A poor internet connection is often the reason for experiencing issues with your VoIP service.

Is your Internet Connection Affecting your VoIP Call Quality?

While VoIP solutions offer a huge benefit over analogue lines, there is one issue often overlooked. The quality of your VoIP services will depend on the quality of your internet connection. Due to the nature of VoIP, (Voice over Internet Protocol) it’s a absolute necessity.

Since VoIP services are reliant on internet connections, you won’t be able to completely eliminate interruptions caused by latency. To understand why, you need to understand how VoIP is transmitting your voice.

Instead of sending the data through the copper telephone lines, when a user speaks into their phone, VoIP converts that sound information into packets. Packets = the pieces of data traveling through a network, so during a phone call this would mean your voice.

If there is no interruption or delay on either end, then these packets of data will be send correctly. The issue begins when there is interference that could cause a delay in the transmission of data like: Latency, Jitter or Packet Loss

This would result in a jumbled conversation, with words out of order or, potentially being skipped or unintelligible.

What Is Latency?

Latency (“Lag”) is simply a measured delay, the time it takes for a task to occur and generally occurs in two specific ways:

• The delay between a person speaking, and the recipient on the other end.
• The time it takes for the VoIP solution to process and convert the voice into data packets.

The more data being transmitted, in relation to the network’s capacity, the slower it goes. This means your network is being overloaded or your business does not have enough bandwidth to handle internet traffic.

Latency, Jitter and VoIP

So since VoIP is sending your voice as data packets over the internet, it will be directly impacted by the latency on your network. With higher latency in your network, the chances of experiencing jitter is a lot higher.

What happens now if you suspect that latency or jitter are are causing your VoIP issues?

Every aspect of your network and VoIP solution should be tested. Anything that could interfere with a VoIP call must be looked at for any potential bottle necks.

• Configure QoS and Other Settings
• Obtain Sufficient Bandwidth
• Invest in Updated and Capable Hardware

If you suspect issues in your network and not certain where to begin to isolate the problem. Our technical team is ready to assist.