IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i2p829-d722981.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring and Assessing Performance of Mobile Broadband Networks and Future 5G Trends

Author

Listed:
  • Ayman A. El-Saleh

    (College of Engineering, A’Sharqiyah University (ASU), Ibra 400, Oman)

  • Abdulraqeb Alhammadi

    (Communication Systems and Networks Research Lab, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur 54100, Malaysia)

  • Ibraheem Shayea

    (Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Istanbul 34467, Turkey)

  • Nizar Alsharif

    (Department of Computer Engineering and Science, Albaha University, Albaha 42331, Saudi Arabia)

  • Nouf M. Alzahrani

    (College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Albaha University, Albaha 42331, Saudi Arabia)

  • Osamah Ibrahim Khalaf

    (Al-Nahrain Nanorenewable Energy Research Center, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad 10071, Iraq)

  • Theyazn H. H. Aldhyani

    (Applied College in Abqaiq, King Faisal University, P.O. Box 400, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Mobile broadband (MBB) is one of the critical goals in fifth-generation (5G) networks due to rising data demand. MBB provides very high-speed internet access with seamless connections. Existing MBB, including third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation (4G) networks, also requires monitoring to ensure good network performance. Thus, performing analysis of existing MBB assists mobile network operators (MNOs) in further improving their MBB networks’ capabilities to meet user satisfaction. In this paper, we analyzed and evaluated the multidimensional performance of existing MBB in Oman. Drive test measurements were carried out in four urban and suburban cities: Muscat, Ibra, Sur and Bahla. This study aimed to analyze and understand the MBB performance, but it did not benchmark the performance of MNOs. The data measurements were collected through drive tests from two MNOs supporting 3G and 4G technologies: Omantel and Ooredoo. Several performance metrics were measured during the drive tests, such as signal quality, throughput (downlink and unlink), ping and handover. The measurement results demonstrate that 4G technologies were the dominant networks in most of the tested cities during the drive test. The average downlink and uplink data rates were 18 Mbps and 13 Mbps, respectively, whereas the average ping and pong loss were 53 ms and 0.9, respectively, for all MNOs.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayman A. El-Saleh & Abdulraqeb Alhammadi & Ibraheem Shayea & Nizar Alsharif & Nouf M. Alzahrani & Osamah Ibrahim Khalaf & Theyazn H. H. Aldhyani, 2022. "Measuring and Assessing Performance of Mobile Broadband Networks and Future 5G Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-20, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:829-:d:722981
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/829/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/829/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lobo, Bento J. & Alam, Md Rafayet & Whitacre, Brian E., 2020. "Broadband speed and unemployment rates: Data and measurement issues," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Salil Bharany & Sandeep Sharma & Osamah Ibrahim Khalaf & Ghaida Muttashar Abdulsahib & Abeer S. Al Humaimeedy & Theyazn H. H. Aldhyani & Mashael Maashi & Hasan Alkahtani, 2022. "A Systematic Survey on Energy-Efficient Techniques in Sustainable Cloud Computing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-89, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hasbi, Maude & Bohlin, Erik, 2021. "Impact of Broadband Quality on Median Income and Unemployment: Evidence from Sweden," 23rd ITS Biennial Conference, Online Conference / Gothenburg 2021. Digital societies and industrial transformations: Policies, markets, and technologies in a post-Covid world 238026, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    2. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Krämer, Jan & Palan, Nicole, 2023. "Socioeconomic benefits of high-speed broadband availability and service adoption: A survey," Research Papers 24, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Whitacre, Brian & Gallardo, Roberto, 2020. "State broadband policy: Impacts on availability," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(9).
    4. Jamison, Mark A. & Wang, Peter, 2023. "Disparate Impacts of Broadband on Women and Minorities: The Case of Broadband in the U.S," 32nd European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2023: Realising the digital decade in the European Union – Easier said than done? 277974, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    5. Gary A. Wagner & Hyun Ji Lee, 2024. "Does broadband affect local economic outcomes less than we thought? Micro evidence from Louisiana," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(1), pages 68-93, January.
    6. Isley, Catherine & Low, Sarah A., 2022. "Broadband adoption and availability: Impacts on rural employment during COVID-19," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7).
    7. Han, Luyi & Wojan, Timothy R. & Goetz, Stephan J., 2023. "Experimenting in the cloud: The digital divide's impact on innovation," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(7).
    8. Chen, Yulong & Ma, Liyuan & Orazem, Peter F., 2023. "The heterogeneous role of broadband access on establishment entry and exit by sector and urban and rural markets," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(3).
    9. Worden, David & Hambly, Helen, 2022. "Willingness to pay and pricing for broadband across the rural/urban divide in Canada," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    10. Oughton, Edward J. & Comini, Niccolò & Foster, Vivien & Hall, Jim W., 2022. "Policy choices can help keep 4G and 5G universal broadband affordable," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    11. Biedny, Christina & Whitacre, Brian & Gallardo, Roberto, 2022. "Do ‘dig once’ and permitting policies improve fiber availability?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5).
    12. Anil Rupasingha & John Pender & Ryan Williams, 2024. "Broadband and rural development: Impacts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Broadband Initiatives Program on saving and creating jobs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(2), pages 698-721, April.
    13. George Charalampopoulos & Dimitris Katsianis & Dimitris Varoutas, 2022. "Economic replicability tests: an “out-of-the-box” implementation," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 115-138, October.
    14. Steven Deller & Brian Whitacre & Tessa Conroy, 2022. "Rural broadband speeds and business startup rates," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(3), pages 999-1025, May.
    15. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Stocker, Volker, 2020. "Bedeutung digitaler Infrastrukturen und Dienste und Maßnahmen zur Förderung der Resilienz in Krisenzeiten," Policy Notes 42, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    16. Wolfgang Briglauer & Carlo Cambini & Klaus Gugler & Volker Stocker, 2023. "Net neutrality and high-speed broadband networks: evidence from OECD countries," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 533-571, June.
    17. Bauer, Anahid & Feir, Donn. L. & Gregg, Matthew T., 2022. "The tribal digital divide: Extent and Explanations," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(9).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:829-:d:722981. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.