Method and apparatus for continuous access network monitoring and packet loss estimation

A system for estimating throughput between communication devices, the system comprising:

• a first communication device couples;
• a first communication link coupling the first communication device to a third communication device, a first performance parameter of the first communication link is determined based at least on probing packets transmitted between the first communication and the third communication;
• and
• a second communication link coupling the first communication device to a second communication device, the first communication link and the second communication link sharing a common access network, a second performance parameter of the second communication link is determined using at least the first performance parameter of the first communication link and communication information and communication information between the first communication device and the second communication device.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium or media comprising one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes steps for throughput estimation to be performed comprising:

• determining a first performance parameter of a first communication link that couples a first communication device to a third communication device;
• determining communication information between the first communication device and a second communication device that couples to the first communication device via a second communication link different from the first communication link, the first and second communication links sharing a common access network;
• and
• using at least the communication information and the first parameter to determine a second performance parameter of the second communication link.