A Simplified Method for Extended Duration Measurements of Mobile Broadband Performance

Information on mobile broadband (MBB) network performance as experienced by the user is limited. In a bid to fill this information gap, different methodologies and infrastructure have been developed to measure MBB performance around the world. This paper documents a simplified method developed to measure mobile broadband performance over an extended period. In this method, the Raspberry Pi and other commercial-off-the-shelf devices were configured to measure the broadband performance of four major mobile network operators in Nigeria. In particular, the download and upload throughput of respective 3G HSPA+ and 4G LTE networks were measured. The results obtained indicate that the measured broadband performance metrics are below expected peak theoretical values and leaves a lot of room for improvement.