Backhaul testing from the Customer Premises

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.

Pre-deployment testing - Setting the user's expectations
Epitiro's FemtoLite solution provides a scalable and effective way to instantly pre-test broadband service capability and offers a view of a specific customer's suitability for Femto. FemtoLite™ is a browser-based application that requires no hardware distribution to potential Femtocell customers - all that they require to run the tests is to visit a pre-defined web page on your website or Portal.

How it works
By simply visting a page on your website, from the user's home PC, the application starts a test session over the active broadband connection 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 tests precise transmission metrics data are collected by the software agent. This information is then instantly assessed and the user is informed of his Broadband line's suitability for Femtcoell services.

Historical Performance Data
As every test made at your web portal is instantly stored in your centralised reporting database, by having your customers repeat this process on a regular basis you will 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 a Femtocell services. Additionally you can set the consumer's expectations regarding the quality of those services and number of concurrently supported calls or video sessions.