Exploring the issues in policy-based approaches for QoS support in 3G/sup +/ mobile networks

In this paper, we explore the issues in policy-based approaches for quality of service (QoS) support in beyond 3G (3G/sub +/) mobile networks. QoS support in mobile environments per-user and per-service is a formidable task. Third Generation Project Partnership (3GPP) puts emphasis on a uniform QoS policy management (definition, control, and enforcement) and common open policy service (COPS) is specified for policy signalling. We show that the policy-based QoS approach is a promising solution to address QoS issue in 4G (a.k.a. 3G/sub +/) networks. That is, end-to-end QoS policy approach enables finer-grained service and user differentiation, leading to better subscription-tiering management.