Call Drops:

1. SACCH Multi-Frames: This parameter determines whether an uplink radio link is

faulty. Each time the BTS fails to decode the measurement report on the SACCH
from the MS, the counter decreases by 1. Each time the BTS successfully decodes
the measurement report on the SACCH, the counter increases by 2. When the value
of this counter is 0, the BTS regards the radio link as faulty. In the traffic
measurement, if there are many call drops (M3101A) related to radio link failure, you
can infer that the radio propagation conditions are poor. In this case, you can set this
parameter to a greater value.
2. Radio Link Timeout: This parameter determines whether a downlink radio link is
faulty. Each time the BTS fails to decode the measurement report sent over the
SACCH by the MS, the counter decreases by 1. Each time the BTS successfully
decodes the measurement report sent over the SACCH, the counter increases by 2.
When the value of this parameter is 0, the BTS regards the radio link as faulty. In the
traffic measurement, if there are many call drops (M3101A) related to radio link
failure, you can infer that the radio propagation conditions are poor. In this case, you
can set this parameter to a greater value.
3. RXLEV_ACCESS_MIN: This parameter specifies the minimum receive level of an MS
to access the BSS. If this parameter is set to a too small value, some MSs with low
receive levels may access the network and call drops are likely to occur. You can set
this parameter to a great value to reduce the TCH call drop rate. The counters such
as call setup success rate and the counters related to traffic volume, however, are
accordingly affected.
4. RACHMin.AccessLevel: This parameter determines whether an MS can access the
network over the RACH. If this parameter is set to a too small value, some MSs with
low signal levels may access the network and call drops are likely to occur. You can
set this parameter to a great value to reduce the TCH call drop rate. The counters
such as call setup success rate and paging success rate, however, are affected.
5. MinDL Poweron HOCandidateCell andMinAccessLevelOffset: The sum of the values
of the two parameters specifies the minimum downlink receive level of a candidate
neighboring cell for a handover. If this parameter is set to a too great value, some
desired cells may be excluded from the candidate cells; if this parameter is set to a
too small value, an unwanted cell may become the candidate cell. Both conditions
may lead to the increase of call drops.
6. TimerT3103series:Timer T3101 series consists of T3103A, T3103C, and T8. These timers
are started to wait for a handover complete message. If the lengths of the timers are set to
small values, probably no message is received when timer T3103 series expires. In this
case, the BSC considers that the radio link in the originating cell is faulty. Then, the BSC
releases the channel in the originating cell. Thus, call drops occur. In the traffic
measurement, if many call drops are related to handovers (CM331: Call Drops on Radio
Interface in Handover State), you can set this parameter to a greater value. If this parameter
is set to a too great value, channel resources are wasted and TCH congestion occurs.
7. Timer T3109: This parameter specifies the period for waiting for a Release
Indicationmessage after the BSC sends a Channel Release message to the BTS. If this
parameter is set to a too small value, the link may be released before the Release
Indication message is received. As a result, a call drop occurs. You can set this parameter
to a greater value to reduce the TCH call drop rate. It is recommended that timer T3109 be
set to 12 seconds longer than timer Radio Link Timeout.
8. TimerT3111:This parameter specifies the interval between the time that the main signaling
link is disconnected and the time that a channel is deactivated. The purpose is to reserve a
period of time for repeated link disconnections. If this timer is set to a too small value, a
channel may be deactivated too early. Thus, call drops increase.
9. Timers T305 and T308:Timers T305 and T308 are used on the MSC side. Timer T305
specifies the period during which the MSC monitors the on-hook procedure. Timer T308
specifies the period during which the MSC monitors the resource release procedure. You
should set the two parameters when adding BSC data. Note that the modification of the
data in the timer table does not take effect. If timers T305 and T308 are set to invalid or
great values, the MSC clears the call a long time after the MS hangs up. After the T3103
and Radio LinkTimeout timers expire, the number of call drops is increased and thus the
TCH call drop rate is significantly affected.
10. TCH Traffic Busy Threshold: If the current channel seizure ratio exceeds the value of this
parameter, the BSC preferentially assigns a half-rate channel to a dualrate-enabled call.
Otherwise, the BSC assigns a full-rate channel to the dualrate-enabled call. Compared with
a full-rate channel, a half-rate channel has weak antiinterference capabilities. Therefore, if a
large number of half-rate channels are assigned, the TCH call drop rate increases. It is
recommended that this parameter should not be set to a too small value if congestion is
unlikely to occur.
