Building a better broadband ecosystem with more accurate Open Broadband Speed Tests

Building a better broadband ecosystem with more accurate Open Broadband Speed Tests

Al Morton and Len Ciavattone, OB-UDPST Project Leaders

Service providers face competitive and regulatory pressures to guarantee a high-quality, high-bandwidth broadband service for their end-users. However, existing methods of capacity measurement are often difficult to employ. Not only this, but accuracy has always been a problem with testing any kind of internet connection. For example, traditional web-based speed tests can easily be impacted by issues such as slow Wi-Fi and local network congestion from background updates or other users consuming bandwidth at the same time as the test being run.

Broadband Forum has recently released a new User Datagram Protocol Speed Test (OB-UDPST) project to help mitigate these challenges mentioned. User experience is at the core of any service provider’s offering, and today’s consumers expect their broadband service to deliver speed and low latency. With the help of the Forum and its new broadband speed test, it will enable more accurate results for a vastly improved broadband user experience.

Boosting broadband measurement accuracy

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which current ad-hoc speed tests are based on, was for a long time considered the only option as a reliable transport protocol. However, TCP reacts conservatively to loss and round-trip delay, and therefore produces a significant underestimate of Maximum IP-Layer Capacity. This has resulted in a gap between actual service rates and TCP’s estimates. For operators facing increasing regulatory demands to provide consumers with increasing speeds and ensure that these are delivered as advertised, finding a solution has become a top priority.

Standards are key

As outlined in Broadband Forum’s IP Layer Capacity Metrics and Measurement (TR-471) specification, the User Data Protocol-based measurement of Maximum IP Capacity simultaneously measures the packet loss, round-trip delay, delay variation, and reordering present. This is superior information to that which is provided by TCP and Ping measurements made separately, and this will ultimately close the gap between actual service rates and TCP’s estimates under the measured conditions. This addresses current measurement issues with high-speed internet access and will act as the ultimate communication protocol used across the internet.  Broadband Forum harmonized its TR-471 specification with the ITU-T, ETSI-STQ/Mobile, and the IETF for the widest industry impact.

Next Step: Open source Implementation of TR-471

Broadband Forum recognized the need to develop a new broadband speed test and created an OB-UDPST Speed Test project. The seed-code for the UDPST utility (provided by AT&T) will quantify and verify ‘ultra-fast’ broadband. In the second (7.0.0) Release as open source on GitHub, participants from the Broadband Forum put together the demonstration software to allow organizations to experiment with varying technologies in different environments. Some of the technical attributes of the demonstration software include the single module design, meaning it can run either the client or server applications on the same host. The software can also be built as 64 or 32-bit, which is convenient for some of the ARM Single Board Computers (SBCs).

For enhanced flexibility, the server also supports overlapping test sessions and facilitates the coexistence of multiple instances on an individual server. The software supports an IP Capacity measurement range from 0.5 Mbps to 10 Gbps, with the possibility to adjust this range as needed. Authentication is supported between the client and server, so organizations can make a server public and control who has access to it. Not only this, but the Linux-based C-language code can easily function as a standalone server which ensures the data is easily accessible to all users. This encourages the development of apps for remote test endpoint operating systems, including Windows, Android and iOS.

Service providers are currently facing an accelerating demand to provide consumers with an efficient demonstration of their maximum subscribed speeds. The work of Broadband Forum will ensure next-generation networks can meet industry-wide expectations and deliver the connected services we consume every day.

For more information, watch Broadband Forum’s ‘Guaranteeing Broadband Service Quality with New IP Capacity Measurements’ webinar in full here.