How to Stop Packet Loss and Latency on Your Internet Connection From Killing VoIP

Most people have access to broadband Internet at home and at work. Broadband speeds continue to improve as well giving ample bandwidth for applications using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Video. However, many Internet connections will not support these applications as their quality is not sufficient. Insufficient quality means they are experiencing packet loss and latency or delays in transmitting packets.

Symptoms of Packet Loss and Latency

Problems with packet loss and latency can manifest intermittent symptoms including outages. Unstable Internet circuits can work fine for hours or days at a time before they will have periods of trouble. In addition, they may have occasional or sustained latency where it takes packets too long to travel to and from your business or home network.

Frequent and intermittent outages are only one symptom of a poor quality Internet circuit. Packet loss and latency will cause trouble with any application that requires packets to arrive to their destination in a timely fashion with little or no retransmissions. Lost packets and latency will cause dropped or garbled VoIP calls, slow and choppy video and slow Internet. They may also cause VPNs between office networks to break halting work flow until the VPN is reinitiated.

Do not give up on these applications working properly

Today's broadband Internet circuits should be able to handle VoIP, video, VPNs and other time critical applications. Wiring within your home or office, software in use or equipment at your site can be the cause lost packets, latency and drops. The problem can also be your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Intermittent problems can be frustrating to solve as issues can be brief and difficult to diagnose at the precise moment of trouble. If you are convinced that it is your ISP and have gotten them involved, they may never be on site while you are experiencing intermittent problems. ISP technicians can be aggravating when they tell you there is nothing they can do since the circuit is working fine now.

Use an IP Packet Loss and Delay Test Tool to Find the Problem

An IP Packet Loss and Delay Test Tool (Test Tool) is designed to help VoIP providers find and eliminate the source of Internet packet loss, latency and outages causing problems with Hosted PBX and Hosted VoIP solutions. You do not need to be a service provider to use these tools and take advantage of the results. Some are free to use and will take less than a minute of your time to start monitoring on any public IP address of your choosing.

Test Tools enumerate and continuously ping each router between the Test Tool host and your IP address. They keep track of latency and packet loss within the network and specific to each router or hop along the way. If present, you can locate specific periods of packet loss and latency. From the reports, you will be able to determine whether the problem is happening only at your location or within the network of the ISP. If the ISP has a congested router causing latency or packet loss, you will know which router it is. This gives you power and knowledge for your next conversation with them.

Whether you are: 1) having trouble with your Internet applications, 2) about to deploy new Internet applications or 3) want to see if your ISP, wiring and equipment are delivering a quality Internet connection, spend less than a minute to follow the link below and start a report.

You are invited to use the HostMyCalls IP Packet Loss and Latency Test Tool for free. It is the same tool VoIP Providers use to find Internet problems. Once started, you will receive an e-mail explaining how to check the progress of your report. Use the Auto Refresh and get instants results while watching the latest data from your IP Address. You are also invited to check out our Hosted PBX - Hosted VoIP business communications service.