Measuring and Assessing Performance of Mobile Broadband Networks and Future 5G Trends

Ayman A. El-Saleh, Abdulraqeb Alhammadi, Ibraheem Shayea, Nizar Alsharif, Nouf M. Alzahrani, Osamah Ibrahim Khalaf and Theyazn H. H. Aldhyani
Additional contact information
Ayman A. El-Saleh: College of Engineering, A’Sharqiyah University (ASU), Ibra 400, Oman
Abdulraqeb Alhammadi: Communication Systems and Networks Research Lab, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur 54100, Malaysia
Ibraheem Shayea: Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Istanbul 34467, Turkey
Nizar Alsharif: Department of Computer Engineering and Science, Albaha University, Albaha 42331, Saudi Arabia
Nouf M. Alzahrani: College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Albaha University, Albaha 42331, Saudi Arabia
Osamah Ibrahim Khalaf: Al-Nahrain Nanorenewable Energy Research Center, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad 10071, Iraq
Theyazn H. H. Aldhyani: Applied College in Abqaiq, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-20

Abstract: Mobile broadband (MBB) is one of the critical goals in fifth-generation (5G) networks due to rising data demand. MBB provides very high-speed internet access with seamless connections. Existing MBB, including third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation (4G) networks, also requires monitoring to ensure good network performance. Thus, performing analysis of existing MBB assists mobile network operators (MNOs) in further improving their MBB networks’ capabilities to meet user satisfaction. In this paper, we analyzed and evaluated the multidimensional performance of existing MBB in Oman. Drive test measurements were carried out in four urban and suburban cities: Muscat, Ibra, Sur and Bahla. This study aimed to analyze and understand the MBB performance, but it did not benchmark the performance of MNOs. The data measurements were collected through drive tests from two MNOs supporting 3G and 4G technologies: Omantel and Ooredoo. Several performance metrics were measured during the drive tests, such as signal quality, throughput (downlink and unlink), ping and handover. The measurement results demonstrate that 4G technologies were the dominant networks in most of the tested cities during the drive test. The average downlink and uplink data rates were 18 Mbps and 13 Mbps, respectively, whereas the average ping and pong loss were 53 ms and 0.9, respectively, for all MNOs.

Keywords: quality of experience; QoE; quality of service; QoS; mobile broadband; 5G; data rate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/829/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/829/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:829-:d:722981

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().