11. Call Reestablishment Forbidden: This parameter specifies whether to allow call
reestablishment. In case of burst interference or radio link failure due to blind areas caused
by high buildings, call drops occur. In this case, MSs can initiate the call reestablishment
procedure to restore communication. To reduce the TCH call drop rate, you can set this
parameter to No to allow call reestablishment. In certain conditions, allowing call
reestablishment greatly reduces the TCH call drop rate. Call reestablishment lasts for a long
time, and therefore some subscribers cannot wait and hang up. This affects user
experience.
12. Parameters related to edge handover: When the receive level drops greatly, an edge
handover cannot be performed in time in any of the following conditions: The parameter
Edge HO UL RX_LEV Threshold or Edge HO DL RX_LEV Threshold is set to a small value;
the parameter Inter-cell HO Hysteresis is set to a great value; the parameters Edge HO
Watch Time and Edge HO AdjCell Watch Time are set to great values; the parameters
Edge HO Valid Time and Edge HO AdjCell Valid Time are set to great values. As a result, a
call drop occurs. To reduce the TCH call drop rate, you can appropriately set these
parameters so that edge handovers can be performed in time to avoid call drops.
13. Parameters related to BQ handover: When the signal quality deteriorates, a BQ handover
cannot be performed in time in any of the following conditions: The parameters
ULQuaLimitAMRFR, ULQuaLimitAMRHR, UL Qual. Threshold, DLQuaLimitAMRFR,
DLQuaLimitAMRHR, and DL Qual. Threshold are set to great values; the parameter BQ HO
Margin is set to a small value; the parameter Inter-cell HO Hysteresis is set to a great value.
As a result, call drops occur. To reduce the TCH call drop rate, you should appropriately set
these parameters so that BQ handovers can be performed in time to avoid call drops.
14. Parametersrelatedto interferencehandover: If the parameters RXQUAL1 to RXQUAL12 are
set to great values or if the RXLEVOff parameter is set to a great value, strong interference
may occur. In this case, if interference handovers are not performed in time, call drops
occur. To reduce the TCH call drop rate, you can appropriately set these parameters so that
interference handovers can be performed in time to avoid call drops. If the parameters
RXQUAL1 to RXQUAL12 are set to small values, the number of handovers due to other
causes increases greatly, thus affecting the handover success rate.
15. Parametersrelatedto powercontrol;If the power control level and quality threshold are set to
small values, call drops are likely to occur because of low signal level or bad voice quality.
16. T200 and N200: If the parameters T200 FACCH/F, T200 FACCH/H, N200 of FACCH/Full
rate, and N200 of FACCH/Half rate are set to small values, data links are disconnected too
early. Thus, all drops are likely to occur. If call drops occur because of T200 expiry, you can
increase the values of T200 and N200 properly.
17. Neighboring cell relations: If the neighboring cells configured in the BA2 table are
incomplete, call drops are likely to occur in the case of no suitable neighboring cell for
handover and progressive deterioration in the voice quality. Neighboring cell relations
should be configured completely on the basis of the drive test data and electronic map (for
example, Nastar) to minimize the call drops due to no available neighboring cells.
18. MAIO: If frequency hopping (FH) is applied in a cell and the MAIO is set inappropriately
(for example, different TRXs serving the same cell have the same MAIO), frequency
collision may occur during FH. Thus, the TCH call drop rate increases.
19. Disconnect Handover Protect Timer: This parameter is a software parameter of the BSC.
After receiving a DISCONNECT message from an MS, the BSC cannot hand over the MS
within the period specified by this parameter. Therefore, the following case can be avoided:
After being handed over to the target cell, the MS cannot be put on hook because it does
not receive a release acknowledgement message. You are advised to set this parameter
properly.
20. TR1N: This parameter should be set on the MSC side. It is used to avoid the
retransmission of short messages. When this parameter is set to a too great value, the MSC
does not send a CLEAR CMD message if the MS receives a short message during link
disconnection. As a result, the MS sends the BTS a DISC message to disconnect layer 2
connection. After receiving the DISC message, the BTS sends a REL_IND message to the
BSC. Then, the BSC sends a CLEAR REQ message to the MSC and the number of call
drops is incremented by one.
21. SoftwareParameter13 and MAXTA: When the parameter Software Parameter 13 is enabled
and the parameter MAX TA is set to a too small value, the channel is released when the TA
of a call exceeds the MAX TA. In this case, call drops occur. It is recommended that the
parameter Software Parameter 13 should not be enabled.
22. Directly Magnifier Site Flag :If a BTS is installed with repeaters, the handover between
repeaters can only be asynchronous because the distance between repeaters is long. If
synchronous handovers are performed, the handovers may fail and thus many call drops
occur. Therefore, when a BTS is installed with repeaters, the parameter Directly Magnifier
Site Flag should be set to Yes to avoid asynchronous handovers between cells under the
same BTS