What is IP transit?
IP transit is a paid service that gives access to the whole internet through an upstream provider. We cover the full BGP table, 95th-percentile billing and commits.
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IP transit is a service in which a provider (the upstream) commits to carry your traffic to any destination on the internet and back, whether or not it has a direct relationship with that destination. In exchange for a fee you get full reachability of the global network, usually advertised as a full BGP table or a default route. Transit is the baseline way an operator gains connectivity to the whole internet. Peering complements it with direct, cheaper paths to selected networks.
How IP transit works
Once you set up a BGP session with a transit provider, your network advertises its prefixes to them and they propagate those prefixes to the rest of the internet, while passing you routes to every reachable destination. You can take the full BGP table, which now holds more than 950,000 IPv4 prefixes and gives full control over path selection, or just a default route if your router does not need the entire table. Transit provides transitivity: through a single upstream you reach networks you have no direct relationship with yourself.
Billing models
IP transit is billed commercially for the capacity you use. The most common model is 95th percentile, in which the provider samples traffic every 5 minutes, discards the top 5 percent of readings and charges on the remaining peak, so brief traffic spikes do not drive up the bill. You also see a flat fee for a port of a given size and a commit model with a minimum committed bandwidth.
- 95th percentile: charged on the 95th-percentile of traffic in Mbps, usually separately for the inbound and outbound direction.
- Commit + burst: you commit to a minimum, and traffic above it is billed at an overage rate.
- Flat / port: a fixed fee for a 1G, 10G or 100G port regardless of volume.
- Blended IP transit: a single price for a mix of multiple upstreams and the provider's own peering.
Transit versus peering and multihoming
Transit and peering do not compete, they complement each other. Transit provides full reachability and acts as a safety net, while peering captures as much local traffic as possible to cut cost and shorten paths. For resilience an operator usually buys transit from at least two independent providers, that is, it multihomes, and its BGP policy prefers peering routes over transit.
IP transit from AS202520 SkyPass
AS202520 SkyPass delivers IP transit built on multiple independent upstreams and dense peering at Polish internet exchanges. We combine full global reachability with short, local paths to Polish and European networks. We offer IPv4 and IPv6, flexible port speeds and billing matched to the operator's traffic profile. The result is a stable link with low latency to domestic traffic and a predictable cost.
Frequently asked questions
How much does IP transit cost?
The price depends on the model and volume. Most often it is billed on the 95th percentile of traffic in Mbps or as a flat port fee. The more traffic you move onto peering, the lower your transit bill.
Do I need the full BGP table?
Not necessarily. The full table gives full control over path selection and is needed for multihoming. A smaller router can take just a default route and still have full internet reachability.
How is transit different from peering?
Transit provides reachability to the entire internet and is paid, while peering gives direct access only to the partner's network and is usually free. Operators combine both.
Should I have several transit providers?
Yes, for resilience at least two independent providers are recommended. This multihoming protects against a single upstream failing and lets you steer traffic with BGP policy.