recent years. Specifically, 3GPP has developed multiple IP traffic offloading solutions for their system architecture, typically requiring 3GPP-specific modifications for user equipment. We argue that an adequate lightweight access technology agnostic IP traffic offloading system is achievable with a generic internet layer solution. Such a solution can still utilize 3GPP system properties for operators to push offloading policies securely into mobile devices. We discuss existing 3GPP-specified offloading solutions and present three variations of our internet layer traffic offloading implementations, and compare them against 3GPP-specified solutions. Our hands-on experience in operator networks shows that such a direction is feasible and promising.