The growth of mobile broadband in emerging markets has been remarkable, driven by the deployment of 4G networks, increased smartphone adoption, and bandwidth-intensive applications like video streaming. However, this growth has also led to increased pressure on telecom networks when multiple subscribers attempt to connect simultaneously, potentially leading to outages or disconnections. To address this issue, internet service providers rely on broadband traffic management systems to limit download and upload speeds, ensuring that network performance remains reliable and stable.
What is Broadband Traffic Management?
Broadband traffic management is a system that ensures fair bandwidth allocation among all broadband subscribers connected to a local exchange. It offers a differentiated end-to-end quality of service (QoS) with content adaptation, caching, and distributed delivery.
During peak times, broadband providers may adjust download or upload speeds for certain tasks to maintain a stable network connection for all users. Broadband traffic management policies are explicitly stated by telecom providers and made available to the public to outline their approach to handling such critical situations in advance.
Benefits of Broadband Traffic Management
- Blending traffic and content management can enhance the mobile broadband experience while utilizing minimal network capacity. This integrated approach exercises control over network policy, content optimization, and delivery.
- It fosters a fair and balanced usage of network resources, enabling operators to build customer loyalty by tailoring offerings to their subscribers' needs. This approach also enables operators to identify revenue potential by providing customized packages and services to each customer.
- Moreover, controlling content delivery down to the device empowers operators to offer a unique and valuable service to content rights holders, ultimately leading to an improved customer experience.
Prioritizing Traffic in Broadband Traffic Management
The prioritization of broadband traffic helps to distinguish between different types of traffic directed towards the subscriber, enabling the creation of the best possible service when a large number of subscribers are trying to use the network simultaneously.
Despite the use of prioritization, the service subscribed to remains unlimited, with no limitations placed on line speed, usage, or downloads, and there are no negative effects resulting from the prioritization. By prioritizing time-sensitive traffic, operators are able to provide the best possible service and experience, particularly in situations where broadband speeds are relatively slow.
How is broadband traffic management achieved?
Broadband traffic management is put into practice by limiting a user’s download and upload speeds during peak hours to ensure that bandwidth is evenly distributed and available to all users. There are several services available that fall under this technique and help serve the network better.
- The Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) combines deep packet inspection (DPI), policy enforcement, and charging function engines to inspect, adapt, and enforce traffic management policies. The PCEF optimization component helps network equipment and software vendors to enhance their strength of services with protocol management capabilities.
- The Traffic Detection Function optimizes the delivery and performance of applications and services, personalizes the user experience by providing tiered service plans, and allows subscribers to manage their own usage and monetize network utilization, charging, and controlling usage, adjusting service availability, and cost.
- Traffic Steering accelerates service creation and deployment by routing traffic to the value-added services, achieving operational efficiencies, optimization, and monetizing the operator’s network. It is context-aware at both user and application levels, and by steering only the relevant traffic to each service in the chain, it improves efficiency and scales network services more effectively.
Conclusion
With the increasing complexity and network load, broadband operators rely on fair methods, especially for managing real-time traffic. The aim of these systems is not to halt or intentionally block particular applications but rather to prioritize the most critical and time-sensitive activities.
To ensure optimal network performance while prioritizing critical activities without compromising user experience, choose a reliable real-time broadband traffic management solution. Connect with broadband experts today to learn more and maximize your network efficiency.
