Method of monitoring the quality of a realtime communication

A computer readable medium with computer-executable instructions for monitoring the quality of a real-time communication in a packet network comprising at least two test points, the computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for, when executed by a network element of the packet network, performing the steps of:

• triggering the access of a packet stream pattern;
• initiating the injection of the packet stream pattern at a first test point;
• initiating the reception, after transmission of the packet stream pattern through the packet network, of a degraded packet stream pattern at a second test point and the determination of characteristics of the degraded packet stream pattern;
• comparing the characteristics of the degraded packet stream pattern with corresponding characteristics of the packet stream pattern injected at the first test point;
• and
• evaluating, based on the comparison result, data concerning a signal quality degradation caused by transmission through the packet network by a simulation of a transmission quality of the real-time communication, wherein said comparison result is applied to media streams of a real-time application by modifying a pattern of the media stream, such that it complies with the analysed comparison results and applying the degraded application signal to a method to assess the quality of a deteriorated real-time transmission experienced by a user.