paging discard is probably due to congestion.

Congestion will mostly occur: 1- in the BSC itself 2- on the Abis signalling link 3- on the PCH (air interface)

The capacity for handling pages in the BSC CP have been optimized and are not likely to be a bottleneck anymore. Instead, possible bottlenecks in the BSC

are too few TRHs and A-bis signaling capacity

1- in the BSC itself reduce the number of LACs being handled by this BSC. Usually, 1 BSC = 1 or 2 LAC.

2- on the Abis signalling link increase the signalling capacity: instead of using 4 signalling links (= 4 RSL) per abis TS, use only 2.

3- on the PCH (air interface) increase the number of PCH blocks, e.g reduce the parameter AG_BLKS_RES to a lower value. If it was =4, put it to 3. But check your AGCH congestion, because what you are doing is giving more capacity to PCH by reducing the AGCH capacity. If it doesn't work, then you have to reduce your number of cells per LAC.

Paging Success Rate Paging Success by far is the most complex KPI to deal with as the process of paging touches almost all the nodes in GSM system and is influenced by performance of each of them. Thats the reason why this write up on paging looks too interwoven and cross refers to too many things. But the good news with paging is by the time paging success rate in a network gets improved; almost all the other KPIs too stand improved. In response to an incoming call, the MSC initiates the paging process by broadcasting a paging request message on the paging sub channel (IMSI or TMSI of the MS and its Paging Group) and starts timer T3113. A paging message consists of the mobile identity (IMSI or TMSI) of the MS being paged and its paging group number. A Paging Request Message may include more than one MS identification. The maximum number of paged MS per message is 4 when using TMSI for identification of the MS (maximum number of paged MS per message is 2 when using IMSI). The BSC receives this page and processes the paging request and schedules it for transmission on the PCH at appropriate time. The MS on its part will analyze the paging messages (and immediate assignment messages) sent on the paging sub channel corresponding to its paging group. Upon receipt of a paging request message, MS will initiate within 0.7s an immediate assignment procedure. Upon receipt of a page at the MS, the MS responds by transmitting a channel request on the RACH. BSS in response to the received channel request, will process it and immediately assign the MS a SDCCH (immediate assignment / assignment reject; done over AGCH). MS Paging responseAfter receiving the immediate assignment command, MS switches to the assigned SDCCH and

transmits a Paging Response. The establishment of the main signalling link is then initiated with information field containing the PAGING RESPONSE message and the paging response is sent to the MSC. Upon receipt of the Paging Response MSC stops the timer T3113. If the timer T3113 expires and a Paging Response message has not been received, the MSC may repeat the Paging Request message and start T3113 all over again. The number of successive paging attempt is a network dependent choice. One control channel Multi Frame is made of 51 TDMA frames with a time duration of 235 ms. Each 51 TDMA frame Multi Frame will have 9 Common Control Channel (CCCH) blocks. Each of these 9 CCCH block is made of 4 TDMA timeslots. Each CCCH block can carry Paging Messages for 2 MS if IMSI based paging is used or 4 MS if TMSI based paging is used. Thus the paging capacity for one 51 TDMA frame Multi Frame will be 9(number of CCCH blocks available per Multi Frame) * 4 (when TMSI based paging is used) = 36 mobiles per 235 ms or 9*2 = 16 mobiles per 235 ms when IMSI based paging is used. Thus the paging capacity of a cell is 153 mobiles per second when TMSI based paging are used and 68 mobiles per second when IMSI based paging are used. This means we can improve the paging bandwidth for a cell (if there are too many paging discards at the cell level) by using TMSI based paging rather than IMSI based (at the expense of increased processor load at the BSC and MSC). When the rate of paging load at the BTS becomes higher than what the BTS is able to handle (paging capacity of BTS), BTS will start discarding pages (check for high page discard stats at the cell level). Once an MS deciphers its paging group, in an idle mode, it will tune in and check for an incoming page only during broadcast time for its paging group (so further the paging groups are places across multiple 51 frame multi frames, less frequently it will tune in to check for an incoming page and longer will be its battery life. But the problem in this case for a cell with high paging load is higher paging discards.

Jayanta Chanda - 19 May 2011

What are the diffrent ways we can try to improve PSR

Akii - 14 Feb 2011

Hello All, In my Huawei Network sometimes it happens that When Utilization is less than 100% and No Alarm or open in any even then too Conjection is cominng, Plss tell me the reason.

Suresh - 7 Sep 2010

Let us know the parameter list whcih directly affecting the PSR in ericsson BSC & MSC core nodes. Please help

nynoi - 2 Sep 2010

In case of we have Gs interface in our network, what are the performance indicatior should be monitored.

Bijoy - 6 Jul 2010

Hi Suresh Please read this post "SDCCH blocking is high". Tx actually reduces RACH collisions which leads to better RACH Success Rate & hence PSR.

Br\\ Bijoy

suresh - 4 Jul 2010

Hi rex, how tx integer will help to improve paging sucess?

