The third article in this series on Vantage Service Check focuses on how mobile operators can provide an improved service experience for their customers when they are using mobile data services.
Compared to fixed line broadband services like ADSL and cable, mobile data solutions exist in a unique transmission environment that is constantly changing due to its very nature.
To illustrate, the mobile handset or wireless modem may be in motion or may have moved to a new static location that could change the quality of the radio reception and therefore the reliability and speed of the mobile data connection.
From a service assurance perspective, this inevitably results in a higher number of subscriber problems related to the inherent variability of the mobile data service such as broken download connections and web page timeouts.
These problems are often made more visible due to the higher costs for data compared to fixed line services and can result in a customer receiving a hefty charge for software downloads that in fact did not complete and therefore are not usable.
Faced with these challenges, the following discussion will show how Vantage Service Check can assist mobile operators in solving these problems and improving their customer's quality of experience.
Welcome to the mobile world
The wireless world of mobiles users has now passed 2.5 billion, with worldwide growth currently running at over 40 million new connections per month. This is the highest volume of growth we have seen yet as of September 2006 [1].
From a technology perspective, the mobile data market can be divided into either second-generation (2.5G) or third-generation (3G) technologies. It can be further segmented by competing technologies. For example: 2.5G, GPRS/EDGE as opposed to CDMA (IS-95B); and 3G, UMTS (W-CDMA) as opposed to CDMA2000.
In Australia, UMTS W-CDMA appears to be the technology chosen for the next generation of mobile networks to be supplied by Telstra-Hutchinson and Optus-Vodaphone. UMTS has now been standardised via the Third Generation Partnership Project (www.3gpp.org) and its design enables mobile operators to migrate from 2.5G to 3G while retaining many of their existing back-office systems.
In its initial stage, W-CDMA offers theoretical data speeds up to 384 Kbps in high mobility situations, rising as high as 2 Mbps in stationary/nomadic user environments. Further increases in throughput speeds of the W-CDMA include high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) and high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) technologies that are promising theoretical download speeds as high as 14.4 Mbps (and respectively 5.8 Mbps on upload.). Watch out for the next generation of laptop computers that have built-in HSDPA wireless interfaces.
Let's look at some of the components of the 2.5G GPRS mobile data network, as this represents the data network used by the majority of mobile data users today and is similarly represented in the 3G UMTS mobile infrastructure.
There are two main elements in the GPRS data network, the gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) and the serving GPRS support node (SGSN/SSGN).
The SGSN/SSGN is responsible for the delivery of data to and from the mobile phones within its service area and communicates with the GGSN. It also keeps track of the mobiles within its service area.
The GGSN acts as a logical interface to external data networks (such as the internet or private networks) and maintains routing information used to tunnel data to the SGSN/SSGN that is currently serving the mobile phones.
Vantage Service Check for mobile data
Vantage Service Check (VSC) provides agentless monitoring device (AMD) technology that is used to: collect traffic directly from the mobile data network; analyse it in real time; and report on statistics from ISO layer 2 to layer 7 (eg, network to applications).
By using deep packet inspection (DPI) technologies, the AMDs are able to determine detailed mobile phone application information such as mobile phone operating system, browser type, presence of a mobile virus and provide a complete view of the quality of experience of the mobile data connection.
This collected traffic is then supplied to a report server for use by customer service representatives in real time or by marketing personnel via the Subscriber Intelligence module, which aggregates the real-time information for historical trending and reporting.
Typically, a mobile phone will generate frequent and short connection bursts which often originate in home or out-of-home mobile networks. For example, subscribers might be accessing mobile data services using a partner mobile network from a different country. This may include SSGNs in different countries owned by different service providers and also differing GGSNs that belong to the mobile operator who is delivering the mobile data service.
VSC reports chronologically on the geographic location, referring SSGNs and GGSNs used by all mobile data subscriber connections. VSC can therefore reduce the costly support complexity involving multiple home or out-of-home GGSN and SGSN/SSGN devices by correlating individual mobile data subscriber quality of experience with the underlying GGSN and SGSN/SSGN network infrastructure.
Therefore, we provide mobile operators with full end-to-end service visibility to resolve mobile data problems regardless of the subscriber's location.
The data mining interface of VSC supports the creation of custom reports on mobile service metrics in addition to the existing broadband, VoIP, IPTV and application metrics. This means that mobile service providers anxious to increase mobile revenues to offset the impending saturation of the mobile market can have a richer understanding of subscriber behaviours and preferences.
They will be able to drive increases in ARPU (average revenue per user) and competitive market share, to "package better, package smarter" - to quote a leading mobile provider's CEO in a recent newspaper article [2].
Some examples of specific mobile reports include:
- Views of access point name (APN) usage with granular views that include: APN service types, time of day use, user types, name individual users, referring SSGNs, volume of usage (see Figure 1)
- Top users of mobile data services over userdefined period of time
- Low users of mobile data services over userdefined period of time
- Total cumulative traffic of bi-directional volumes for each month
- Report of subscribers that are exceeding their allowable cumulative monthly traffic limits
- Top terminal devices used by mobile data subscribers
- Geographic locations from which mobile data subscribers connect with the ability to view individual subscriber mobile station international ISDN number (MSISDN).
A real-world example follows, describing how VSC can assist mobile operators with its ability to provide monitoring and feedback of the quality of experience of subscribers when downloading mobile software.
A number of examples have appeared in the Australian press in 2006 where mobile subscribers have unsuccessfully attempted to download software games - in one case, many times, only to find they have been billed for all of their unsuccessful attempts. This can occur if the mobile operator's OSS systems only look at the bytes transferred by the mobile subscriber and not at the overall download experience from a customer perspective.
In contrast, the real-time monitoring by the AMDs and real-time deep packet inspection will detect and log the problem to assist in troubleshooting the cause of the issue.
VSC can alert the mobile operator to unsuccessful attempts and use its programmable XML/Java event engine to update the appropriate OSS system with the mobile subscriber's problem. Instead of poor service, multiple charges, repeat calls to customer care and potential escalation to the TIO, the subscriber might get an SMS acknowledging the problem and inviting them to try again at no charge.
Conclusion
Vantage Service Check provides mobile operators with the ability to see how your mobile data subscribers are using data services and what they are experiencing. It then correlates their individual experiences to underlying network events.
This means that marketing and product development departments can develop stickier, better value, customer-driven service bundles. It will reduce helpdesk costs; decrease churn with existing services; provide service assurance and improve market acceptance of new value added services like mobile VoIP new media content and other mobile IP-related services like mobile video.
References
[1] Worldwide cellular connections pass 2.5 billion
[2] 3G networks fight as margins shrink
