It is likely that any fault on a network, regardless of its cause, will initially show up as a degradation in the quality of VoIP operation. This is regardless of whether the fault is with the VoIP telephony equipment. Therefore, by installing a VoIP solution, you must be aware that you will become the first point of call for diagnosing and assessing all potential customer network issues.
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Description |
End-to-End Matching Standards |
VoIP depends upon the support and selection of the same voice compression, header compression and QoS standards throughout all stages of the calls routing. The start and end points must be using the same compression methods. All intermediate points must support DiffServ QoS. |
Avoid Hubs |
Hubs introduce echo and congestion points. If the customer network requires LAN connections beyond the capacity of the IP Office Unit itself, Ethernet switches should be used. Even if this is not the case, Ethernet switches are recommended as they allow traffic prioritization to be implemented for VoIP devices. |
Power Supply Conditioning, Protection and Backup |
Traditional phone systems provide power to all their attached phone devices from a single source. In a VoIP installation, the same care and concern that goes into providing power conditioning, protection and backup to the central phone system, must now be applied to all devices on the IP network. |
Multicasting |
In a data only network, it is possible for an incorrectly installed printer or hub card to multicast traffic without that fault being immediately identified. On a VoIP network incorrect multicasting will quickly affect VoIP calls and features. |
Duplicate IP Addressing |
Duplicate addresses is a frequent issue. |
Excessive Utilization |
A workstation that constantly transmits high traffic levels can flood a network, causing VoIP service to disappear. |
Network Access |
An IP network is much more open to users connecting a new device or installing software on existing devices that then impacts on VoIP. |
Cabling Connections |
Technically VoIP can (bandwidth allowing) be run across any IP network connection. In practice, Cat5 cabling is essential. |
