Measurement analysis and performance evaluation of mobile broadband cellular networks in a populated city

Enhanced mobile broadband is an essential target in fifth-generation (5G) networks with higher demands among service consumers. It offers very high-speed Internet connections for several geographical areas: urban, suburban, and rural. Many mobile network operators (MNOs) continuously monitor the quality of service in terms of multiple services to guarantee high network performance. To the best of our knowledge, no extensive studies and analyses are conducted on mobile broadband (MBB) services that cover various implementation scenarios and several performance metrics. This study comprehensively analyzes the existing MBB performance in an urban area: Cyberjaya City, Malaysia. The measurement data were collected through drive tests from various MNOs supporting 3G and 4G technologies: Maxis, Celcom, Digi, U Mobile, and Unifi. Several performance metrics, such as signal quality, throughput (downlink and uplink), ping, and handover, were measured during the drive tests. The data measurements were conducted in two scenarios: outdoor and indoor environments. Measurement results of the outdoor drive test demonstrate that the maximum average throughput with downlink and uplink data rates is 14.3 and 7.1 Mbps, respectively, whereas the minimum average ping and loss are 36.5 ms and 0.14, respectively, for all MNOs. However, the in-building measurements achieve an acceptable overall average data rate of 2 Mbps. This paper provides several suggestions and recommendations for MBB providers to improve their performance networks and quality of experience to meet customers’ satisfaction. Several limitations not considered in this study and can point to possible future work are presented.