Rex - 27 Jun 2010

Hi Ashwini, Try MFRMS=5 and T3212=4 (or 6) hours. Regards, Rex.

Ashwini - 24 Jun 2010

need to improve PSR in ZTE network, any suggestion? traffic load is normal. MFRMS :4 AGBLK : 2 T3113 : 10s T3212 : 2 hrs Implicit detach timer : 6 hrs TX Int. : 14

Kennedy white - 31 May 2010

Please kindly assist us on how to improve MSC paging. In our network, we have MSC in pool. Any better suggestion will be appreciated.

Karan Singh - 19 Apr 2010

@ Ali : No Ali, as I have stated, in high paging zones , keep MFRMS relatively higher like 5 or 6. Please note if you set the value too low like 2 , it could lead to queuing and hence paging discards. Note : High traffic, high MFRMS!* * : Also subjective to other parameters like TX Integer, AGBLK, T3113, IMSI Detach etc.

2112 - 1 Dec 2009

Bijoy, Can you please mention the 3GPP Sereies where these details are described for Paging Queue and its Length. Thanks.

Bijoy - 25 Nov 2009

I think Fed is fed up:-)

Pix - 23 Nov 2009

Ali, I can understand that, but I'm not sure it holds mathematically. I mean, with MFRMS = 6, there are many queues, and many groups. And in each group, you just have a few amount of pagings (because they are evenly distributed among all the groups). By using less groups, you force all pagings to be queued in same queue. But the queue will "out" the pagings faster. Keep in mind that here, the total queuing capacity is less than with a high mfrms. With high mfrms - As far as I can see, the pagings are deleted not because the queues are "full", but because they remain too long in the queue... What do you think ?

AliAsgher - 23 Nov 2009

OK. Consider the following scenario. A Cell has got high Paging Discards with MFRMS settings equal to 6. Now this means that paging queue is not enough as pages are being discarded. Also as MFRMS is high, each group comes after a longer time hence each PAGE is needed to be kept in the queue for a longer duration. By reducing MFRMS to 2 or 3, we did two important things. Firstly, we increased the Queue Size, secondly we reduced the average time for each Page in the queue. This is the actual thing which reduced the Paging Discards from our cell. Regards,

Pix - 23 Nov 2009

Letting the experts talk... I'm reading carefully what you are writing ! As far as I understand : more paging groups = more queuing capacity and longer delay before sending a paging message. Why would the longer delay lead to a paging deletion ? What is the NSS timer ? What is its typical value ? :)

Bijoy - 23 Nov 2009

Exactly.I going to point out that unless I saw your latest post. I think Pix is a bit upset today.

Where r u bro??

Br\\ Bijoy

AliAsgher - 23 Nov 2009

Well I have again checked the specs, For MFRMS is 9, Transmission time per group may be as high as 2.12 sec. Hence Call setup time for MTC will increase slightly. P.S. Typo in the previous post. (54 sec each group is wrong. Total 54 groups with 1.41 seconds in which all groups will be paged)

Bijoy - 23 Nov 2009

Hi Pix Your point is valid.Paging queue can vary between 6 to 14 for a cell.When the queue is full, the incoming pages are rejected. Before sending a page the time spent in the queue is calculated. If the time difference between insertion and dequeuing exceeds 5 seconds (default value) then the page will be discarded and not sent. As I said earlier also,for cells having high paging load ,setting MFRMS=2 will actually worsen the situation. Also,with very high MFRMS,since the requests queued is more,there is a risk of paging deletion due to excessive delay or high paging load. I think Fred has cells with nominal paging traffic with all other parameters properly set,so he got a improvement in paging deletion. Br\\ Bijoy

AliAsgher - 23 Nov 2009

Thanks Pix. Well, Yes in the specs it is clearly written that BTS has got One Paging Queue per Paging Group. But I have also found out the time interval between transmission of each Paging Group. It seems surprisingly high. I am sharing it for brainstorming. MFRMS = 2, Non Combined BCCH, AGBLK = 0. Total Paging Groups = 18, Time B/w transmission of each group = 0.47s MFRMS = 6, Non Combined BCCH, AGBLK = 0. Total Paging Groups = 54, Time B/w transmission of each group = 1.41s I dont know how can that be. Cause 1.41 sec per group is too high. (54 sec each group) This will surely decrease MS power consumption but might also be the reason of unsuccessful paging ???? Please use your brains now. As I am having my fish. :)

Pix - 21 Nov 2009

Ali, Vivid thoughts, but memory loss... My advice : Stick to 1 dinner per day (for your wife sake), and eat your fish (for your memory) :-)) Bijoy said: "One Paging Queue per Paging Group is available at the cell level" Unless he is wrong, or unless this is a vendor dependent feature, it means that there are as many queues as there are groups. I didn't check the specs, yet. Cheers :) (and please forgive my ironic tone of the 1st chapter, I'm just joking !) Pix