Deprioritization of heavy users in wireless networks

The explosive demand for wireless data services that followed the introduction of application phones continues to create significant challenges for mobile operators. Measurement campaigns indicate that the consumption of wireless network capacity follows a power law where 20 percent of the users consume more than 80 percent of capacity. This creates unfairness among users in terms of the data volume they are allowed to consume and, more important, during congested periods of time it degrades the quality of experience of all the users. As a response, many operators are attempting to control demand by gradually moving away from unlimited data plans with the introduction of volume caps and tiered charging. Many operators throttle the heavy users after they have exceeded their cap, and consider doing the same during times of congestion. This article evaluates the concept of deprioritization of heavy users in wireless networks for congestion management, the difference between deprioritization and throttling, and the enabling technologies to implement the feature in real-world networks.