Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP for short, is the way a number of people are making phone calls these days. Due to the increase in popularity of the internet and higher available transfer rates in the home, thanks to broadband, the internet has made calling anywhere in the world a cheaper option in most cases then your regular land line or mobile phone. I covered the how-to’s of VoIP on the What is VoIP? article earlier today. What most people have a concern with though is VoIP call quality. There are a few things we can do to help increase the quality of a call.
What makes bad VoIP Call Quality?
A low quality VoIP call sounds choppy, breaks up and makes it very uncomfortable to hear the other person speak. It is generally caused by packet loss which is basically missing data. When the receiver of the call hears the call, your voice will drop momentarily. Depending on the amount of packet loss, your voice may be choppy or just fine. Packet loss can happen at various parts across the network and could be either a bad configuration on your own router which may have the wrong settings.
How much Bandwidth do I need for a good VoIP call?
VoIP takes up a relatively low amount of bandwidth to make clear calls. Generally this could be anywhere from 10 – 110Kbps on average. These numbers depend on what protocols you use such as echo cancellation, transmission protocols, codec sample lengths to name a few. The basic general requirement is a 128k broadband connection which is relatively low end these days although take in to consideration that if you are also on the internet browsing then the bandwidth would be shared between a call and the internet usage. A larger connection would be needed. A recent survey found that out of 1000 users tested in the UK the average was just short of 2000Kbps. 2000Kbps is plenty to get a decent call from. To see if your internet connection is good enough, run a search on Google and try one of the on-line speed checkers.
Call quality is bad, How do I increase VoIP Call Quality?
If call quality is bad then check what else is connected to your home network. Is your network wireless? If so, could your router be positioned in a better place to provide a stronger signal? Ideally a wireless router should not be in the corner of the room as it limits the signals. Are there any other computers on your network tying up bandwidth resources by heavy downloading at the time of your call? If you are not using a computer based VoIP service, but rather a service where your phone connects to a router, then try switching off the computer and testing calls that way. If calls are still choppy then test another free VoIP service such as Skype which will help you narrow it down to your service provider, or just general “slow” connection problems. If you are calling internationally then try making a local or national call to see if you can narrow the problems down to the general internet where maybe a link overseas could be too busy.
Conclusion
With more internet backbones and a lot more bandwidth availability in the general home, VoIP Call Quality should not be too bad and usually the problems are easy to solve. Should you have any questions, feel free to visit TechAsis Forums for free technical support and post your question in the relevant category.
