3 ms·

VOIP calls are very sensitive to intermittent connectivity. Sometimes wifi will work in batches. No packets will get through for a few hundreds of milliseconds

by biokoda 10y ago

VOIP calls are very sensitive to intermittent connectivity. Sometimes wifi will work in batches. No packets will get through for a few hundreds of milliseconds (or seconds), then they will get sent all at once. Sometimes UDP traffic is blocked completely and the call has to get relayed over TCP. Now no packets can get dropped and you get delays due to retransmits. Sometimes 3g/4g connection disappears because someone entered a building an overpass or passed a corner in a city. Sometimes the sides of the conversation are far and the audio delay is high. If any side of the conversation encounters a problem described above both will get a bad quality.

MandieD 10y ago
Among other things, I'm a Skype for Business admin. We've found that having our users use Ethernet when working from home instead of WiFi eliminated a lot of audio quality complaints.
- scandox 10y ago
  At home I use Ethernet, a Blue Yeti USB microphone and a solid pair of Philips USB headphones. Of course I don't know what my counterparts on the other end are using. I guess my problem seems to be that we swapped a system that had a consistent call quality for one that is inconsistent, for a whole bunch of reasons. It seems to me, as if the general quality of telephony took a huge step backwards. And I don't understand, in an age of technical progress, why we should (or do) put up with that.
  - MandieD 10y ago
    Are the 1 in 3 good calls pretty random, or do they tend to be with the same counterparts? Do you notice a difference between the quality of your calls into conferences (if on the same platform) and direct calls with colleagues? WiFi can be a source of the problem even within the corporate network if the access points weren't designed for VoIP.
    - scandox 10y ago
      It seems random to me, but of course when I'm in User-mode I'm probably quite a poor observer. I'm not a power user of VOIP, but these are my common scenarios: 1. At home, Skype and Google Hangouts. Hardware setup as above. 240 Mbps connection. Making calls to family abroad. This is the 1 in 3 scenario - we just keep trying till we get a connection that seems to work. Usually the call ends whenever the line finally "goes bad". 2. At work: Skype, Hangouts, Upwork. Mostly one to one calls with potential hires, colleagues, outsource people etc. WiFi. About a 20Mbps connection. Actually now I write it down Upwork is the best - which is weird because in general their systems suck. But Skype and Hangouts are both a consistent source of pain, dropped calls, bad quality, sudden total loss of audio etc... 3. At work: Company phones. Generally the quality is OK when calling out to landlines and mobiles (cell), but I have colleagues who I know are on VOIP at other end and these calls are like 1 in 2 where we just give up. 4. On mobile (4G): Viber, WhatsApp, Skype. Generally I'll call. Within a few seconds we'll be talking like people in a disco and I give up and call back on regular phone. I also observe colleagues doing a lot of: "can you repeat that", "sorry repeat that" when they're using Skype at the office. Even hearing that contributes to my sense of VOIP-malaise.
      - rrmm 10y ago
        Scenario one stands out to me. There will be a lot of hardware between you and the other party in your call and trouble can happen at any of them. The connection quality you get will depend on the worst performing hardware in that chain.
      - NLips 10y ago
        Sounds like your problem isn't with VOIP, it's with softphone VOIP clients and/or OTT carrier. The company phones are probably VOIP (do they just have ethernet connections?), but connected up to a telco which handles traffic nicely. Most telcos are sending a huge amount of traffic round over IP. The difference is that they are controlling the bandwidth so stuff just-works, whereas when you use a purely OTT service, you're probably stuck with your packets getting the same treatment as any old web request. Most of the calls you think you can detect as POTS probably have VOIP legs in them somewhere if they're long distance. Which of the services are the most expensive? My guess is the company phone. Are you paying for any of the others?
  - MandieD 10y ago
    The only thing that could make VoIP voice quality as consistent as PSTN is a consistent application of QoS. And that is why I have very mixed feelings about Net Neutrality. Sure, I don't think that Verizon should be allowed to penalize NetFlix or $randomVideoStartup by favoring its video traffic over theirs, but there is no technical way for voice to be consistently good without a consistent handling of its data traffic.
    - AnthonyMouse 10y ago
      Network neutrality doesn't really have anything to do with QoS. Network neutrality says you can't prioritize packets from Comcast over packets from Netflix. It doesn't say you can't prioritize packets a customer has marked as more important over packets the same customer has marked as less important.
      - kalleboo 10y ago
        How much of the VoIP contention is on the user end vs the ISP end though? I have a 1 Gbps connection at home and can still have a VoIP call across the world mess up since I might not have the best route to whoever I'm calling.

