TCP CUBIC versus BBR on the Highway

4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks present new features of high capacities together with end-user mobility. These challenges have led to a gap in the understanding of the effectiveness of TCP congestion control algorithms in LTE networks with mobile users. To further understanding, we conduct a detailed measurement study comparing TCP CUBIC with Bottleneck Bandwidth and Round-trip propagation time (BBR) – a new congestion control alternative developed by Google – in a high-speed driving scenario over a tier-1 U.S. wireless carrier. Our results show CUBIC and BBR generally have similar throughputs, but BBR has significantly lower self-inflicted delays than CUBIC.