The internet has had a major influence on the lives of a large percentage of the world’s population. Now Mobile Broadband has the opportunity to take this a step further by maximizing the reach of the internet, connecting people in various remote locations to the rest of the world, and becoming an extremely profitable new service for operators to offer. However, a number of challenges still need to be overcome before Mobile Broadband’s potential can be fully realized. Theta Networks assists this process by offering solutions powered by DPI technology that provide the level of visibility necessary to manage and extract the greatest amount of value from Mobile Broadband networks.
Mobile Broadband Challenges
The main complication associated with Mobile Broadband is the fact that mobile networks, which have traditionally dealt mainly with low bandwidth type of data services such as MMS and WAP, are now experiencing a colossal increase in data traffic. Because of the increased bandwidth that 3G networks can allot to subscribers, for some networks the volume of data traffic in 3G networks may soon be similar to the data traffic levels in traditional DSL or Cable Modem networks. This increase in traffic has in turn, created other obstacles for operators:
- Excessive Data Traffic: One of the first challenges that appear for operators is dealing with data traffic from a capacity point of view. The amount of traffic quickly presses the issue of how to optimize the capacity that is available. This means that networks need to be constantly monitored for poor response times, packet loss, connectivity errors, malfunctioning cells and a variety of other issues that waste precious bandwidth.
- Subscriber Quality of Experience (QoE): At the same time, while providing service to a maximum amount of subscribers is a focal issue, the Quality of Experience for each subscriber should also be a major concern. This means finding methods to consistently provide the throughput subscribers are paying for as well as being able to immediately detect new waves of issues that detract from subscriber sessions such as improper settings in a user agent that prevents access to flash content.
- Revenue Opportunities: There are many opportunities for additional lines of revenue through Mobile Broadband. One only needs to look at the various service plans that are offered by Cable Modem and DSL networks to understand some of the many ways for internet service providers to obtain extra value. However, to take advantage of these opportunities, a high degree of network visibility must be available so that subscribers can be profiled, segmented and handled within these groups. Without visibility it is difficult to monetize many aspects of mobile broadband, such as targeting particular customers with new offers and content or guaranteeing levels of service in popular areas.
What Deep Packet Inspection Can Do for Mobile Broadband
By employing a DPI solution, all of these issues can be fully understood and solved, turning each challenge into an opportunity to provide superior service while maximizing ARPU.
- Efficient Management of Data Traffic: A DPI solution is an effective tool for swift network testing and troubleshooting. These solutions can be used in place of or in conjunction with other testing methods such as drive testing. For example, a DPI-Solution can be used to calculate the average throughput for all radio cell IDs. This can then be used to locate problematic areas where further investigations through drive tests are necessary. In addition, based on the same massive statistical analysis method it is possible to determine problems such as high server delays, issues from particular handsets or 3G data cards, issues with specific network nodes, and even the roots of customer throughput complaints.
- Subscribers’ Experience: A DPI solution can also keep track of the error-related and connectivity-related trends, and deal with these issues immediately. If a DNS server is slowing down service for subscribers this issue can be immediately detected and dealt with, whereas if this issue remained unnoticed for a few weeks, it would quickly cause significant subscriber dissatisfaction. In addition, a DPI solution will allow operators to improve customer service by allowing representatives to locate each specific failed data session, find the exact issue in a couple clicks, find an explanation of the issue, and give a subscriber friendly answer.
- Create Additional Revenue Streams: A DPI solution can report on the most popular content types, websites, applications, areas, user agents, and mobile phone types. This solution is also a proficient tool for segmenting between different classes of customers based on their activity in the network. For example, business subscribers who use the service for checking stock quotes can easily be separated from subscribers who are mainly watching streaming videos of television shows. In this situation, different plans can be offered to these two groups to match the value each group places on the service as well as each group’s value as subscribers going forward.
Overall, a DPI solution can mine a wealth of data from networks that can be employed for a number of crucial functions such as testing, troubleshooting, performance optimization, customer care, customer profiling, marketing, etc. It is a flexible tool that can become an ideal bridge of understanding between a network and the people who manage it.
Learn more about Mobile Broadband solutions and Mobile Broadband QoE.
