VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) with now over 3 million subscribers, the VoIP industry grew by more than 250 percent in 2005. Due to the immense increase in demand and ease of access to the services, the subscriptions are expected to tripe by 2006. Provided that the expansion in the VoIP industry continues, by 2009 we should expect the number of subscribers to increase nearly by ten times. However due to the sheer increase in the number of subscribers, a quality issue with regard to the audio of the service is imminent.
Customers interested in VoIP Phone service are moving away from conventional landline and are switching to VoIP software such as Skype. VoIP software is now available for mobile phones as well; this will increase the usage of VoIP services. The numbers of soft clients are increasing rapidly, as per recent estimates there are over 100 million Skype users around the world.
Various VoIP software customers have been experiencing low or poor voice quality, this is primarily due to their internet connections, PC’s and VoIP Phone systems itself. However, many soft clients have been putting up with the poor quality of the service because calls made via VoIP software are much cheaper than landline. In the following paragraphs, a few tips are provided that you should take into consideration to improve the audio quality and improve your experience with VoIP.
1. It is imperative that you use a high quality microphone instead of a cheap one, better the quality of the microphone more the chances of having a quality audio conversation. In case you are not considering a web broadcast or podcast, a mediocre microphone costing around about $30 will be good enough. However, you can also opt for headphones plus microphone headsets to enhance your experience with VoIP software.
2. It is not always the internet connection, due to which you experience low quality, it is important that your system’s RAM is idle to conduct audio conversation over the net. Idle RAM allows the system to process the audio signals at a faster rate. If you continue to experience poor quality then you should try closing some of the idle applications or perhaps change your VoIP software.
3. It is highly likely that you might be experiencing low quality due to your slow internet connectivity. If you have a Wi-Fi setup then there might be multiple users accessing the internet at the same time, hence reducing the bandwidth available to each user.
In case the above-mentioned tips do not solve your issue, then you might be experiencing issue like echo of a humming sound during the conversation. This probably might be due to an electric instrument interfering with the system’s interface.
Due to these issues, various VoIP service providers are now concentrating on VoIP hardware such as phone adapters or PSTN phones, which use dedicated networks. Besides the issue of poor quality, some customers are increasingly demanding emergency services such as 911 to be provide on VoIP networks.
