Wireless network call quality: A quantitative investigation into the correlation between network call quality and subscriber-perceived call quality

Wireless technology has now become a key driver in today's economic expansion. Expectations of wireless technology operational performance are coming under increasing scrutiny. The majority of this scrutiny is currently focused on the cellular and Personal Communications System (PCS) industry. Cellular and PCS industries in the United States reach the majority of the population and generate huge annual revenues.;Despite the desire of wireless users to receive better and better call quality, thus far, call quality has focused on perceived network call quality and not actual network call quality. While the providers of wireless services track and monitor how well their systems are performing in terms of the percentage of calls that successfully connect to the network and the percentage of calls that are not dropped, the relationship between actual network call quality and perceived network call quality is not well understood. This lack of understanding could potentially lead to over- or underinvestment in wireless networks that can cripple the competitive viability of a wireless service provider in a very competitive industry in the United States.;The purpose of this research is to understand the relationship between actual wireless-network call-quality performance and customer-perceived network call-quality performance. Does improved network call quality result in improved network performance as perceived by the customer? Conversely, does network call-quality degradation lead to wireless user dissatisfaction because of a decline in perceived network call quality? How strongly is perceived network quality related to actual network quality? This research attempts to gain answers to these questions by conducting a multiple-regression analysis of actual network-performance data and call-quality perception data. The actual network-performance data and call-quality perception data is provided by a wireless service provider and addresses 42 geographic markets for a 17-month period. Using the information provided by the wireless service provider, this research attempts to show which of two network parameters (ineffective attempts and lost calls) has a greater impact on network call quality as perceived by the wireless user. Lastly, this research attempted to determine if there is a lag or delay in perceptions of network call-quality performance and actual changes in network call-quality performance.