Imagine you are in an important sales call, and all of a sudden, your voice starts to break and your video gets stuck in the middle. Annoying, isn’t it? This phenomenon happens due to poor VoIP QoS.
No matter how excellent your internet is, poor VoIP QoS results in distorted audio, video buffering and jitters.
So, if you don’t want to lose an important project just because of below-par audio quality, this article is for you. In this all-in-one guide, we will go through the importance, benefits, and best practices of VoIP QoS.
What Is VoIP QoS (Quality Of Service)?
In simple words, Voice over IP Quality of Service is a software that makes sure your internet audio and video calls run smoothly without any hiccups.
No matter how much load there is on your internet, with VoIP by your side, you won’t have to worry about delayed audio, video lagging, or latency.
Whether you are chatting with friends or having a high-end business meeting, you don’t want poor audio quality to ruin your message. So, to sum it all up, VoIP QoS is there to make all your internet calls run smoothly without any disruptions.
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Why Is QoS Important In VoIP?
To fully appreciate QoS, you need to first understand the problem it solves. Let’s imagine:
You have double-decker buses transporting large data files such as software updates and downloads, everyday family cars handling regular web browsing, and sports cars managing important audio/video calls. All of these aim to reach their final destination as quickly as possible without any disruption.
So, if there is no traffic management, all of these vehicles heading towards the same lane will lead to delays, gridlock and angry drivers.
In the real digital world, this gridlock is poor VoIP call quality, and the solution is where QoS (Quality of Service) plays its part.
At its core, QoS is an assortment of techniques and technologies devised to manage all your internet traffic, making sure certain types of your data, specifically your voice calls, get priority treatment.
Top Benefits Of VoIP QoS
Voice over IP QoS is like the heart that pumps life into your business audio and video calls. Let’s unveil the top benefits of VoIP QoS that will make you install it right away:
1. Butter-Like Communication
The top and undisputed benefit of VoIP QoS is that it makes all your communication feel like spreading butter on toast. Without QoS, all your internet calls face issues like audio glitches, video lagging and echoes, which lead to disrupted communication.
VoIP QoS makes sure voice packets are delivered in the correct order, which results in crystal-clear communication.
2. Lag-Free Video Calls
The biggest turnoff in a video call is when your picture sticks at one point and the other person only sees your distorted face. This is where QoS comes into action and turns your lagging video call into high-end 4k footage.
VoIP QoS makes your video call lag-free, which leads to effective and seamless communication.
3. Reduced Latency And Jitter
Latency causes a delay in data transfer, while jitter leads to irregularity in the arrival time of voice packets, both of which lead to distorted audio and break the natural rhythm of conversation.
Quality of service (QoS) minimises both of these issues by ensuring that voice packets reach the final destination on time, which ultimately improves the overall quality of the call.
4. Efficient Bandwidth Management
Your internet connection is shared among multiple users, and without QoS, activities like software updates, large data file transfers, and video streaming can consume all available bandwidth, resulting in poor call quality.
When you have QoS, it allocates a certain part of your bandwidth for your audio/video calls, making sure you get the best quality calls. This efficient bandwidth management helps you get the highest call quality without upgrading your bandwidth.
5. Improves User Experience
Reliable connection, butter-like communication, and lag-free video conferencing ultimately improve the overall user experience.
By optimising your internet traffic, VoIP QoS transforms your communication, making sure that all your sales calls generate revenue for your business.
How to Configure VoIP QoS?
Here are some simple steps that will help you set up your VoIP phone system:
Check Your Network
Before setting up your VoIP phone system, you need to make sure your internet is ready to handle it. If your internet cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of VoIP calls, you will face call disruptions even with a VoIP QoS.
So, before getting VoIP QoS, run a speed test to verify your internet speed. Once you have that information, you can get a VoIP phone system that works best based on your internet speed.
Get The Best VoIP Hardware
No matter how good your internet is, if you choose low-quality VoIP equipment, you will never enjoy the full benefits of VoIP phone systems.
So when choosing the VoIP hardware, never compromise on the quality, because the stronger the hardware, the better the results.
How to choose the best VoIP QoS provider?
For any business, the magic pill for getting the best call quality is to get a reliable VoIP QoS provider. Here are some key practices that you can follow to have the best VoIP QoS provider by your side:
Assess Your Bandwidth
The first step is to thoroughly examine your bandwidth capabilities. Once you know that, examine your VoIP bandwidth requirement and compare the two to see if it matches with your network capacity.
To get the best results, your VoIP bandwidth should match your network bandwidth; only then can you enjoy hassle-free audio/video calls.
Sort Your Network Traffic
You need to sort your network traffic in a way that prioritises your VoIP traffic over less important web-browsing data.
This way, you will be able to give premium treatment to voice traffic, preventing voice delays and jitters, which will ultimately lead to crystal communication.
Segment Your Network
If you want to enjoy the best audio call, you need to segment your data in LANs; this will help you give priority to Voice over IP data.
This segmentation of data helps you protect the performance of your VoIP QoS system by preventing other heavy-data files from bullying it.
Find a suitable VoIP Provider for your business
Once you have listed down all your requirements, you just need to find the perfect VoIP provider who will give you the best services according to your business needs.
As easy as this might sound, this is the most important part because the provider you choose is directly proportional to the quality of service you will get.
The catch is, how will you know which one is better in a big pool of VoIP QoS providers? The solution to this problem is to compare multiple providers before finalising your decision.
Take advantage of all the benefits a VoIP system offers with ComparedBusiness UK
To choose the most suitable provider for your business, you can get the help of ComparedBusiness UK, a platform that will help you compare different VoIP service providers and find the perfect match for your business needs. Simply provide your business details in under 2 minutes, and we’ll promptly supply you with quotes from reputable VoIP providers across the UK.
Once a reliable VoIP provider matches you, they will handle all your call quality requirements.
FAQs
No, QoS doesn’t necessarily increase your ping; it reduces it by prioritising high-priority traffic, such as voice and gaming data packets, over less sensitive data.
The network conditions and usage evolve. Therefore, monitoring latency, packet loss, and jitter trends regularly is best practice.
Typically, it requires 80-100 kbps per call, but it can fluctuate depending on the desired audio quality and other network traffic.
