Application of the HoQ framework to improving QoE of broadband internet services

High-quality services will be the most important competitive edge in next-generation Internet services such as the broadband Internet access market, which is now reaching a saturation point in many countries. This article presents an application of the House of Quality framework combined with the Analytic Hierarchy Process method for the service quality improvement of network services. The HoQ, which is at the core of general quality management programs, constitutes a useful tool to evaluate and organize users' quality of experience and engineering characteristics that are related to the network performance and quality of service. Furthermore, the QoE and ECs are combined together in the HoQ framework in order to present an explicit direction for quality improvement. We also calibrate the generic HoQ model by employing the AHP method in measuring the relationships between the QoE and ECs in a quantitative manner. Through a case study on DSL services, we illustrate the applicability and usefulness of the proposed framework for QoE improvement. For example, the case study reveals that soft factors, including dimensioning and configuring the networks, outweigh hard ones. This finding runs somehow counter to empirical wisdom that DSL service quality heavily depends on hard factors such as devices and lines.