Mobile bandwidth sharing: Pricing analysis under buffet plans

Abstract

Due to the fluctuation of the bandwidth consumption of mobile users, the availability of a more flexible bandwidth pricing structure becomes important. Unfortunately, most mobile service providers only offer long-term contracts. Hence, wireless bandwidth sharing has a potential to become a niche market. In this paper, we propose the pay-per-second model, in which the price is based on the mobile net speed. Our analysis also takes into account the buffet plan, which is available from service providers in several countries to offer mobile users unlimited bandwidth. First, a survey is conducted to collect the data from mobile users. The data are then used to obtain the parameters in our pricing model. The model is verified to be appropriate by Bayesian data analysis. In the experiments, our model is compared against the pay-per-byte model, and the results indicate that our model generates more profit for bandwidth sharing.