Smartphone-based measurements of LTE network performance

Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology gives access to higher bandwidth and assures efficiency at network level for telecommunication operators, providing a reliable and continuous data traffic flow that allows data transmission at extremely high bit-rates. The aim of this paper is to evaluate LTE network performance in an actual urban environment, with emphasis on the downlink channel throughput. The use of statistical methods shows how standard expectations are too high with respect to a real scenario. Also, an analysis is carried out with reference to key parameters for radio optimization that are not defined in the standard and are implemented and defined differently by each vendor.