Introduction

Network QoS research and testing have been largely limited to end-to-end benchmarks, which measure performance between 2 network endpoints.
However, the Internet as we know it is not a mere point-to-point connection but a diverse network of several different hosts providing a variety of services (such as email, webpages, voip, music downloads, gaming etc).
Up till now, Internet services have been provisioned and sold based on the consumer's connection to their ISP, with actual traffic to the Internet termed as "best effort". Is your ISP putting any effort into "best effort"?

About

The Internet Quality of Service Test was created to measure quality of service from a user perspective to services on the Internet. This benchmarking tool is targeted at end hosts (consumers) to assist them to quantify their Internet Quality of Service Experience by focusing on broad Internet services performance rather than end-to-end statistics. To do so, the tool utilizes existing services already on the Internet (such as HTTP, DNS or ICMP Ping) and quantifies the quality of service experience based on simulated performance tests to each service commonly accessed by Internet users. This method of testing allows for a wide geographical coverage which gives us a good representation of the Internet as we know it from the user's viewpoint. The tool runs as a Java applet within an Internet browser for ease of use.

Currently Available Test Metrics

1. Real-world HTTP Performance Test to Top 20 rated websites around the globe
2. ICMP Ping Test to major routers in wide selection of countries (RTT/Jitter/Loss measurement)
3. UDP Ping Test to selected endpoints (RTT/Jitter/Loss measurement)
4. SIP (Voip) Ping Test to selected endpoints (RTT/Jitter/Loss measurement)
5. SIP (Voip) Priority under heavy load "QoS" test (RTT/Jitter/Loss measurement)
6. TCP Throughput Test

Results Analysis and Comparison

Scores will be presented in a 3-tier format.

1. First, the end user will be able to view detailed results on each test to each destination location
2. Next, scoring metrics which apply to everyday Internet use will be derived from the raw data and each score made available for view
3. Lastly, a single summarised score from the second stage will be presented as the overall Quality of Service quotient for the connection being tested. Currently, a synthetic scoring scale for the various metrics in stage 2 are used, but we are moving towards use of a neural network to classify user experience in relation to the derived metrics.

The website will allow users to benchmark their score against other users of similar Internet Service Providers, Network Equipment, or Countries.

Benefits

1. Enable end users to determine if they are being given a fair quality of service level from their ISP (which promises "best-effort"), and if any QoS is being conducted on their network.
2. Enable end users to test the performance of their Internet connection and to compare if service standards from their provider are dropping or improving
3. Enable end users to choose between service providers based on their provision of Internet as a service and not a connection
4. Based on a large sample of data, allows us to draw some conclusions on Internet service connectivity and how it differs between countries, ISPs and if it is affected by network equipment
5. Can be used as a test of network/QoS implementation