Measured performance of data transmission over cellular telephone networks

ABSTRACT

Recent developments in mobile communication and personal computer technology have laid a new foundation for mobile computing. Performance of the data communication system as seen by an application program is a fundamental factor when communication infrastructure at the application layer is designed. This paper provides results of performance measurements of data transmission over two different cellular telephone networks, a digital GSM-network and an analogue NMT-network. Since our emphasis is on performance as seen by application programs, we use the standard TCP/IP protocols in the measurements. The performance is measured using three basic operations: establishment of a wireless dial-up connection, exchange of request-reply messages, and bulk data transfer. The external conditions under which the measurements were carried out present a normal office environment when the field strength of the cellular link is good or fairly good.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.0 General
          Subjects: Data communications

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

General Terms:
Design, Measurement, Performance, Reliability, Standardization, Theory

Keywords:
GSM, NMT, cellular telephones, performance measurements, wireless dial-up connections