Survey of End-to-End Mobile Network Measurement Testbeds, Tools, and Services

TL;DR

This survey reviews current end-to-end mobile network measurement tools and services, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses to guide future research and development in mobile network performance evaluation.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of existing mobile network measurement approaches and identifies gaps and future directions for improving mobile performance assessment.

Findings

Current tools vary in accuracy and usability.

Many tools lack comprehensive diagnosis features.

Future research should focus on integrated, user-friendly measurement solutions.

Abstract

Mobile (cellular) networks enable innovation, but can also stifle it and lead to user frustration when network performance falls below expectations. As mobile networks become the predominant method of Internet access, developer, research, network operator, and regulatory communities have taken an increased interest in measuring end-to-end mobile network performance to, among other goals, minimize negative impact on application responsiveness. In this survey we examine current approaches to end-to-end mobile network performance measurement, diagnosis, and application prototyping. We compare available tools and their shortcomings with respect to the needs of researchers, developers, regulators, and the public. We intend for this survey to provide a comprehensive view of currently active efforts and some auspicious directions for future work in mobile network measurement and mobile application performance evaluation.