How can I ensure a high call quality experience?

Fonality understands that in many cases your businesses’ revenue is directly tied to your phone system.  The first touch point many customers will have with your company is via the phone system and call quality is extremely important to put your best foot forward.  Fonality is dedicated to building business grade phone systems that are extremely reliable while striving for industry leading call quality metrics.  

There are many factors that can play a role in call quality, but the first item to understand is what VoIP is.  Voice over IP is a technology that allows telephone calls to be made over the computer network like the Internet. VoIP converts analog voice signals into digital data packets and supports real-time, two-way transmission of conversations. Because VoIP calls travel along the same Internet network as your emails, applications, videos, and other online activity, it is vital to prioritize your voice traffic above all else.   

If you are experiencing call quality issues including echoing, cutting in and out, or lag time between call parties, here are some steps you can take to ensure great call quality.

1. Run a test on your Internet bandwidth:  Visit www.speedtest.net and run a network bandwidth diagnostic. Keep in mind that every VoIP call that is made you require about 30kbs – 50kbs to sustain quality call metrics. You may need to better understand what applications your business uses that are bandwidth intense.    

2. Optimize your router for superior performance and call quality.Disable any of the following features on the router which may cause poor audio quality:  

   1. DoS or DDoS protection - Commonly misinterprets audio as an attack

   2. SPI Firewall ( Stateful Packet Inspection ) - Will drop inbound audio

   3. Content Filtering features

   4. Remove any other VoIP based phone hardware such as a Vonage ATA or routers

3. Prioritize your voice traffic over your data traffic by enabling Quality of Service on your router.