Global index for QoS in wireless networks

When GSM was introduced in the early 90´s, it was considered an over specified system. Nowadays it is obvious that the whole range of services is widely in use, and in addition performance is degrading due to the rapidly increased number of mobile subscribers, numbering over 2.9 billion subscribers in the world today. The performance of cellular networks is the most important issue concerning their operators. The main goal is to keep subscribers satisfied with the delivered quality of service. In order to achieve the best performance, service providers have to monitor and optimize their network continuously. A Network Management System (NMS) with an online database is responsible for the collection of data on the networks. For greater effectiveness, operators install systems that do a lot more than collect and store raw data. These systems are easier to use and take advantage of all the data provided by NMS. In this paper we summarize measurements that were carried out to evaluate the performance of the GSM´s Air-Interface (Um). We developed a new global Quality of Service (QoS) indicator that would be provided to business development department on a monthly basis. It would represent the overall impact of the quality of service on customers. For these measurements, an operative GSM-1900 network was utilized. The parameters selected (performance metrics) on a daily basis for measurements were those with a direct impact on subscribers.