Measurements of TCP Performance over UMTS Networks in Near-Ideal Conditions

In this paper we report our results from a long series of various measurements on the behavior of TCP over a UMTS wireless channel performed in two different UMTS networks. We conclude that at least in good conditions, TCP throughput is close to theoretical maximum, and that RTT is fairly stable. Practically no packet losses were detected, and spurious retransmissions were extremely rare. No performance benefit was observed when TCP retransmission timer modifications, such as the Eifel and FRTO algorithms were used.