Case Study
Improving VOIP Conference Quality
No longer a niche technology, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is gaining traction among major carriers and service providers offering audio conferencing services. The industry is in the process of transitioning from circuit–switched to packet–switched networks in order to lower cost and ease the development of new features. The cost per line in a VoIP network is about one–fifth the cost of circuit–switched, and VoIP technology simplifies the integration of new features, like adding a supervisor recording function to the conference.
While VoIP networks provide significant economic benefits and enable powerful conferencing capabilities, they also present new technical challenges in maintaining acceptable voice quality. Delivering good voice quality is an important requirement in any VoIP conferencing system, as poor voice quality can lead to customer churn and negatively impact growth prospects. Consequently, it's essential to address the three most common sources of audio quality problems in a network: audio noise, packet loss and echo.
Experiencing echo problems while hosting VoIP audio conferences, a leading provider of IP–based communications services was at risk of failing to satisfy service level agreements (SLAs). The service provider sought a solution capable of delivering high quality audio, comparable to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).