Cutting Through the VoIP Hype

Spencer Hall

8/19/2009 3:58 PM UTC

Excellent interview, thank you to both of you.

Brent_

8/19/2009 2:55 PM UTC

A QoS router will prioritize the voice traffic over the less-important data traffic. Sorry for the segmented post. I hope this helps. -Brent

Brent_

8/19/2009 2:54 PM UTC

downloading large files, or emailing photos at the same time you're trying to use the phone, you're going to run out of bandwidth and call quality will suffer. There are two options for fixing this: separate internet connections for voice and data or a quality-of-service (QoS) capable router. Separate internet connections will isolate your voice traffic and keep it from being affected by your other network traffic. A QoS router will prioritize the voice traffic over the less-important data tra

Brent_

8/19/2009 2:53 PM UTC

Hmmm ... this appears to truncate longer comments. ...a business-class provider (not the same as a "business package" from a residential provider). The problem you're describing is almost exclusively caused by the devices on your own network saturating your internet connection. You've probably got a couple of computers on the same connection, am I right? Every device on the network will be competing for the bandwidth your ISP provides. This means that if you're streaming audio/video,

Brent_

8/19/2009 2:50 PM UTC

@The Franchise King: Thanks for your comment. Your experience is not uncommon--especially for users of residential-class VoIP. As I mentioned in the interview, most residential providers haven't built into their business model a way to provide the level of service that commercial customers require. This, combined with their low-price play makes it impossible for them to help their customers work through network issues. I'm sure you'd have a much better experience with a business-class provider (

The Franchise King

8/18/2009 5:36 PM UTC

Sorry to burst your VOIP bubble, but after 3 months of dropped calls, dealing with folks that could barely hear me, and other assorted business interruption type things, I dropped my Vonage service. Why would i want to try it again? The Franchise King Joel Libava