Global Broadband Uplink Speeds

   June 2008

FemtoLite™ - Connecting with your customer

One of the biggest unknowns for any operator going into a femtocell customer engagement is how that customer's broadband network is performing and how well it would support a femtocell. The nature of DSL is such that there is a massive amount of variance in broadband connection quality from premises to premises, even in the same street, based on factors such:

  • Allocated bandwidth (Mb/s)
  • Distance from the exchange (DSL)
  • Age & quality of the copper in the ground
  • ISP traffic management policies
  • Network load by time-of-day
  • Efficiency of routing from the customer premises to the core network.
Additionally, When using a broadband connection the femtocell will share the bandwidth of the connection with other active services on that connection. These will typically include activities such as:
  • Internet Browsing
  • On-line Gaming Sessions
  • Video-on-Demand & IPTV sessions
  • Peer-to-peer file sharing sessions
Any or all of these elements combined may create a situation where the premises is not suitable for femtocell services. As many operators will quickly realise, the key concern will be the broadband uplink capacity as our Global Broadband Speed chart on the right shows. When a DSL connection is being used specifically for this voice traffic it is the the uplink that will dictate the quantity and quality of concurrent calls. As many operators have stated a requirement for femtocells to support up to 4 concurrent voice calls it's clear that providers will need to be aware of each and every individual's consumer broadband capability prior to deployment and to set expectations accordingly.

Pre-deployment testing - Setting the user's expectations
Epitiro's FemtoLite software agent solution provides an extremely affordable and effective way to pre-test service capability and offers an in-depth view of a specific customer's suitability for Femto. FemtoLite™ is a software agent that requires no hardware distribution to potential Femtocell customers - all that they require to run the tests is an internet connection and a Microsoft Windows™ PC.

How it works
By simply visting a link on your website and registering interest your subscribers are directed to download a FemtoLite™ software agent via a standard web-browser. Once installed on the Consumer's PC the software agent transmits assured-rate two-way SRTP or IPSec sessions over the active broadband connection and routing to FemtoLite™ End-point servers hosted in the cellular network core. The software client initiates scheduled assured-rate packet-transmissions sessions, representing typical voice and video-phone call sessions, from the software agent , via the broadband connection , across the public Internet and terminating on specially designed FemtoLite End-servers located in the cellular network core. During these packet transmissions precise transmission metrics data are collected by the software agent. This information is then periodically transmitted to central reporting servers and database on the Internet and stored. By repeating this process on a regular basis (say every 15 minutes as an example) for a prolonged duration of time (say 2 to 3 weeks) we can establish a dataset outlining the specific available capacity of each consumer's broadband network and using computerized processes which collate and analyze these test results can determine if it would be suitable for the deployment of an APBS. Additionally we can set the consumer's expectations regarding the quality of those services and number of concurrently supported calls or video sessions.

Backhaul requirements are pre-configured with your chosen transport - whether IPSec or SRTP with multiplexing or any other protocol definition can be implemented on request. Typical pre-configuration is based on the following table:

Cable/DSL backhaul capacity for concurrent femtocell calls (kbps)
 1 call 2 calls 3 calls 4 calls
IPSec
PPPoA (Europe) 64 127 191 254
PPPoE (USA) 85 170 254 339
SRTP (Muxed)
PPPoA 64 64 85 106
PPPoA 64 85 106 127

Clear and concise results immediately
Once the testing duration is complete the QoS measurements of potential voice quality (MOS) from the Consumer premises are analysed the customer is either informed of adequate service quality for femtocell or of an unsatisfactory broadband connection. Meanwhile you, as the Cellular provider, have access to an extensive list of test results along with visual pass/fail indicators on a per-consumer basis.