Famed for its efficiency and cost-saving features, VoIP calling has truly become the primary way businesses stay in touch with customers, employees, and prospects. Furthermore, it’s more advantageous than traditional telephone systems as it has more scalability, flexibility, calling features and even supports multitasking.
Despite this, it’s nothing new when you encounter issues during your VoIP calls. To ensure your productivity in work, always choose a trustworthy Internet Service Provider, and only use good quality network equipment.
If there are any more problems you may experience, don’t worry–you can easily troubleshoot most of the common VoIP issues yourselves. Read on below for five of the most common VoIP problems and tips on how to solve them.
Echo
Hearing your voice echo or repeat at varying intervals is not only annoying but also disrupts you from following the conversation you’re having. Most of the time, only the callee experiences it, leaving you unaware that you have been echoing the whole duration of the call.
When this happens, there can be three possible culprits. First, it may be because of the device you’re using. Check your headset and inspect if everything has been plugged in properly. It also helps if you try unplugging and plugging your headset. Moreover, if you notice any cords and cables that have been twisted, arrange them.
Second, it can be because you’re on speakerphone. So, refrain from taking calls when using the speaker mode. Lastly, the echoes might be caused by electromagnetic interference, which happens when you place too many devices close together.
Choppy Audio
Having choppy audio is probably the most common problem among all the other issues on this list. Even though your call hasn’t disconnected, you fail to hear other parts of the conversation, and voices randomly cut in and out.
If you think the choppy audio happens on your side, you should check your internet or bandwidth capacity. Seeing that many available websites offer free speed tests, that shouldn’t be hard to do. You can also check the bandwidth usage of other apps you’re using and adjust your router to prioritize voice applications before any traffic.
Alternatively, if the problem occurs on the other side, either your upload bandwidth is the culprit, or the person you’re calling is located in a place with a bad connection, causing them to hear choppy audio.
Dropped Calls
Isn’t it frustrating for your call to end without warning? If this happens, you should also pay attention to any patterns, such as how long calls take before they suddenly get dropped or if you can’t get to a person even after dialing.
If you work in a place with consistently high outbound calls, this isn’t a rare occurrence. To prevent dropped calls, you should ensure that your equipment and hardware have been updated to the latest version. If you can, you should also turn on auto-updates to make the process easier for you.
To add, if you notice that your calls get disconnected after a certain period, it must be because of the UDP (User Datagram Protocol) Timeout. Some apps use the UDP to enable faster network traffic. However, it does result in calls automatically disconnecting after a set time. As a solution, you can ask your provider to remove this setting, so your calls don’t drop.
Poor Quality Audio
As mentioned, more people have turned to VoIP because of its efficiency. In fact, according to Mbit Technologies, VoIP lets you connect from everywhere, so you can work wherever you want to.
However, you should always make sure that the location where you’re working has good internet stability. Most of the time, your ISP might just be suited for regular web surfing instead of VoIP calls. Due to this, you might experience calls of poor quality. To remedy this, look for high-speed internet packages that allow you to work your best.
Jitters
When you’re in a call, packets of voice data are sent in chronological order from one end to another. Experiencing jitters means that the packets of data from your phone call have become jumbled or missing, making your conversation hard to understand. In addition, if the jumbled parts of your call exceed 30 milliseconds, it can cause packet loss or latency.
Like many VoIP issues, you have to ensure that your bandwidth is enough for all your devices. Likewise, try upgrading your Ethernet cord. If that still doesn’t do anything to your jitter problem, have your VoIP vendor reconfigure your system with a jitter buffer that helps delay packets to prevent distorted audio.
Takeaway
Encountering problems during your VoIP calls can be a real bother. However, you don’t need to fret, as there are a couple of handy tricks you can try to solve the issue yourselves. If ever none of them work, you can always give your tech provider a call, and they’ll happily help you out.
