7 Factors That Affect VoIP Voice Quality

It is difficult for enterprises to survive in this modern IT age. You have to use the reliable and right equipment for administrating your enterprise solutions. The computing world is expanding every day. Hence, the complexities related to software deployment are increasing every day. Most businesses today are using VoIP or Voice over internet protocol for voice communications. It had quality and reliability issues in the past. Thus, most companies were sticking with landline phones.

But, VoIP services have improved with time. Still, you might experience poor voice quality some times. The good news is that you can easily find the reason behind poor voice quality issues. It is also easy to fix these issues. In this article, we are going to talk about the main factors that can affect the voice quality of your VoIP calls.

1. Network Parameters and Bandwidth issue

If you are using a shared network, then it can affect your VoIP voice quality. The voice quality will become worse due to heavy network load. You can solve this by giving higher priority to voice packets. This will make sure that your network is first transferring the voice packets. There are many other things like call set-up times, call success ration and call set-up rate that can affect your call quality. Your network protocol will also have an impact on voice calls.

2. Codec

If you are using VoIP technology, then you also need an audio codec for compressing the audio signals. It is also used for decompressing the audio signals at the receiver end. Most of the audio codes are pretty standardized. But, VoIP providers are also providing proprietary codec. Some of the most famous audio codecs are G.729a and G.723.

The audio codec is one of the major factors that affect VoIP voice quality. The compression factor of your audio codec will decide the size of voice data that will be transmitted in the network. If the compression rate is more, then you need to transmit very little data. But, it will deteriorate the voice quality. Most of the audio codecs have compression rates like 5.3 Kbps, 6.4 Kbps, and 8Kbps. These bitrates are for the voice only. There are also protocol overheads that are added. Thus, the actual bit rate is always quite higher.

Due to audio codecs, there is a digitizing delay between every transmission. The algorithm will first compress the data and then send it to the receiver. After that, it will also decompress the data at the receiver end. If your audio codex is using a complex algorithm, then it will use more CPU resources. This can affect the voice quality of your calls.

3. Slow internet connection

The bandwidth available to you can also heavily affect the quality of your calls. If you are using a dial-up connection or shared network, then you will never get good voice quality. Most of the broadband connections should work well with VoIP technology. But, most of the Internet Service providers only optimize their speed for web surfing. They don’t set the settings which are important for getting a high-quality voice call. The protocols required for the transmission of voice packets are different when compared to data packets. If you are using a high-speed enterprise connection, then you will get the best experience.

4. Network Latency

Latency can occur due to the long distance between the receiver and the sender. It can also happen due to weak network conditions. If you are increasing the distance between you and the receiver, then latency will also increase. Latency can also depend on the number of routers that your packet needs to visit before reaching the destination. Audio codecs can also increase this delay time. They have complex algorithms that will take some time to execute. If the network latency is around 150 ms, then your VOIP call will be clear.

5. Outdated Equipment

If you are using outdated equipment, then they will affect your VoIP call quality. You need to invest your money in the right cable modems, firewalls, and routers. The frequency of your phone can also affect the voice quality. You should use lower frequency phones for better voice quality. Also, make sure that the router you are using support echo cancellation, audio codecs and a firewall. Most of the small start-ups are using their internet connection for both voice and data. Thus, they must a router that can give priority to the VoIP traffic. Otherwise, only one user can degrade the call quality by downloading a large file. Most of the specialized VoIP routers are cheap. You can buy them for solving this problem.

6. Voice Packet Loss

Some of your voice packets will automatically get lost in your network. It can happen due to various reasons like overloaded links, media errors and excessive collisions. There are many protocols like TCP that will allow you to recover your lost audio packets. If you are using protocols like UDP, then you won’t be able to recover your lost packets.

7. Echo

In VoIP technology, the IP media is converted into digital or analog signals and vice versa. Due to this, an echo is introduced in your network. There are two different types of echo: Acoustic echo and Hybrid echo. It is very difficult to contain and monitor the echo. But, there are many providers that also provide echo cancellation modules. These modules will help you in reducing the echo in your network.

Conclusion

These were all the major factors that can affect your VoIP calls quality. You can fix them by using specialized equipment and tools. If you are using old equipment, then you can get them updated. Your business processes will automatically become smooth once you have dealt with these problems. If you want more tips related to VoIP technology, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.