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The general troubleshooting strategy is described below and the covered reasons for bad throughput
are shown in the figure below.

Figure 1. Low Throughput causes in the Downlink for LTE networks.

Step 1: Identify cell with low DL (downlink) throughputa) The first thing is to identify those cells with low
throughput. This threshold is defined by your network policies and practices (it also depends on your
design parameters). Reports should be run for a significant number of days so that data is statistically
valid.Step 2: Identify Downlink interferencea) Cells with downlink interference are those whose CQI
values are low (an exception to this rule is when most traffic is at the cell edge –bad cell location-).
Analyze the CQI values reported by the UE for

Transmit Diversity

MIMO one layer

MIMO two layers

Typical values for transmit diversity oscillate between 7 and 8.Typical values for MIMO one and two
layers oscillate between 10 and 12.b) If low CQI values are found after a CQI report is obtained, then
downlink interference might be the cause of low throughput.c) Common sources of interference in the
700 MHz band (LTE deployment in the USA) are: inter-modulation interference, cell jammers and
wireless microphonesStep 3: BLER Valuesa) Run a report for BLER in the cells identified. The BLER should
be smaller or equal than 10%. If the value is larger, then, there is an indication of bad RF environment.b)
Typical causes of bad BLER are downlink interference, bad coverage (holes in the network, etc.)Step 4:
MIMO Parametersa) Identify the transmission mode of your network. There are seven transmission
modes as shown in the table belowb) Adjust the SINR thresholds for transition of transmission modes as
recommended by the OEM. Request the Link Level simulations they used to set these thresholds and see
if the conditions under which the values were calculated apply to your network. Otherwise, update
them if the parameters are settable and not restricted.Step 5: Low Demanda) Run a report using the
counters provided by the OEM to find

Maximum number of RRC connections supported per cell (parameter or feature)

Maximum number of RRC connections active per cell

Average number of RRC connections active per cell

Maximum number of users per TTI supported per cell (parameter or feature)

Maximum number of users scheduled per TTI in the cell(s) of interest

Average number users scheduled per TTI in the cell(s) of interest

b) If the maximum number of RRC connections active per cell is close or equal to the maximum number
of RRC connections supported, then. The cause for low throughput is load.c) A high number of
scheduled users per TTI does not necessarily mean that demand is the cause for low throughput.Step 6:
Scheduler Typea) Find the scheduler types your OEM supportsb) Select the one that is more convenient
for the type of cell you are investigating. Examples of schedulers are: round robin, proportional fairness,
maximum C/I, equal opportunity, etc. OEMs allow you to switch the scheduler in your network but
recommend one in particular.c) The wrong scheduler may be the reason for bad throughput.Step 7: CQI
reporting parametersa) Check if your network is using periodic or aperiodic CQI reporting (or both).b)
Verify the frequency in which the CQI reporting is carried out for periodic reporting as well as the
maximum number of users supported per second.c) If the value is too small compared with the
maximum number of RRC active connections, then, increase the values of the parameters
CQIConfigIndex as well as RIConfigIndex (deal with in future blog).d) If your network is not using
aperiodic CQI reporting, then enable it.e) Slow frequencies of CQI reporting might yield bad channel
estimations that prevent the eNodeB from scheduling the right amount of data and Modulation and
Coding Schemes to UE.Step 7: Othera) Run a VSWR report or ask your OEM to run it for you.b) High
values of VSWR result in low throughput due to losses.c) Check your backhaul capacity. Often times, the
backhaul links are shared among multiple RATs. Make sure your backhaul is properly dimensioned.At
the end of this methodology, you will be able to determine if the reasons for low throughput in your
cells is one of the following or a combination, thereof:- BLER (bad coverage)- Downlink Interference (Bad
CQI)- MIMO Parameters- Scheduling algorithm- Low Demand- CQI reporting frequency- Other (VSWR,
Backhaul capacity)vvvv