Question

Is there a difference between QoS (Quality of Service) and QoE (Quality of Experience) and which is more important in helping ensure a reliable network?

Answer 1

Quality of Service(QOS): According to the International Telecommunication Union, the Quality of Service is defined as the totality of the characteristics of a telecommunications network service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs of the user of the network service. It attempts objectively measure service parameters such as packet loss rate in a network and the network throughput of the network. QoS measurement is mostly not related to a customer, but to the media or network service itself. The study of QoS in the network mainly involves a variety of sub-fields such as analysis of queuing systems, traffic characterization, etc. It also involves performance metrics such as throughput, packet loss rate, delay, and jitter, as well as dependability, availability and reliability measures that define the overall performance of a network. In the latest modification of the definition of QoS by ITU, the QoS may involve both the network-related performances such as bit-error-rate and latency as well as non-network related performances such as service provisioning time, different tariffs, complaint resolution time, etc.

Quality of Experience(QoE): QoE is a measure of the convenience or inconvenience of a customer while using any network service. It actually results from the fulfillment of the user's expectations with respect to the utility and/or enjoyment of the application or service in the light of the user’s personality and current state. It is a measure of the end-to-end performance of a network service from the user's perspective. It basically depends upon the customer satisfaction in terms of usability, accessibility, and integrity of the network service. It is however not limited to the technical performance of the network, there are also non-technical aspects, that play an important part in influencing the user perception and satisfaction. It involves attributes such as variable bandwidth consumption, latency, and fault-tolerance. QoE tries to provide an assessment of human expectations, perceptions, cognition, and satisfaction with respect to a particular product, service or application.

Difference: While QoS is a narrower term QoE is a wider term. QoS measurement is most of the time related to the measurement of the network performance and not with the customer's satisfaction or needs while QoE is a purely subjective measure from the user’s perspective of the overall quality of the network service provided, by capturing people’s needs.

Conclusion: QoE is directly related to QoS and, the better the QoS better will be the QoE. Better the performance of a network system better will be the overall experience of the customer or QoE. However, from a telecommunication company's perspective, the QoE plays a very important role in building a better and prestigious reputation in the market as the better the customer's experience better will be the company's business and in turn, it will also improve the reputation of the company in the market. So, it can be said, even though QoS is something that is important behind the curtains for a network service provider, QoE is the ultimate aim of any network service provider company.

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