Method for testing performance of a mobile telecommunications network

1. A method for testing performance of a mobile telecommunications system, comprising the steps of:

using a link probe for coupling a signaling analyzer to a mobile telecommunications link between a wireless network controller and a wireless transmission/reception station;

performing predetermined telecommunications activities within the geographic area serviced by the mobile telecommunications link;

collecting signaling information with said signal analyzer for the predetermined telecommunications activities coupled through the mobile telecommunications link;

recording the collected signaling information in a telecommunications signaling analyzer database along with other signaling information from the mobile telecommunications system for the predetermined telecommunications activities; and

analyzing recorded signaling information from said database to determine end-to-end performance values for the predetermined telecommunications activities.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined telecommunications activities include telephony and further wherein a determined performance value includes measuring setup time.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein a determined performance value includes end-to-end speech quality.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein a determined performance value includes a probability that service access, once obtained, will continue to be provided under predetermined conditions for a predetermined time duration.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined telecommunications activities include short message service (SMS) and further wherein a determined performance values include a time delay between sending a short message and receiving an acknowledgement from a short message center.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein a determined performance value includes and end-to-end delivery time between the sending of a short message and receipt of that message by a target mobile device, assuming that the target mobile device is ready to receive.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein a determined performance value includes a probability that SMS messages will be delivered to a target mobile device under predetermined conditions.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined telecommunications activities include multimedia message service (MMS) and further wherein a determined performance value includes a probability that an MMS message can be sent by a subscriber when requested in the presence of network access.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a determined performance value includes an elapsed time between a subscriber sending an MMS message and completion of data transfer for this MMS message.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of determining a root cause of failure for failed telecommunications activities from collected signaling information.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of recording communications data corresponding to said signaling information from the performed telecommunications test activities and using recorded communications data to determine further performance values.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the collected signaling information includes one or more of the following:

asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) signals;

QSALL signals between a WCDMA Node B and a radio network controller (RNC);

ALCAP signals between a WCDMA Node B and an RNC;

NBAP signals between a WCDMA Node B and an RNC;

RRC signals between a mobile device and an RNC;

MM signals between a mobile device and a wireless network;

CM signals between a mobile device and a wireless network; and

application signals between a mobile device and an application server.