{"id":9966,"date":"2017-09-14T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/?p=9966"},"modified":"2017-09-14T08:32:16","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T15:32:16","slug":"fix-poor-voip-call-quality-with-a-dedicated-circuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/fix-poor-voip-call-quality-with-a-dedicated-circuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix poor VoIP call quality with a dedicated circuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a bummer but I\u2019m going to say it.<\/p>\n

Getting a\u00a0huge<\/em>\u00a0fiber Internet connection may not do anything to help your company\u2019s VoIP call quality.<\/p>\n

Assuming everything is squared away on your LAN, the most common causes of poor call quality are\u00a0latency, packet loss and jitter<\/a><\/span>; None of which can be controlled over the public Internet, no matter how much bandwidth you throw at it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what if we have a 1G dedicated Internet connection?\u201d Sorry, it\u2019s not immune.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what if it\u2019s fiber from a\u00a0Tier 1<\/a><\/span>\u00a0provider?\u201d Your call quality is still high-risk.<\/p>\n

So, what can you do if your company\u2019s users cannot tolerate an occasional dropped or gargled phone call? What if your company often has big-shot clients on the line?<\/p>\n

Should you scrap the option of a hosted VoIP phone system?<\/p>\n

Good news: hosted VoIP is still a great option for your company, even if your users have zero tolerance for bad call quality. My advice: avoid sending calls over the public Internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut how,\u201d you ask?<\/p>\n

A dedicated circuit.<\/p>\n

What is a dedicated circuit?\"Managed<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n

True\u00a0enterprise<\/em>\u00a0hosted VoIP providers have the capability of supplying your company with a dedicated circuit, typically in the form of a\u00a0T1<\/a><\/span>, fiber<\/a><\/span> or\u00a0Ethernet over Copper<\/a><\/span>. This dedicated line is used to connect your company\u2019s on-site handsets directly to your hosted VoIP provider\u2019s off-site servers, creating a\u00a0private<\/em>\u00a0tunnel for your phone calls to travel through\u2026 completely bypassing the public Internet.<\/p>\n

Using\u00a0MPLS<\/a><\/span>\u00a0technology, your hosted VoIP provider will have complete control over the levels of latency, packet loss and jitter your calls experience. As a result, the provider will\u00a0guarantee<\/em>\u00a0100 percent land-line call quality,\u00a0at all times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Cost<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Here is the crazy part. Although a dedicated VoIP circuit sounds more expensive, it will probably not cost your company\u00a0any more<\/em>than using VoIP over a 3rd\u00a0party ISP.<\/p>\n

This is because you will replace your existing Internet connection with the new circuit. Your enterprise VoIP provider can configure your dedicated VoIP circuit to deliver public Internet access on the portion of your bandwidth not being used for VoIP calls. VoIP calls take priority and depending on whether your VoIP provider\u00a0compresses the voice<\/a><\/span>, each simultaneous call will consume approx. 35k\u2013100k of bandwidth on the circuit.<\/p>\n

So, your company is still paying for the same two things:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. One dedicated fiber circuit<\/li>\n
  2. Hosted VoIP service<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The only difference is by getting the dedicated circuit from your hosted VoIP provider, (instead of a 3rd party ISP), your company\u2019s hosted VoIP service has guaranteed land-line call quality. Same price\u2026\u00a0much more value<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    But what if we\u2019re in a contract?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    If your company is in a contract with your current ISP, I recommend waiting until the contract is close to expiration. If your phone system is on death\u2019s doorstep and you can\u2019t wait, at least choose a hosted VoIP provider with the ability to deliver a dedicated circuit later.<\/p>\n

    You may also want to consider starting with a smaller dedicated circuit, with only enough bandwidth for your company\u2019s phone calls (and no capacity for public Internet access). Think of it as a different way of buying a\u00a0PRI T1<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for your phone system\u2019s dial tone.<\/p>\n

    Then, when your current ISP\u2019s contract expires, you can upgrade your VoIP Circuit to include Internet.<\/p>\n

    When Is a dedicated circuit overkill?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    This answer will be a little different for every company but for our clients, I typically recommend a dedicated VoIP circuit for any site with 30+ users. My logic is:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A company with 30+ users is probably already using a dedicated Internet connection, which makes the cost probably equal to using a dedicated VoIP circuit.<\/li>\n
    2. The more users your company has, the higher the likelihood at least one person will experience a voice quality issue every day\u2026 so why have the IT department devote the resources for receiving a call for a voice quality issue nearly every day, if it can be avoided.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      One thing to keep in mind. The majority of hosted VoIP providers do not offer a dedicated circuit. Delivering a circuit is more \u201cinvolved\u201d than sending calls over 3rd\u00a0party bandwidth, so most providers just avoid the complication and continue designing their platform for \u201cmicro-size businesses.\u201d In other words, many of the big names will not have this option and will dismiss it’s usefulness (for obvious reasons), but don’t give up. Keep looking.<\/p>\n

      Click the button below to get 3 great quotes on a dedicated VoIP circuit for your company.<\/span><\/h5>\n