Latency and Jitter
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:32 am
n inadequate router is a very common problem. Lots of small businesses tend to use their internet connection for both data and voice, which only works well if your router can prioritise for VoIP traffic. If this is not the case, it would only take another user to download a larger than average file to degrade your call quality. Specialised VoIP routers are a relatively inexpensive piece of equipment and will generally solve this problem when used in a properly configured internal network.
Latency, or VoIP delay, is singapore telegram the length of time taken for speech to leave the mouth of the speaker and reach the ear of the listener. It can sound like an echo and is caused by three types of delay:
1. Propagation: this delay is so small as to be barely perceptible and is the time taken for data to be transmitted through the network cables at the speed of light. If the distance travelled for an intercontinental call was half way around the world, the propagation delay would be approximately seventy milliseconds.
2. Handling: delays caused by devices in the network.
3. Queuing delays: these are delays caused when packets are put in a queue when the number sent is greater than the interface can handle in a given time period.
Jitter, which is a measure of the change in latency over time in a network, is a very common problem in connectionless or packet-switched networks. This is because the voice packets that carry information between the sender and receiver all travel via different paths and arrive in a different order from that in which they started out. This can cause scrambled and poor quality audio and can be fixed by using jitter buffers which store packets as they arrive in order to reduce delay variations and discard them if they arrive too late.
Both latency and jitter can be improved by making sure that VoIP calls are correctly prioritised, which will be the case for a business quality VoIP service. Techniques used for prioritising traffic include bandwidth reservation, multi-protocol label switching and policy-based network management.
You would expect all of the factors described above to be taken care of if you are paying for a business quality voice over IP service, such as those from IDT Express. There may still be other factors that can come into play, such as static and distortions caused by weather conditions or electrical feedback caused by the positioning of your hardware, for example, if you place your ATA too close to your broadband router. In general, however, you should expect to enjoy a high-quality voice experience.
Latency, or VoIP delay, is singapore telegram the length of time taken for speech to leave the mouth of the speaker and reach the ear of the listener. It can sound like an echo and is caused by three types of delay:
1. Propagation: this delay is so small as to be barely perceptible and is the time taken for data to be transmitted through the network cables at the speed of light. If the distance travelled for an intercontinental call was half way around the world, the propagation delay would be approximately seventy milliseconds.
2. Handling: delays caused by devices in the network.
3. Queuing delays: these are delays caused when packets are put in a queue when the number sent is greater than the interface can handle in a given time period.
Jitter, which is a measure of the change in latency over time in a network, is a very common problem in connectionless or packet-switched networks. This is because the voice packets that carry information between the sender and receiver all travel via different paths and arrive in a different order from that in which they started out. This can cause scrambled and poor quality audio and can be fixed by using jitter buffers which store packets as they arrive in order to reduce delay variations and discard them if they arrive too late.
Both latency and jitter can be improved by making sure that VoIP calls are correctly prioritised, which will be the case for a business quality VoIP service. Techniques used for prioritising traffic include bandwidth reservation, multi-protocol label switching and policy-based network management.
You would expect all of the factors described above to be taken care of if you are paying for a business quality voice over IP service, such as those from IDT Express. There may still be other factors that can come into play, such as static and distortions caused by weather conditions or electrical feedback caused by the positioning of your hardware, for example, if you place your ATA too close to your broadband router. In general, however, you should expect to enjoy a high-quality voice experience.