For the first time, ANACOM surveyed, from a user’s standpoint, the Internet access quality of service as provided by ISPs in Portugal, covering both narrowband (dial-up) and broadband (ADSL and cable) offers.
The study was prepared and made in partnership with CONVEX - Consultoria e Integração de Sistemas, Lda, and MARKTEST - Marketing, Organização, Formação, Lda and also involved Foundation for National Scientific Computation (FCCN), Telecommunications Operators Association (APRITEL) and Institute of the Consumer (IC).
The evaluation of the Internet access quality of service took into account several indicators, collected by a computer application (software agent) installed within a user group that was specifically set up for this purpose, targeted at representing the dispersion of results both in geography and in time, and from which resulted the necessary measurements and tests.
A first phase of the study, which took place between June and July 2005, analysed the narrowband (dial-up) offers to the home market provided by the four major Portuguese ISPs (Internet Service Providers) with this kind of service, which stand for over 90% of the market.
Based on service availability / reliability indicators, measuring the time and percentage of success in establishing a dial-up connection and verifying the service support systems (DNS e DHCP), as well as on efficiency indicators, evaluating upload and download capacities, this study’s first phase resulted in globally good evaluations, with minor differences among the several operators regarding all availability / reliability and efficiency indicators.
Furthermore, it is possible to conclude that indicator variations registered during the day and along the week are of little significance regarding any of the analysed operators. The lowest values were registered on week days and between 12h00 noon to 6h00 p.m. It was also possible to verify that the efficiency indicators had slightly lower values for international connections, which indicates some constraints on the international bandwidth provided by national operators.
The second phase of the project, which took place between September and October 2005, analyzed the broadband (ADSL and cable) offers provided by the five major Portuguese ISPs with this kind of access, representing over 90% of the market. The only indicators used in this phase measured efficiency, namely information (HTTP and FTP) download and upload.
The results of this second phase were as follows. Regarding download, in spite of the good results of all operators, they were clearly higher with national targeted ISPs, which again shows constraints on the international bandwidth provided by operators.
Regarding upload, the results were equally satisfactory but, unlike with the previous case, there are no important differences between the results in national and international targeted ISPs. The ping indicator, which measures the standby time between the user and the standard Internet site, had generally good results. Lastly, the indicator variations between week days and weekends were minor, if any, although some indicator variations were detected along the day, mainly in the download (FTP and HTTP).
Consult:
- Evaluation of the Internet Access Service https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=678378
Related information on ANACOM's website:
- Broadband area https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=325611
- Access and Interconnection https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=19498
- Quality Reports https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=293535
