Wireless service usage and traffic characteristics in GPRS networks

With the deployment of packet-switched wireless GPRS access networks, new wireless services are introduced, such as WAP and MMS, and existing Internet applications are put into a new mobile usage context. Optimal design and dimensioning of GPRS requires the knowledge of subscriber's usage of different services and their traffic characteristics. For this purpose, we have investigated GPRS usage and traffic patterns based on measurements taken in two live GPRS networks. The networks, revealing very different application mixtures, are investigated in terms of session duration and data volume, packet size distribution, application usage frequency and data volume, as well as user mobility.