Most common VoIP issues and how to deal with them

While Internet-based phone systems are way superior to traditional ones and more and more companies turn to them and replace their old landlines phones, that doesn’t mean that VoIP systems are fail proof. They also have their issues that can be really frustrating unless you know how to deal with them.

Here are the most common problems you can experience with VoIP systems:

• Poor voice quality. This can be manifested in various ways: choppy calls with interruptions or calls that have an annoying static sound, delays, echoes, robot voice and more. There are several reasons why you can experience such poor quality. If your calls are choppy and there are short interruptions during the call, it might be a network or bandwidth issue. What you can try is to close apps that eat up a lot of bandwidth or turn off other devices that are connected to your network. Malware might be another cause. If there is a delay or echo in your call, it might be due to interference because your hardware is too close to other electronic devices. Echo might be caused by your earpiece’s volume, which might be too high. A low quality equipment could also be responsible. Splitters and caller IDs can cause jittery calls, as can bandwidth limitations or your router settings. Or it can just be an incorrect codec, so you can try switch to another one. Another quality related problem can be that ‘robot voice’, which can also be experienced on your computer or smartphone, not just regular phones. Oftentimes, this robot voice is caused by packet loss
• Dropped calls. This can be a really annoying issue and it can really affect the way a business fucntions. If this is a frequent issue with your VoIP system, take into considerations your router QoS (quality of service) settings, your bandwidth limitations or simply check your phone to see if it functions properly or it might be defective
• No dial tone, although there’s nothing wrong with your Internet connection. If this is your issue, it might be caused by a phone cable or splitter that are defective. In some cases it can also be because your cordless phone is not charged or there is another device that is interfering with your system
• You experience a poor Internet connection. Most of the times, this problem can be solved by simply upgrading to a better, faster Internet package
• You are experiencing a one-way audio. This problem can be caused by your router’s configuration or your VoIP provider. The way you can check which one is it is by trying to plug your phone directly into your router. If the problem still persists you have to find out whether the IP address given by the router is public or private. If it’s the first scenario, it means the issue is with your VoIP provider. If it’s the latter, meaning your IP address is private, try to change your router configurations: disable DHCP or enable port forwarding.

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