If
you are using a VoIP phone system, there is a good chance you have
experienced poor call quality. This article discusses the causes of VoIP call quality problems and what you can do to correct them.
The
causes of poor quality VoIP calls are easy to diagnose and correct.
Your VoIP Service Provider should be able to identify and work with you
to correct these problems. More importantly, these problems should not
be ongoing. If your VoIP Service Provider is unable to correct your
call quality problems, you need to find a different provider.
5 Most Likely Causes of Poor VoIP Calls and How You Can Fix Them:
1. The Problem: Jitter
Jitter is a common problem of the
connectionless networks or packet switched networks. Because the
information (voice packets) is divided into packets, each packet can
travel by a different path from the sender to the receiver. When
packets arrive at their intended destination in a different order then
they were originally sent, the result is a call with poor or scrambled
audio.
Jitter is technically the measure of
the variability over time of the latency across a network. Jitter is
one of the most common VoIP call quality problems.
The Solution: Use Jitter Buffers
A jitter buffer temporarily stores
arriving packets in order to minimize delay variations. If packets
arrive too late then they are discarded.
2. The Problem: Latency
VoIP delay or latency is characterized
as the amount of time it takes for speech to exit the speaker’s mouth
and reach the listener’s ear. Latency sounds like an echo.
There are 3 types of delay commonly found in today’s VoIP networks;
1. Propagation Delay:
Light travels through a vacuum at a speed of 186,000 miles per second,
and electrons travel through copper or fiber at approximately 125, 000
miles per second. A fiber network stretching halfway around the world
(13, 000 miles) induces a one-way delay of about 70 milliseconds (70
ms). Although this delay is almost imperceptible to the human ear,
propagation delays in conjunction with handling delays can cause
noticeable speech degradation.
2. Handling Delay:
Devices that forward the frame through the network cause handling
delay. Handling delays can impact traditional phone networks, but these
delays are a larger issue in packetized environments.
3. Queuing Delay: When
packets are held in a queue because of congestion on an outbound
interface, the result is queuing delay. Queuing delay occurs when more
packets are sent out than the interface can handle at a given interval.
The Solution: Prioritize
Prioritizing VoIP traffic over the
network yields latency and jitter improvements. Policy based network
management, bandwidth reservation, Type of Service, Class of Service,
and Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) are all widely used
techniques for prioritizing VoIP traffic. A quality VoIP router can
solve many of these issues and will result in business quality Business VoIP Phone Service.
3. The Problem: Poor Internet Connection
Most ISP’s are designed for web surfing
and not VoIP advantages. Transporting voice packets is different and
requires an additional set of internet protocols that your ISP may not
be providing.
The Solution: Business Class High Speed
Fortunately, most of the ISP’s,
including cable and DSL high speed internet providers offer business
class high speed internet service that is acceptable.
4. The Problem: Inadequate Router
Bad equipment is bad equipment.
The Solution: Install a Specialized VoIP Router
This is one of the most common causes
of call quality issues. Many small businesses use their internet
connection for both voice and data. This is perfectly fine as long as
your router has the ability to prioritize VoIP traffic.
Without a router that is configured for
packet prioritization, call quality can be impacted by the other users
on your network. For example, if during a call, another user on your
network downloads a large file, without packet prioritization, your
call quality could be degraded. A VoIP router prevents this from
happening by giving priority to voice traffic on your network.
VoIP routers are not an expensive piece
of hardware. A VoIP router for a small business ranges from $300.00 for
a five person office to under $1,000.00 for a 25-person office.
5. The Problem: Internal Network Improperly Configured
VoIP is less than 10-years old. Many
companies do not consider the higher quality demands of VoIP
communications. If your company decides to route both voice and data
over the same network without properly configuring your network for
VoIP traffic, you can expect to have call quality issues.
The Solution: Network Configuration
This is one of the easiest and least
expensive problems to correct. A Business VoIP capable router that is
properly configured will generally solve the problem.
AVAD Technologies is a leading VoIP
service providers in USA. With its cutting edge line of integrated
voice/data solutions, AVAD Technologies provides complete VoIP business
solutions to cost-conscious, results-driven, value-oriented
organizations. Avad Technologies offers business VoIP solutions, VoIP
Services, call centers solution and software VoIP for small business
and large enterprise customers.
If you would like to learn more about
how AVAD Technologies can help your company convert to a Hosted VoIP
phone service, please call (800) 733-4136 to speak with a Business VoIP
Specialist or you can complete a short VoIP Quote Request Form.
Check out for Business services VoIP and Voice over internet protocol services