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The authors report an experimental investigation on the measurement of the available bandwidth for the users in gigabit passive optical networks (GPON) and the limitations caused by the Internet protocols, and transfer control protocol (TCP) in particular. We point out that the huge capacity offered by the GPON highlights the enormous differences that can be showed among the available and actually exploitable bandwidth. In fact, while the physical layer capacity can reach value of 100 Mb/s and more, the bandwidth at disposal of the user (i.e. either throughput at transport layer or goodput at application layer) can be much lower when applications and services based on TCP protocol are considered. In the context of service level agreements (SLA) verification, we show how to simultaneously measure throughput and line capacity by offering a method to verify multilayer SLA. We also show how it is possible to better exploit the physical layer capacity by adopting multiple TCP connections avoiding the bottleneck of a single connection.

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This paper illustrates "MisuraInternetMobile", a national project which has the aim to monitor the QoS performance provided by Italian mobile network operators. This is obtained through measurement campaigns performed on the entire national territory. The main purpose of the project is to give users the possibility to verify the performance that can be achieved in different areas by each mobile network. Furthermore, the large amount of data collected during the campaigns allows many in-depth analyses about mobile broadband access. In this regard the work also reports some results obtained from dynamic measurements aimed to investigate the impact of mobility on the performance and QoS delivered to users.

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Broadband Wireless Access is a strategic opportunity for mobile operators which aim to provide connectivity in digital divide areas, in order to accelerate speed of deployment and save in installation costs. This paper presents an innovative approach to access the end user, relying on infrastructural integration of femtocellular technology with existing cabled network. Usually, the adoption of Femtocell Access Points, operating in the licensed cellular bands typically designed to be used in SOHO, improves the radio coverage and the building penetration of the existing mobile networks, based on macrocells. In the proposed solution, the peculiar functionality of femtocells is further improved using a MATV/SMATV cabled infrastructure which facilitates the signal connection inside the building. The potentiality of the solution is even more evident, taking into account the growing interest towards the possible deployment of new mobile technologies, like LTE in both the last portion of the UHF band V and the GSM frequency band, resulting from the re-farming process.

The growing interest in the possible deployment of mobile cellular networks in the 790-862 MHz frequency band, resulting from the transition process from analogue to digital TV, will pave the way for cutting-edge technology (LTE) and a new interesting market.