Network Performance of Smart Mobile Handhelds in a University Campus WiFi Network

Smart Mobile Handheld Devices (MHDs) such as Smartphones have been used for a wide range of applications. Despite the recent flurry of research on various aspects of smart MHDs, little is known about their network performance in Wi-Fi networks. In this paper, the authors measure the network performance of smart MHDs inside a university campus Wi-Fi network, and identify the dominant factors that affect the network performance. Specifically, they analyze 2.9TB of data collected over three days by a monitor that is located at a gateway router of the network, and make the following findings: compared to Non-Handheld Devices (NHDs), MHDs use well provisioned Akamai and Google servers more heavily, which boosts the overall network performance of MHDs.