By Gerry White, Motorola Broadband Communications Sector
High-speed data services are making significant revenue contributions to Broadband Operators as service penetration rates are now averaging over 10% and exceeding 30% in some markets. Still, there are large potential customer segments that can be captured by offering data service tiers that provide a better match between customers needs and income levels and the features of the high-speed data service required. For example, business customers are willing to pay much higher rates for a service with greater bandwidth and service level guarantees. At the other end of the spectrum, customers who are paying $25-30 per month for dial-up services would jump at the chance to have an “always on” connection at speeds that are double standard dial-up rates. This paper will discuss how measurable data service tiers can be delivered to customers through Quality of Service (QoS) control enabled by the use of the DOCSIS 1.1 specifications and advanced queuing, scheduling and congestion control techniques. Additionally the paper will present a mechanism to support overbooking of network resources in a tiered environment, enaling cost effective deployment while ensuring that guaranteed service levels are met for each of the service tiers.