A number of factors can affect the measured IP throughput, for example:

• Poor radio link quality (level two counters — “Radio link quality”)
• Less PDCH reserved than requested by the user (level two counters
”Multislot utilization”, “PDCH allocation”, “GSL device utilization” and “GPH
RP load”)
• Reserved PDCH shared by other users (level two counters “GPRS traffic
load”)
• QoS scheduling prioritizing another user (there are separate IP throughput
counters for each QoS Traffic Class. Also level two counters — “GPRS
traffic load” give the average QoS weight per PDCH).
• Delays in setup of downlink TBFs, e.g. no allocated PDCHs or no CCCH
capacity to send the assignment/channel request messages (included in
the IP throughput counters). A very minor effect compared to those listed
above.
Other factors that could affect the “modem speed” IP throughput but are not
included in the measured IP throughput:
• Discard of the contents of the IP buffer in the MS or in the PCU (level one
counters — “IP buffer discard”, “IP transfer interrupts uplink” ).
• Cell reselection during transfer. The IP throughput counters are on cell
level. Therefore when the mobile moves between two cells the additional
transfer time cannot be considered (the level one counter — “discards due
to flush” and the level two counters — “Mobility” can be used to evaluate
the impact of mobility on the users).
• Delays in setup of uplink TBFs, e.g. no allocated PDCHs or no CCCH
capacity to send the assignment/channel request messages (the PCU has
no way of knowing when the MS first tried to setup the TBF).
Additional factors that could affect the final end-user throughput (and are also
not included in the measured IP throughput).
• The total time to perform a data transfer (the download of a web page for
example) will include a number of TCP hand-shake procedures plus the
transfers of the actual data content. The time waiting for these handshake
messages to complete, basically a number of Round Trip Times, is not
included in the IP throughput. These times are not limited by the throughput
achieved in the BSS for these small IP packets.
• Effects of protocol layers above the LLC layer (for example TCP slow start).
Times in-between the transfer of IP packets in the BSS caused by higher
level protocols are not measured in the BSS.
• Events outside of the BSS that cause IP packets to be retransmitted by the
TCP protocol. These are just seen as new IP packets by the BSS.
The MS capability is another factor that can impact the measured IP throughput
(in a rather complex way). Factors are:
• GPRS or EGPRS capable.
• Multislot capability (level two counters— “Multislot utilization” can help).
• Frequency band capability
• 3GPP Release of the mobile (i.e. R4 mobile is capable of Network Assisted
Cell Change and Extended UL TBF mode).