Home / Technology / QoS is Out, QoE is In for Networks
QoS is Out, QoE is In for Networks
6 May
Summary
- Networks still use old monitoring logic for modern 21st-century tech.
- QoE measures user delight or annoyance, not just technical metrics.
- AI and CDNs introduce new experience gaps invisible to old tools.
New and emerging technologies like 5G and embedded AI are not translating into the seamless user experiences they promise. Millions of users continue to encounter issues such as buffering and failed transactions, indicating a significant disconnect between network performance and actual user perception.
This gap stems from an over-reliance on 20th-century monitoring logic focused on Quality of Service (QoS), which measures technical aspects like speed and latency. The industry is shifting towards Quality of Experience (QoE), defined by the ITU-T as the user's "degree of delight or annoyance," to better reflect real-world usability.
Massive investments, estimated at $1.5 trillion in 5G capital expenditure by 2030, are being made by operators globally. However, infrastructure alone is insufficient. Operators are integrating AI and advanced network architectures, but the crucial challenge lies in developing measurement frameworks that capture user experience effectively.
The proliferation of AI assistants introduces new metrics like Time to First Token (TTFT) and query completion rates, which traditional network operations centers cannot currently monitor. Furthermore, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and cloud infrastructure, responsible for a large portion of mobile traffic like video, introduce degradations not controlled by operators.
Regulators worldwide, including the FCC in the US and TRAI in India, are pivoting towards experience-based oversight, utilizing citizen-submitted data. This shift emphasizes that credible network quality is determined by what users actually experience. Digital inclusion efforts also face measurement challenges, as disparities in rural and urban internet usage persist despite infrastructure investments.
True QoE measurement requires a full-stack, continuous approach, testing on real devices within live networks using actual applications. This method moves beyond synthetic testing to provide actionable intelligence, directly linking investments to tangible improvements in user experience and addressing the critical blind spots in current network monitoring.
