INDEX project: user support for buying QoS with regard to user's preferences

Shows that the selection of a quality of service (QoS) becomes a difficult task for the user when he is faced with different prices for different QoSs. Even if the user is only facing a best-effort service, he might be unable to determine the minimal-cost selection of bandwidth. This article shows that the user needs support to get the best service regarding his personal situation. The mechanisms we use for such a personalized support tool (intelligent agent) are described. In addition, the concept of a QoS architecture focusing on this problem is developed in order to show how the agent fits into a QoS framework. The context where this investigation takes place is the INDEX (INternet Demand EXperiment) project, a testbed for examining the user's demand and willingness to pay for different QoSs.