by biokoda 10y ago

MandieD 10y ago

Among other things, I'm a Skype for Business admin. We've found that having our users use Ethernet when working from home instead of WiFi eliminated a lot of audio quality complaints.

scandox 10y ago
At home I use Ethernet, a Blue Yeti USB microphone and a solid pair of Philips USB headphones. Of course I don't know what my counterparts on the other end are using. I guess my problem seems to be that we swapped a system that had a consistent call quality for one that is inconsistent, for a whole bunch of reasons. It seems to me, as if the general quality of telephony took a huge step backwards. And I don't understand, in an age of technical progress, why we should (or do) put up with that.
- MandieD 10y ago
  Are the 1 in 3 good calls pretty random, or do they tend to be with the same counterparts? Do you notice a difference between the quality of your calls into conferences (if on the same platform) and direct calls with colleagues? WiFi can be a source of the problem even within the corporate network if the access points weren't designed for VoIP.
  - scandox 10y ago
    It seems random to me, but of course when I'm in User-mode I'm probably quite a poor observer. I'm not a power user of VOIP, but these are my common scenarios: 1. At home, Skype and Google Hangouts. Hardware setup as above. 240 Mbps connection. Making calls to family abroad. This is the 1 in 3 scenario - we just keep trying till we get a connection that seems to work. Usually the call ends whenever the line finally "goes bad". 2. At work: Skype, Hangouts, Upwork. Mostly one to one calls with potential hires, colleagues, outsource people etc. WiFi. About a 20Mbps connection. Actually now I write it down Upwork is the best - which is weird because in general their systems suck. But Skype and Hangouts are both a consistent source of pain, dropped calls, bad quality, sudden total loss of audio etc... 3. At work: Company phones. Generally the quality is OK when calling out to landlines and mobiles (cell), but I have colleagues who I know are on VOIP at other end and these calls are like 1 in 2 where we just give up. 4. On mobile (4G): Viber, WhatsApp, Skype. Generally I'll call. Within a few seconds we'll be talking like people in a disco and I give up and call back on regular phone. I also observe colleagues doing a lot of: "can you repeat that", "sorry repeat that" when they're using Skype at the office. Even hearing that contributes to my sense of VOIP-malaise.
    - rrmm 10y ago
      Scenario one stands out to me. There will be a lot of hardware between you and the other party in your call and trouble can happen at any of them. The connection quality you get will depend on the worst performing hardware in that chain.
    - NLips 10y ago
      Sounds like your problem isn't with VOIP, it's with softphone VOIP clients and/or OTT carrier. The company phones are probably VOIP (do they just have ethernet connections?), but connected up to a telco which handles traffic nicely. Most telcos are sending a huge amount of traffic round over IP. The difference is that they are controlling the bandwidth so stuff just-works, whereas when you use a purely OTT service, you're probably stuck with your packets getting the same treatment as any old web request. Most of the calls you think you can detect as POTS probably have VOIP legs in them somewhere if they're long distance. Which of the services are the most expensive? My guess is the company phone. Are you paying for any of the others?
- MandieD 10y ago
  The only thing that could make VoIP voice quality as consistent as PSTN is a consistent application of QoS. And that is why I have very mixed feelings about Net Neutrality. Sure, I don't think that Verizon should be allowed to penalize NetFlix or $randomVideoStartup by favoring its video traffic over theirs, but there is no technical way for voice to be consistently good without a consistent handling of its data traffic.
  - AnthonyMouse 10y ago
    Network neutrality doesn't really have anything to do with QoS. Network neutrality says you can't prioritize packets from Comcast over packets from Netflix. It doesn't say you can't prioritize packets a customer has marked as more important over packets the same customer has marked as less important.
    - kalleboo 10y ago
      How much of the VoIP contention is on the user end vs the ISP end though? I have a 1 Gbps connection at home and can still have a VoIP call across the world mess up since I might not have the best route to whoever I'm calling.