Individual QoS rating for voice services in cellular networks

Observation and management of quality of service in cellular networks is a very important function. This article shows that it should be performed not only at the network level, as is done today, but also individually in each and every user terminal. Existing centralized network QoS systems only collect data, which allows evaluation of average QoS at the network or cell levels. However, they do not provide any objective data for estimating the QoS actually served to individual mobile users. This article offers a concept of individual QoS rating, which would allow dynamic assessment, recording, and subsequent analysis of the actual QoS received by a particular mobile user (individual QoS). Individual QoS ratings so obtained could then be reported to the user directly (as part of the intelligent user terminal concept) and otherwise become a part of service-level transactions (billing, etc.) between the user and the network operator. Realization of this novel value-added service can be achieved by integrating a special QoS module (software agent) into user terminals for monitoring and recording of individual QoS data.