Sales Director
Have you ever been on a VoIP call with a client or colleague that felt like you were talking through a tin can phone? From dropped words and static interference, to time-consuming call lag - these issues can turn a regular call into a frustrating experience for all involved. Luckily, a process exists to tackle these challenges. It uses a series of measurements and standards to pinpoint areas of your VoIP system that are limiting the quality of your service.
In our latest guide, we look at Quality of Service (QoS) optimisation; a powerful tool for enhancing VoIP call quality. We'll break down the essentials, provide practical tips, and guide you in transforming reputation-damaging call quality into the crystal-clear conversations that you and your customers deserve.
If you want to understand VoIP and how it works, our article' What is VoIP?' offers more detail.
Quality of Service (QoS)—a term coined in 1994 by communications agency ITU—focuses on clear voice quality, reliability, and delivering a high standard of user experience.
For businesses using VoIP, QoS ensures that voice data is transmitted quickly and clearly, with as little delay, distortion, or data loss as possible. This allows you to experience flowing, uninterrupted conversations, even when your network is crowded.
VoIP calls are highly susceptible to network issues. Unlike other data types used in communications, VoIP voice data packets must arrive on time and in the correct sequence. If they don't, you may encounter delayed audio, echoes, dropped calls, and garbled voices.
With 61% of consumers stating they'd switch to a competitor after a single negative experience, it's crucial that any issues are not due to your call quality. By implementing robust QoS processes, you'll be able to monitor relevant VoIP areas, like network traffic and system capacity, both of which can impact call quality when overloaded.
83% of companies lose customers due to communication issues. To prevent this from happening to your business, you can use QoS processes to measure your system performance proactively. By utilising these processes - which analyse the factors impacting call quality - you'll be better prepared to resolve both current and future challenges.
Bandwidth is the capacity your network has to handle data and call traffic. For VoIP, having enough bandwidth to send and receive calls is vital. Without it, the data packets containing voice data may not transmit efficiently, causing delays and packet loss. This can often lead to choppy audio or dropped calls, which can be detrimental when having important or sensitive conversations.
It's also important to have the bandwidth to support your anticipated VoIP traffic. If you do need to make changes, this may involve upgrading your internet plan or optimising your network to include backup network paths. These can be useful when supporting additional or unexpected call volumes.
Latency measures the time it takes for voice data to travel from sender to receiver. High latency can make conversations feel out of sync, causing people to talk over each other and miss important information. Long distances between network points, inefficient call routing, and internal and provider-based network congestion can also cause latency.
Upgrading to fibre-optic or other high-speed internet connections can help with latency issues. Fibre-optic connections typically offer higher speeds and lower latency than DSL or cable connections, resulting in better VoIP performance.
Jitter occurs when voice data packets arrive at uneven times. Ideally, voice data should arrive at regular intervals - however, network congestion or improper call routing can cause voice data packets to arrive randomly, leading to audio distortion and lack of clarity.
Using features like jitter buffers can smooth out these variations. They’re often included in VoIP network routers and work by delaying VoIP audio enough to reorder voice packets correctly.
Packet loss can result in listeners missing parts of conversations and experiencing robotic-sounding audio. It happens when voice data packets are dropped or don't reach their destination. Packet loss can often result in network congestion, hardware problems, or poor network setup and maintenance.
To reduce packet loss challenges, you should increase your bandwidth while also reviewing your router settings to optimise the way call traffic is handled. It may also be a good idea to identify high-traffic periods and assign additional capacity during those times.
Alongside the technical issues that can arise when communicating with VoIP, several additional areas can impact your QoS score.
High traffic volumes can lead to delays and users missing crucial parts of conversations. This traffic isn’t always related to call volume, either; it can be due to the number of devices connected to your VoIP system. Using several devices across the same network can stretch bandwidth, leading to congestion and uneven data transmission.
If you need to run a large number of devices across your network, it may be worth investing in tools like traffic shaping and prioritisation techniques. You might also want to invest in separate network paths for VoIP traffic, which would help isolate it from other types of network traffic and reduce interference and congestion.
Let's not forget the more tangible elements of your system. The quality of your network's physical hardware, including routers, switches, and VoIP phones, can significantly affect QoS.
This includes outdated or low-quality equipment, which may not be able to handle traffic effectively. You can resolve these issues by regularly maintaining your equipment, and assessing if and when you need to upgrade to a more suitable option as your business grows.
