Our goal at Upward Broadband is to provide Internet Without The Hassle. In order to do that, our first priority must be to ensure every customer receives consistent speeds and reliable service. This means having a pulse on the traffic that is flowing through our network.
One speed bump that can prevent a quality streaming experience is when there is too much traffic, also called network congestion. This occurs when the internet bandwidth is not sufficient to handle the amount of data that is being downloaded or uploaded. It results in a slowdown and can be frustrating for customers, especially during important virtual meetings or when streaming that big game.
Other providers attempt to solve traffic problems by selling customers higher speeds. Upward Broadband takes a different approach and rather than charging for more speed, we manage our bandwidth to ensure that customers are not bothered by network congestion. One of the many ways we do this is by using Quality of Experience (QoE) software.
What is Quality of Experience Software?
QoE software gathers statistics and information to provide high-level, real-time data that can be used by Upward Broadband. This data can help a customer evaluate their bandwidth usage, manage online traffic, and keep necessary functions running smoothly. This data can also help Upward Broadband identify bottlenecks in the system and make necessary upgrades. Upward Broadband’s usage of QoE software mainly benefits customers in the following ways:
- Prioritizing Traffic
- Managing Bulk Services
- Avoiding Upselling
- Discovering Proactive Network Improvements
Prioritizing Traffic
Online traffic, when too high, causes congestion and slows down even the fastest connections. This often happens when multiple devices are connected to the internet, and some of them are using lots of bandwidth by streaming or downloading content. In fact, even unsolicited traffic (any traffic that the user did not initiate) can take bandwidth and cause internet users to experience a slowdown.
Many internet service providers will try to solve traffic problems by selling higher internet speeds to customers. Rather than fix the congestion problem, this only costs the customers more money.
QoE allows Upward Broadband to give customers the experience they pay for by prioritizing critical applications. In a time when more and more people are working from home, being able to shape traffic usage is a valuable feature. This aspect is particularly helpful for households with multiple devices on the service at the same time, allowing important applications and services to maintain full bandwidth while limiting the amount of bandwidth that noncritical services can use.
Managing Bulk Services
QoE software allows customers to manage their bandwidth usage. Without this feature, customers will lose bandwidth to bulk services such as streaming platforms (Netflix, etc.), system updates, or downloads that take all of the available bandwidth.
In everyday life, this could mean that your business Zoom call is dropped when your child starts downloading a new game for his Xbox at the same time.
By managing bulk services, you can control how much bandwidth goes where; for example, system updates will be slowed to prevent a slowdown for business-critical applications like Zoom.
Avoiding Upselling
When online congestion occurs, many internet service providers will sell customers a higher-priced plan that promises faster speeds. Unfortunately, this does not solve the congestion problem and often means that customers are paying for more bandwidth even when there are no connected devices using the internet.
Not only does QoE software prioritize traffic and manage bulk services, but it also allows Upward Broadband to understand customer needs and match customers with the best plan to meet their internet needs. This saves the customer money.
Discovering Proactive Network Improvements
Upward Broadband’s usage of QoE software provides insights and real-time feedback into customers’ experiences and our equipment’s performance. This data allows us to make timely network upgrade decisions by showing us if our equipment is overloaded or underperforming.
Why does Upward Broadband use Quality of Service Software?
To summarize, Upward Broadband uses QoE software to improve our customers’ experience by giving them bandwidth where they need it and when they need it. Instead of allowing bulk services to use all of the available bandwidth, QoE software will prioritize traffic for the customer based on the application or type of traffic. Instead of upselling on higher traffic speeds, we manage the bandwidth to allow customers to use their bandwidth to their greatest advantage.
Upward Broadband also uses this software to quickly identify weaknesses in our system, giving our customers the best possible service. QoE software provides real-time feedback about the service and customer satisfaction, allowing Upward Broadband to provide the highest quality service.
Quality of Experience software allows the customer and Upward Broadband to work together to meet our first priority: reliable, fast, and consistent internet service.
