[p2p-hackers] UDP hole punching performance

[Yariv Sadan]

Hello,

A colleague told me recently that UDP hole punching is "slow." That is, 
if you transfer data between 2 NATed hosts through a UDP punched hole 
and by using a reliable UDP type of protocol, you would get lower 
transfer speeds than by using a direct TCP connection. In other words, 
he claims that UDP hole punching somehow reduces the connection's 
throughput. I, personally, don't see a reason for this statement to be 
true; however, I've never ran measurements myself so I can't confirm or 
discredit it. Does anybody with experience in this area know if there's 
any truth to this statement?

Thanks,
Yariv