Measuring Mobile User Behavior and Service Usage: Methods, Measurement Points, and Future Outlook

Having a holistic view on mobile user behavior will be increasingly difficult in the future where a fragmented user base is using multiple wireless access networks. To improve understanding on user behavior and mobile service usage, traditional survey based data collection can be complemented with a range of automated measurement methods. In this paper, the alternative data collection methods are analyzed based on a literature study and practical experiences. Surveys and handset monitoring provide very detailed sample based data, whereas wireless access network traffic and usage accounting data is less granular but extends up to the service provider’s entire subscriber base. Server measurements give detailed data on the usage of a fairly focused user base. In the future, multi-functional mobile handsets and the servers of large Internet based service providers seem the most promising places to measure user behavior and service usage, whereas 2G/3G mobile networks will likely be less useful as traffic partly leaks to other access networks.