Management applications of analyzing cellular digital packet data (CDPD) billing data

This paper investigates the management applications of analyzing CDPD billing data. Using three non-contiguous weeks of data, we demonstrate how to extract usage patterns, detect registration idiosyncrasies and network faults, and chart the impact of signing roaming agreements with other carriers. We describe the fields available in billing data and how to collect parameters of interest with these fields. Demonstrating how to extract usage parameters, we graph the number of successful registrations and packets transmitted on a temporal and geographical basis. We detail an approach to detect and locate faults resulting in discarded packets. We describe the difficulties in detecting mobility patterns. The impact of foreign mobiles on a network is also explored. Further research into the analysis of billing data will help both researchers and service providers learn about their current implementations and plan future networks.