Leveraging netStethoscope for Enhanced Network Monitoring in Rural Malaysia

Monitoring the Mandatory Standards for Quality of Service (MSQoS) serves as a key mechanism to ensure the delivery of quality telecommunication services. However, assessing MSQoS in remote and rural communities remains difficult due to logistical, infrastructural, and environmental constraints. This research presents the development of enhanced tools netStethoscope and myspeed.site designed for network monitoring and Quality of Service (QoS) by leveraging passive network measurement, crowdsourced data collection, and Geographic Information System (GIS)-based visualization to provide a more granular and community-driven approach for assessing broadband quality. Aligned with Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)'s regulatory benchmarks, this study evaluates key performance indicators such as latency, packet loss, jitter, and throughput, ensuring compliance with national and international standards. The research methodology incorporates comparative analysis of existing QoS measurement platforms, including Measurement Lab (M-Lab), Ookla's Speedtest, and CIRA's Internet Performance Test, to assess their capabilities and limitations. Raspberry Pi Zero-based hardware was iteratively refined for passive monitoring without active user intervention. Findings indicate that myspeed.site and netStethoscope offer a scalable, decentralized alternative to traditional monitoring, addressing infrastructure gaps and policy formulation challenges in Malaysia's digital landscape. This study contributes to improving broadband transparency, informing policy decisions, and bridging Sarawak's digital divide through community-driven insights and next-generation monitoring strategies.