Troubleshooting VoIP Call Quality Support Issues

Sophisticated, leading edge VoIP business phone systems are designed to provide your business and all of your employees with superior call quality 24/7.

However, like all other business technology products, there is a possibility that you may encounter a problem that requires some simple VoIP support troubleshooting. When considering a cloud phone system, a baseline knowledge and a little know-how to troubleshoot call quality will help speed up the resolution process.

All it takes is a little education, and VoIP quality problems can typically be fixed quickly and easily. Below, we provide a quick overview of the most common problems and some suggested solutions.

VoIP Call Quality Issue: Poor or Scrambled Audio

This problem – which is also called “jitter” – happens when voice packets get divided, but then reassemble (before reaching the receiver) in the incorrect order. The result is poor or scrambled audio.

The Solution: Make sure that your VoIP solution is deployed at your location behind a Managed Router that has built in jitter buffers. These temporarily store voice packets as they arrive, which minimizes any delay variations.  

Helpful Hint: You will see that a common theme is the deployment of VoIP with a managed router throughout this article making it one of the most significant pieces of the VoIP Customer Experience puzzle.

VoIP Call Quality Issue: Echoing

Echoing is usually due to latency, which refers to a delay in the time it takes speech to leave the speaker and get to the listener. There are typically three types of latency. The first is propagation delay; the second is handling delay; the third is queuing delay.  

The Solution: Prioritize VoIP traffic over the network. There are several ways to do this, including: bandwidth reservation, class of service, type of service, policy-based network management and multi-protocol label switching.  This level of prioritization can be pre-programmed in your VoIP Managed Router to ensure that best practices of followed.

VoIP Call Quality Issue: Degraded Internet Connection

Some businesses are using a network connection that is not designed to optimize the flow of VoIP voice packets. Rather, the connection is suitable for basic web surfing, email, etc.

In addition, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) can also experience problems that end up pushed down to the customer. We’ve all been there and it can be frustrating. For example, an ISP can suffer from over subscription of service causing congestion on their network resulting in poor service.

The Solution: One solution is to upgrade your Internet connection to a dedicated business-class connection. That is the easy problem to fix.

The more sophisticated problem requires some investigation. This is where a trusted VoIP Provider comes in.

Engage your VoIP Provider and ask their support team to get any and all stats available on the Internet connection in question. In addition, ask the VoIP Provider to monitor the Internet connection via their monitoring tools to pick up on any trends. Present all findings to your ISP and either they will solve the root cause of the problem or you will need to move your business to a more reliable ISP.  

VoIP Call Quality Issue: Inadequate Router

Some businesses use a router with their VoIP phone system that is not capable of prioritizing VoIP traffic. As a result, there can essentially be a traffic jam when various users attempt to carry out tasks over the network. For example, if one user is placing a call and another downloads a large file, both users will experience latency/delays.  

The Solution: This is actually rather straightforward - just install a managed VoIP router that is capable of prioritizing VoIP traffic.

VoIP Call Quality Issue: Improper Network Configuration

Sometimes, improper network configuration can lead to VoIP call quality issues. This often occurs when voice and data traffic are being routed using the same network.

The Solution: Properly configure the router (keeping in mind that it should be able to prioritize VoIP traffic, as noted above).

Learn More

If you are experiencing VoIP call quality issues and are thinking of upgrading your system, or if you’re planning to evolve from a traditional landline system to VoIP, then contact us today.

We will provide you with expert guidance to help you address your current challenges, and achieve your future goals.