Measurement-based modelling of Internet dial-up access connections
Computer Networks: The International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking
Stochastic model for cell movement in a knockout switch in computer networks
Journal of High Speed Networks
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In the growing market of Internet access provisioning a call-by-call competition occurs among the Internet service providers as well as among the network operators. Nevertheless, congestion is still a major cause of dissatisfaction among users, who must often make repeated attempts before getting connected. During the repeated attempt process the user will be able to change his choice of the operator on a call-by-call basis. The distribution of the user's traffic among the competing operators is therefore influenced both by the mechanisms (e.g. marketing-related) that determine his first choice and by the quality of service (here embodied by the blocking probability) he experiences at his first and subsequent attempts. In this paper a Markov chain model is proposed for the user's behaviour in a simple scenario made up of a number of competing operators. The model is applied to predict the influence of both parameters (blocking probability and initial preferences) on the traffic distribution between the operators. It is also shown that smaller competitors can benefit from call-by-call competition even if their QoS is worse than the incumbent operator's.