QoE

A better measure of customer experience

Understanding the customer experience has always been a challenge for Communications Service Providers (CSPs). While it's easy to tell when a network is fast or slow, speed says nothing about whether a customer is truly happy. This problem has been magnified with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). Today, the typical home has 25 connected devices, up from just 11 a few years ago. Consumer networks are now crowded with everything from smartphones and gaming systems to laptops and home theaters. The average home network is busier than ever—and customers expect those networks to work.

A new metric for modern home networks

Ready to learn more about QoE and what this metric means for home connectivity? Read our new whitepaper on the Plume Quality of Experience metric.

Download the whitepaper

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The Plume QoE:

To ensure CSPs can provide their customers with the high-quality experience they increasingly demand, we've developed a new way to measure home network performance. Called "Quality of Experience," or QoE, this metric accounts for more than just speed to more accurately capture device performance in the home.

2021

2019

U.S. home-based IoT devices

In calculating QoE, we include factors like WiFi-coverage quality, device type and location, active applications, and interference and congestion. Using real-time data and analytics, we determine what each device needs for optimal performance and compare that to what these devices are actually getting. CSPs can use results from home QoE assessments to automatically adapt and optimize connectivity. With QoE, the CSP can detect and correct problems before the customer even notices them.

Factors used in calculating QoE:

• WiFi-coverage quality. • Device type and location. • Active applications. • Interference and congestion.

Say goodbye to QoS

While the traditional "Quality of Service" (QoS) metric may have worked for CSPs a few years ago, today's home network environment is too complicated for analyses that don't include information about specific devices. Unlike QoS, the Plume QoE can help CSPs understand whether a device is "happy" or not. It doesn't simply tell you if that device is connected—it will tell you whether the connection is providing everything that device requires to function as the customer expects. If QoS provides CSPs with a static snapshot of broadband data transmission, QoE is more akin to live-streaming video—it offers an accurate view of network performance as devices come and go in real-time. Our own data shows that CSPs that adopted QoE were able to maintain high-quality customer experience even as load and congestion hit record levels during the early months of the pandemic. Their customers remained happy because their devices stayed connected—and because their service providers delivered the experience they expected.

Download the whitepaper