BANDWIDTH REQUIREMENTS FOR CLOUD PHONESS


One of the biggest questions facing companies considering cloud phones is whether or not they have the bandwidth necessary to make the conversion seamlessly. Poor call quality and dropped calls can lead to angry customers and squabbles over who is responsible for your call quality: phone service provider or internet provider? Here's what industry leaders have to say about the issue.

Defining Bandwidth

Simply put, bandwidth is a measurement of how much data you can transfer in a specific period of time, or rather how fast your system can send and receive data. Once you understand what bandwidth is, it's easy to understand why it's so important to cloud phones. When cloud phone systems experience problems, it is typically because they are not supported by enough bandwidth to make the calls they need.

Go High

The typical phone call requires anywhere from 40 to 100 kbps of bandwidth. This means you need to have at least this much available bandwidth in your network to place a single phone call at any time. While it is possible for your phone calls to come in on the lower end of the spectrum, most experts agree that you should estimate your bandwidth needs at 100 kbps, so you always know you have enough to cover the call. For each additional call that will be placed during the same time period, you will need to add another 100 kbps in available bandwidth just to be safe. Still, this is not an exact measurement.

Other Considerations

For most businesses, it is highly unlikely that all of your phones will be occupied at exactly the same moment. Call center operators may take a higher volume of calls than management. You need to assess your current call volume trends to determine how many simultaneous calls you actually need to handle.

You also need to know whether or not your current Internet provider has a monthly bandwidth cap. While very small businesses may be able to get away with a consumer-grade Internet plan, most mid-sized businesses and larger need to subscribe to a business tier Internet plan to support their cloud phones.

Now is also a good time to look at how much bandwidth you are actually getting for your money. Many broadband providers claim up to 100 Mb of bandwidth, but a free speed test will show you only 5-20 Mb of actual bandwidth making it to your computer.

The next step is addressing your current bandwidth usage. Remember, the bandwidth for your cloud phones needs to be on top of the bandwidth you are already using for your computers and other services. This may mean that you need to limit Internet use for your employees or upgrade to a larger Internet package.

Finally, it's time to assess your network hardware. Many quality routers come with Quality of Service (QoS) settings. These settings allow you to prioritize voice data to ensure that phone calls are always put through, even if it means Internet surfing slows down temporarily. If your router is not equipped with this feature, it is a good idea to upgrade to one that does.

When implemented correctly, cloud phones can greatly improve the quality and reliability of your communications system. However, taking a good hard look at your Internet connection in advance is a good way to determine whether or not you are ready to make the switch, and what other steps you can take to improve your network. Remember that cloud phones rely heavily on the Internet to function properly, so if you begin seeing problems you should check your network first.


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