SwissQual, the independent Swiss network quality measurement company, has carried out drive testing on the new TeliaSonera LTE network in Stockholm. The measurements were made using the Samsung Kalmia LTE 4G modem mounted in the SwissQual Diversity Optimizer platform.   The Diversity Optimizer, in common with all of the probes in the SwissQual Evolution range, has been designed to easily integrate new handsets and modems for emerging technologies such as LTE.

The drive test collected very interesting measurement results from the new TeliaSonera 4G data service.   Downlink data throughputs up to 47 Mbps and TCP latency as low as 20 ms were recorded.   This is approximately 5 times better than the performance typically seen in 3G HSPA+ networks.

Says Magnus Hylen, SwissQual Product Manager:  “The Diversity Optimizer measurement probe has long been recognised for ease of integration and use with a multitude of measurement devices and interfaces including the scanner which we use for LTE testing.  Configuring the Optimizer for the new Samsung Kalmia LTE modem took just a matter of minutes before measurements could be started. By using the Swedish Internet Infrastructure Foundation’s server to test data download and upload, we can be sure that there were no bottlenecks in the IP connection.   This is crucial for accurate and reliable throughput assessment, especially at the speeds we now see with LTE.   Naturally LTE is in its infancy.   This meant that we saw regular disconnects and modem restarts.   However, this is something we have experienced with all new mobile technologies during the early phases of the rollout.    Apart from these issues, the performance that we have recorded is really impressive and sets a new baseline for mobile high speed data services.”

SwissQual already provides a Voice over IP testing solution. Together with the Samsung LTE modem this allows SwissQual to provide a complete solution for LTE 4G, testing both data and voice services.

Said John May, SwissQual’s CEO:  “SwissQual offers the perfect solution for determining VoIP quality over LTE networks. The SQuad algorithm was designed from the very beginning to provide a true measure of quality in VoIP applications. With LTE we expect the emergence of VoIP implementations using a much wider range of smart coding and processing capabilities including wide band. With our most recent version of SQuad, an ITU-T P.OLQA candidate, we are offering a solution that is already well proven for this new technology."