Experiences in a 3G Network: Interplay Between the Wireless Channel and Applications

This paper presents an experimental characterization of the physical and MAC layers in CDMA 1xEV-DO and their impact on transport layer performance. The 1xEV-DO network is currently the fastest mobile broadband cellular network, offering data rates of up to 3.1 Mbps for both stationary and mobile users. These rates are achieved by using novel capacity enhancement techniques at the lower layers. Specifically, 1xEV-DO incorporates rapid channel rate adaptation in response to signal conditions, and opportunistic scheduling to exploit channel fluctuations. Although shown to perform well in isolation, there is no comprehensive literature that examines the impact of these features on transport layer and application performance in real networks.