Several approaches to provide better service for selected applications have been defined. A research team at VTT Information Technology is building test networks to evaluate QoS technologies in various configurations and combinations. Particularly interesting are configurations where QoS support is available only in very limited parts of the network.
Internet traffic consists of packets.
Which parameters are the most important depends on the applications. WWW users want as broad bandwidth and low packet loss probability as possible in order to shorten download times. Users of interactive voice applications cannot take advantage of the bandwidth exceeding a certain limit, but they find short delays important. In general, real-time applications are more sensitive to QoS than other applications. When no special actions are taken, IP packets are transmitted as fast as the bandwidth and load on the network permit.