Inferring User-perceived Performance of Network by monitoring TCP Interruptions

Abstract

The fluctuating performance of wireless and mobile networks has triggered the need for smart algorithms to assess the user perception, resulting from the quality of network services. While the efforts have been done to model the user experience resulting from the network performance, there is still the need for practical methods to assess the user-perceived performance, in the real environment. In this work, we present a set of criteria to observe the user behavior on the Web, passively from the network-level. The criteria are based on the TCP control flags. Along the way, we also present some anomalies observed in the TCP connection termination process, which may result in the performance degradation of Web transfers.