Coming down the broadband pipe this year to a telephone exchange near you is BT’s Real Time QoS product. QoS might not be of interest to your everyday surfer. It does however have the potential to revolutionise the User Experience when using the internet with better control of voice and gaming quality.
What is QoS?
Quality of Service (QoS) in a network is usually the term used to describe the process whereby certain types of network traffic are prioritised above others. QoS is typically required in a network where time-critical applications are being supported. In most cases this means Voice over IP or video but can be applied to financial transactions and gaming (to improve the experience). There isn’t a definitive list. By and large if you design a network with enough capacity to accommodate your bandwidth needs you don’t have to implement QoS.
In practical terms, where ADSL is concerned, this usually means providing a dedicated broadband connection for