A – D
2G / 3G / 4G / 5G — Successive generations of mobile network technology — GSM (2G), UMTS (3G), LTE (4G) and New Radio (5G) — each adding capacity, speed and lower latency.
APN (Access Point Name) — The named gateway a device uses to reach a mobile data network or packet-data service.
Availability — The proportion of time a network or service is operational and reachable, usually expressed as a percentage.
Bearer — The underlying connection that carries a service (voice, data, messaging). Bearer testing verifies the transport layer independently of the application.
Benchmarking — Measuring two or more networks side by side under identical, controlled conditions to compare real performance.
CDR (Call Detail Record) — A record generated by network elements describing a usage event (call, SMS, data session), used as the basis for rating and billing.
Coverage — The geographic area in which a network provides usable service at a defined quality level.
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) — A protocol that automatically assigns IP addresses and network settings to devices.
DNS (Domain Name System) — The system that resolves human-readable hostnames into IP addresses.
Drive testing — Measuring mobile network quality from a moving vehicle, with every measurement geo-tagged via GPS for mapping and optimisation.
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) — Broadband technology that delivers data over existing copper telephone lines.
E – L
E2E (End-to-End) testing — Testing a service across the whole chain — from the end-user device to the destination and back — to reproduce the real customer experience.
eSIM — An embedded, reprogrammable SIM that can store one or more operator profiles without a removable physical card.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) — A standard protocol for transferring files between systems, often used as a throughput test bearer.
GRQ (Global Roaming Quality) — A GSMA framework and set of metrics for measuring and assuring the quality of roaming services.
GSM / GPRS / EDGE — 2G mobile standards: GSM for circuit-switched voice, GPRS and EDGE for packet data.
Handover — Transferring an active call or data session from one cell, frequency or technology to another without interruption.
HSPA / HSPA+ — High-Speed Packet Access — enhanced 3G technology delivering higher data rates.
IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) — The core network framework that delivers IP-based voice and multimedia services such as VoLTE and VoNR.
IREG — The GSMA International Roaming Expert Group. IREG testing validates voice and data interoperability between roaming partners.
Jitter — The variation in the arrival time of packets. High jitter degrades real-time services such as voice and video.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator) — A measurable value that reflects network or service performance, e.g. call setup success rate or average throughput.
Latency — The time data takes to travel from source to destination, measured in milliseconds; critical for voice, gaming and real-time apps.
LTE / LTE-Advanced — The 4G mobile broadband standard and its enhanced versions offering higher speeds via carrier aggregation.
M – R
Mediation — Collecting, normalising and correlating raw usage records from network elements before they are rated and billed.
MOS (Mean Opinion Score) — A 1–5 score representing perceived voice or video quality — historically subjective, now estimated objectively by algorithms such as POLQA.
Packet loss — The percentage of data packets that never reach their destination; even small amounts noticeably degrade real-time services.
PDP context — The set of parameters that establishes a data session, allowing a mobile device to exchange IP traffic with the packet core.
PESQ (Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality) — ITU-T P.862 algorithm that objectively scores narrowband and wideband voice quality.
PEVQ (Perceptual Evaluation of Video Quality) — An algorithm that objectively scores the perceived quality of video streams.
POLQA (Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Analysis) — ITU-T P.863, the successor to PESQ, designed for modern voice including HD and VoLTE.
Portal testing — Verifying the availability and performance of WAP/HTTP portals and value-added service pages.
Probe — A hardware or software unit that actively generates test traffic and measures network, service and application quality from the subscriber's perspective.
PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) — The traditional circuit-switched fixed-line telephone network.
QoE (Quality of Experience) — The overall quality of a service as actually perceived by the end user.
QoS (Quality of Service) — The measurable performance of a network or service, covering throughput, latency, packet loss, availability and more.
Revenue Assurance — Processes that ensure every delivered service is correctly recorded, rated and billed, preventing revenue leakage.
Roaming — Using mobile services on a visited network outside the home operator's coverage area.
RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) — An LTE/5G measurement of received reference-signal strength, used to assess coverage.
RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) — An LTE/5G measurement combining signal strength and interference to indicate signal quality.
RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) — The protocol used to deliver audio and video streams over IP networks.
S – Z
SINR (Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio) — A ratio indicating signal quality relative to interference and background noise; higher is better.
SIM-box fraud (interconnect bypass) — Diverting international calls over the internet and re-originating them on local SIMs to avoid legitimate termination charges.
SLA (Service Level Agreement) — A contract defining the quality and availability levels a provider commits to deliver, and the remedies if they are missed.
SMS (Short Message Service) — The standard text-messaging service carried over mobile signalling networks.
TADIG (Transferred Account Data Interchange Group) — The GSMA group that defines roaming billing record (TAP) standards. TADIG testing validates roaming settlement accuracy.
Throughput — The actual data transfer rate achieved over a connection, typically measured in Mbit/s.
UMTS — The 3G mobile telecommunications standard.
VoLTE (Voice over LTE) — Voice service carried over the 4G LTE data network via IMS, offering faster setup and HD voice.
VoNR (Voice over New Radio) — Voice service carried natively over the 5G network.
Walk testing — Measuring network quality on foot — typically indoors or in pedestrian areas — using a portable probe such as XPack.
WLAN / Wi-Fi — Wireless local-area networking used for fixed and offload connectivity, commonly included in convergent testing.