TSWiFi: An optimal payment-based traffic sharing in mobile networks

With the serious imbalance of data demand in wireless networks, it is a common phenomenon that some users exhaust the traffic of plans, whereas others waste the surplus scheduled traffic. Recently, U. S. Cellular has launched plans to share data among multiple devices without considering conflicts of interests. In this paper, we are the first to propose TSWiFi, a traffic sharing platform designed to solve the problem of traffic wasting in 2G/3G/4G mobile networks. The system includes access module, traffic management module and authentication management module. These modules show that it is convenient for consumers and providers to use, monitor, and manage the traffic. Moreover, we implement an optimal usage-based payment approach on this platform to distribute the interests of traffic providers and consumers. In the payment model, we adopt Lagrangian method with the weighted proportional fair (WPF) model to solve the optimal problem. Furthermore, the rational usage-based pricing is determined by the type of service and the credit grade to stimulate users' enthusiasm. At last, the optimal payment of TSWiFi is validated through simulations. It has been revealed that the proposed pricing is experimentally lower than and reduces about 50% of the pricing of the general data plans in the best cases.