An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for establishing Quality of Experience (QoE) measurements and metrics for different types of actual user activities over IP networks. These activities include, but are not limited to web browsing, sending and receiving email, file downloading and uploading, peer to peer (P2P) networking, VoIP, online gaming, and media streaming. The measurement of the QoE metrics is based on both objective and subjective metrics, including network characteristics, such as packet loss and latency, along with empirical observations of the user activities.