If you aren’t already familiar, VoIP is a way to communicate without relying on standard telephone lines. It works through digital signals, which project the conversion of your voice into an internet signal so you can talk with others. VoIP allows people to make a call directly and easily from a PC, phone, or any other data-driven device.
In this quickly evolving remotely-worked world, especially managing throughout the pandemic, more individuals than ever before were benefiting from accessing business-grade VoIP. Here are five steps to improve VolP call quality and help keep those essential conversations crystal clear.
Make Sure You Get a High-Quality Router that Supports VoIP
Anytime you use your Windows or Mac computer to call someone using the Internet, you are using VoIP. Programs like Facebook messenger and Skype are some of the more popular forms of VoIP applications.
Related: 20+ VoIP Featuers You Can’t Live Without
Adding new VoIP traffic on your standard home or business router can cause issues. Make sure your router is new, updated, and wireless. You will need a high-quality router that supports the ability to prioritize VoIP traffic over other types of data. Routers can prioritize traffic in a variety of ways, and the biggest problem that arises is when you are attempting to configure them. These systems were initially intended to deal with game and streaming traffic. However, now you can direct these helpful features at voice traffic too.
Most IT professionals deal with these types of issues daily and on a situation-by-situation basis. Smaller home networks tend to have few enough users that adding the occasional call shouldn’t affect it all that much. However, it is always helpful to give your IT pro remote access to your router. It is also beneficial to always be aware of the make and model of your router, and any support sites, so you can be ready if troubles arise.
For the best office phone solutions, contact SE Telecom today.
Purchase a New Headset
Calls are a vital part of any business, and missing a call or mishearing important information can be detrimental. When choosing a headset, there are a handful of factors one should first consider. First, if call quality is your main concern, choose noise-canceling headphones that deliver sound evenly to both ears. Secondly, USB corded headsets typically provide a more stable sound quality than Bluetooth or wireless headsets.
If you want to fix call problems before they even start, choose a SIP-compliant desktop phone over a headset. This desktop phone is equipped with speaker phones so you can move around during conversations. Full mobility around the home and office can really make a difference in an employee’s day and promote productivity. What is nice is you can usually get these types of phones pre-configured by the provider, so they are pre-set to work well with a VoIP account—making it user-friendly.
Related: What is Hosted VoIP?
Reduce Bandwidth
Whether you’re working with a residential VoIP account or just expanding your business provider’s service to other locations, like employee homes, bandwidth usage is critical. Furthermore, extending these networks can seem daunting and require some troubleshooting simply because home networks are generally just a single router signaling through online traffic.
You should have the ability to increase your VoIP system’s audio quality by making more bandwidth available specifically for voice calls. By reducing the number of startup programs running on your PC and restricting the number of downloads that can take place during calls. When talking about VoIP, having adequate bandwidth is vital. Having a more significant, faster speed bandwidth available for voice calls means better quality calls and more data getting to its intended place and doing it more efficiently.
Interference Clearance
Phones and Smart devices with higher frequencies tend to produce higher amounts of interference. A VoIP phone runs at 2.4GHz. However, there are also 5.8GHz phones, equipment, and many other high-frequency devices on the market. In general, the 2.4GHz band attempts to give you a longer range, but in turn, its data runs much slower. The 5GHz band provides less coverage, but it will produce more data to come through much quicker where it can cover. The fewer home devices competing for power, the better.
Check to see what frequency your phone and other electronic devices are running on. If you are experiencing regular bouts of inconvenient interference, maybe you can try and switch the device to a lower spectrum.
Learn your Router Inside and Out
Buying an updated new router is an excellent start to getting full functioning Wifi coverage anywhere you need it. Systems like wireless mesh systems that connect directly to your modem are a perfect choice because they were specifically designed to let new customers set them up quickly with little to no network knowledge involved. Learning your router’s inner workings can be critical to its full potential. If you are not so technologically inclined, just be sure to have an IT expert to assist you when you need them is just fine.
If you happen to be already a technically adept person or work in the IT industry, that’s great! Just by investigating the router’s inner features or guts, you can improve call quality. Smaller home networks tend to use much simpler management apps but can still have some advanced features like those of a business router. Some of these applications might help protect app traffic like VoIP but can be hidden initially or, in some cases, not even present at all in the router. So it’s helpful to dig in and see what exactly your system is capable of.
Traffic protection features include making sure your router supports the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), which helps to deliver data reliably between a VoIP client and its server. You or an IT professional might want to explore the virtual LAN (VLAN) option. With VLANs, you can effectively carve out a section of your bandwidth and build a separate network.
A network made for running your voice traffic only can help assure both call quality and less delay. Another important feature is quality of service (QoS), not only because it’s highly effective but also because it’s a successful way to protect the streaming traffic home users and families require daily.
Related: What is VoIP QoS? And how to set it up.
Conclusion
When on an important call, especially a VoIP business call, you don’t want interruptions like audio choppiness and delay to affect your day. Other sound issues like echo and jitters can affect business and the outcome of a meaningful conversation. Inefficient communications can make you and your company look bad and negatively impact networking and customer experience. Don’t settle for just okay. Take these steps to improve your network and maximize voice service performance!
Improve your office communication with the tech support of SE Telecom.