When looking into VoIP, there are a number of considerations which should be taken into account which go beyond basic internet speed tests.
As outlined in our post,
5 Things you need to get started with VoIP - With Infographic, factors other than speed include the type of service (ADSL, VDSL, Cable, Ethernet over Copper/Fibre), Latency, and Jitter. When inspecting the internet speeds available to us, we need to be mindful and consider what other kinds of internet traffic might be sharing our connection, for example, other cloud solutions like accounting packages, shared file storage, cloud hosted CRM solutions, as each of these will take up a percentage of our available bandwidth.
The point to consider is the number of users we have sharing our internet connection, with more users comes a higher level of congestion, which can and will lead to a lower overall experience. This is why we have put together a table outlining different factors to help you in deciding if your internet speeds are sufficient.
Many other websites will provide recommended speeds for ONLY phone calls, this table shows the recommended speeds for your office based upon general and non-intensive internet usage.
Location
| Number of users
| Additional Services
| Recommended minimum speed
| Recommended Internet Type
|
Home Office
| 1 - 5
| Video / Content Streaming, General Internet Usage
| 5 Mbps / 5Mbps
| VDSL / ADSL / NBN
|
Small Office
| 5 - 10
| Cloud File Storage, Cloud CRM, Cloud Hosted PBX, General Internet Usage
| 5Mbps / 5Mbps
| VDSL, NBN, Ethernet over Copper
|
Medium Office
| 10 - 40
| Cloud File Storage, Cloud CRM, Cloud Hosted PBX, Backups, General Internet Usage
| 20Mbps / 20Mpbs
| Ethernet over Copper, Ethernet over Fibre
|
Large Office
| 40 - 80
| Cloud File Storage, Cloud CRM, Cloud Hosted PBX, Backups, General Internet Usage | 50 Mbps / 50Mbps | Ethernet over Copper, Ethernet over Fibre |
| Very Large Office | 80 + | Cloud File Storage, Cloud CRM, Cloud Hosted PBX, Backups, General Internet Usage | 100 Mbps / 100 Mbps | Ethernet over Fibre |
The type of audio compression, or audio codec used can also have a significant impact on the quality of your VoIP calls. SproutTel recommend using G.711a/u as a primary codec as it provides a reasonable fidelity with a minimal impact. Each call while using the G.711a/u codecs will use up to 85 Kbps of bandwidth in either direction. If bandwidth is not a concern, you can try using a wideband hi-fidelity audio codec such as G.722 which will typically consume up to 125 Kbps in either direction.