Comparison of QoS has become necessary in the competitive environment in which telecommunications service provider companies operate. Comparisons are important for users, regulators, service providers and network providers. The user needs to compare delivered performances of various providers within the country and perhaps to a lesser extent that of the international providers. The business user sometimes needs to compare the offered quality both nationally and internationally. Service providers find it necessary to compare their offered and delivered performance against the competitors'. They could also benefit from comparing customer perceptions of their services with those of competitors'. This chapter gives a brief review of some of the existing comparisons, identifies the limitations and proposes solutions to make meaningful comparisons possible.

Inspec keywords: telecommunication network management; quality of service; quality management; telecommunication services

Other keywords: telecommunication service provider company; international providers; telecommunication quality of service management; QoS; network providers

Subjects: Network management