Broadband Access

S. C. Sahasrabudhe,

CERC- Ahmedabad, India

Framework

• Internet

• ISP

• The Client (You & I)

• QoS

Internet

• Global Network

• Loosely Coupled (Little Central Control)

• Extremely Valuable

• Billions of Clients (Consumers)

• Livelihoods, Working lives, communication, Education,…It affects everything.

• So, Quality of Access to it is no trivial matter.

QoS• Very Illusive (Engineering, Subjective,

and Random)

• Engineers have studied it well, but mostly to improve the Quality.

• The Engineers (may be, rather foolishly) seem to assume that all play fair!

• Also, they address issues related not only to the ISP but the entire net.

Qu. What Best can you do on behalf of the consumer?

Some Q/A on Access Speed

• Q. Is the access speed very important?

• Ans. Yes, it is.

• Q. Can it be measured?

• Ans. Yes, it can be.

• Q. Can a consumer understand the measurement?

• Ans. It is difficult. It is random and depends on several factors

Factors in QoS

• QoS depends on Several factors. .like: access speed, Data Cap, packet loss rate, different jitters, and also on the Application.

• We need measurement of not just the access speed but of QoS.

• QoS Application on the Consumer’s Machine?

Consumer and the SLA

• Most Consumers do not really Understand the SLA they sign!

• A Model SLA ( at least a template)?

• Should be possible.

• All SLAs in Public Domain?

• Content Design of the Bill?

Complaints and Redress

• To whom? ISP or Regulator, or Both?

• Access to Information from the Regulator! (Not my Fault!)

• Powers to the Regulator?

Problem in Waiting

• Mobile Access on 3G, 4G, and beyond

• The Dominant Access in 3/5 yrs.

• Two Major Issues:

1. Spectrum – Very Costly

2. Wireless link –Poor, Unpredictable

3. Capturing Transactions?

References

1. Holding Broadband Providers to Account, A consumer Advocacy Manual, Kualalmpur 2012.

2. Enforcement Report, A report on Ofcom’s approach to enforcement and recent activity, May 2011.

3. UK fixed broadband speeds, Ofcom Research Report, March 2011

Thank You

Some Additional Slides

ISSUES

• Q1. What do the Service Providers tell their Clients?

• Ans. Very Little (if anything). Most do not understand anyway!

Next Question

• Q2. (More difficult). What is your access speed?

• It is a random variable- mean and variance? Not fully.

• Q3. How to correctly describe true (of real value to the consumer) speed?

• Hard problem. And also, may not be easily or meaningfully measurable, and…

Next Question

• Q4. Will it pass the Legal Test?

• The fault was not in the service provider’s domain.

• The measurements are not in accordance with the service agreement. No proof that the consumer accessed the service correctly- His computer was doing background jobs. ….

A Typical Promise

• Speeds ‘up to’ XX Mbps

• Real Promise- It will never exceed XX Mbps- We assure you.

BT ‘up to’ 8Mbps 4.1 to 4.8MBPS

Orange ‘up to’ 8Mbps 3.3 to 4.3Mbps

Virgin Media

‘up to’ 10Mbps 9.5 to 9.7Mbps

BT ‘up to’ 20Mbps 6.9 to 8.7Mbps

Sky up ‘up to’ 20Mbps 7.4 to 8.8Mbps

(Only a part of the Table)

Another Issue

• Internet is used also for (other than file download) : Gaming, VoIP (Skype)

• These experiences are affected by: Delay, Packet Losses, Jitter etc.

• So, QoS is determined by many other factors

Increase Competition

• This is so Obvious: But here• If online – Fiber or the ‘tp’. Change implies cost,

long break in service. Can turn out to be “from frying pan into fire”.

• In the forthcoming world of “Wireless” it might be easier to provide competition, but will be much harder to prove culpability in lack of service quality

• There are Engineering problems but that is for the Engineers

Nutrition Label?

• It should certainly help.

• A Good First Step

• Comprehensive QoS measurement

• Done by an Independent Regulatory Body May be a better a answer

Thank You