Large MTUs and internet performance

TLDR

Ethernet data rates have surged since 1982, yet the standard 1500‑byte MTU has remained unchanged. The study experimentally varied latency, loss, and transaction length to assess the benefits of Jumboframes and explored the reasons for higher throughput. Large MTUs provide throughputs far exceeding what a simplistic overhead analysis would predict.

Abstract

Ethernet data rates have increased many orders of magnitudes since standardisation in 1982. Despite these continual data rates increases, the 1500 byte Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) of Ethernet remains unchanged. Experiments with varying latencies, loss rates and transaction lengths are performed to investigate the potential benefits of Jumboframes on the Internet. This study reveals that large MTUs offer throughputs much larger than a simplistic overhead analysis might suggest. The reasons for these higher throughputs are explored and discussed.