If you're experiencing issues with your VoIP QoS and can't pinpoint the cause, it may be worth investigating physical obstructions. Walls and certain materials can weaken Wi-Fi signals, increasing latency and packet loss. If problems persist, it may be worth switching to a wired connection or considering better placement of wireless access points.
Internal and workforce use can also impact your QoS. Activities like streaming videos, downloading large files, or gaming can consume significant bandwidth, leading to congestion and degraded VoIP call quality.
To resolve this, why not train your workforce on how they should and shouldn't use their systems? It may also be worth introducing policies to manage bandwidth usage, which can help ensure VoIP traffic remains a priority and call quality stays high.
High-level call quality isn't just about having a good internet connection; it involves maintaining your system and utilising processes to support you through a variety of potential challenges.
Your router manages and prioritises network traffic, ensuring your call traffic has the bandwidth it requires to operate at full capacity. By setting up your router correctly, you'll avoid the challenges that threaten the quality of your calls.
You should also configure your firewall correctly as part of a robust security setup. This protects your VoIP traffic from security threats while allowing necessary data to pass through smoothly.
To keep your VoIP service operating at its best, you should test it regularly, which may include benchmarking. Benchmarking involves evaluating your VoIP system's performance against established industry standards. You’ll also find specialist benchmarking tools that can simulate calls, assess performance metrics under different conditions and allow you to understand how well your system is performing.
Alongside tests like these, it's important to schedule regular network maintenance. This may involve reviewing areas like your call traffic volume, and fine-tuning your network settings to meet these needs.
Your benchmarking results are useful here, too, allowing you to identify concerning metrics and fix bottlenecks. Continuously monitoring the health of your network prevents significant communication issues before they affect users or customers.
It is also useful to invest in real-time quality monitoring tools. These let you look at your system performance as it happens and can be key in maintaining QoS levels. These types of tools allow an 'in the moment' view of issues like high latency, jitter, or packet loss; all of which affect the quality of your VoIP service.
Popular quality monitoring tools include SolarWinds, a comprehensive suite of software that analyses VoIP performance. Flexibly priced resources are also available, such as VoIPmonitor, which offers both hosted and cloud-based options.
Predicting future disruptors to your VoIP QoS can be tricky. However, by being proactive about regular challenges and how you solve them, you'll be ready for anything.
If you have an in-house IT or system administration team, ensure they keep up with the latest developments in VoIP technology and QoS optimisation techniques. By regularly checking industry news, attending relevant webinars, and engaging in appropriate forums, you can be sure your teams are aware of any new solutions and best practices.
Doing so means they'll have the knowledge and awareness to adapt quickly, while being able to use up-to-date strategies to maintain QoS.
As a business, you want to ensure that your VoIP system is future-proof. This means ensuring your network infrastructure can grow alongside you rather than restrict you.
Think ahead by making plans to increase VoIP capacity periodically to match network traffic. That way, you'll have the capacity needed to support the level of customer service you provide. It's also advisable to choose a VoIP solution that can be scaled easily, like T2K's Gamma Horizon, which is compatible with a range of popular tools and platforms.
Many industries are adopting innovations like AI and machine learning programs. Tech like this will play a huge part in predicting and resolving QoS issues, saving you the time of carrying out manual processes like real-time system analysis and network adjustments.
By monitoring developments like these, you'll reap the rewards of being an early adopter, while saving time and money that can be used in other areas of your business.
With a prominent focus on Quality of Service (QoS) optimisation, you can turn frustrating call issues into a thing of the past. A focus on quality allows you to lay the groundwork for exceptional communication while making sure your VoIP system is ready for your business's growth and any future challenges.
These strategies not only enhance call quality but also contribute to better user experience, ultimately supporting your business's long-term success.
If you'd like to find out more about QoS and how it can elevate your VoIP system, contact T2K today.
Having worked for T2k for nearly 25 years, it's fair to say that Lee is an expert when it comes to all things telephony and business communications. Overseeing the commercial side of the business, he has helped the company evolve and grow through the decades. In recent years, and with the advent of VoIP and hosted telephony, Lee has made sure that T2k is at the forefront of technological developments. With a firm interest in helping businesses navigate the world of telecoms, Lee is responsible for the majority of the content on this website.
