VOIP - shaped or unshaped ADSL?

[mietsiem]

Hi all

Is it best to use shaped or unshaped ADSL when using voip?
{I'll be calling internationally and don't want a 'bad connection'}

Hope you can help!

 

[stoke]

It's best to not use ADSL at all.
The unshaped is supposed to provide a better quality throughput, but if the internet is busy, sorry for you.

What you really need is a garauntee'd piece of bandwidth of of the SAT3 cable, which is never going to be a cost effective option.

So ... you may as well go ADSL shaped, cos it will have exactly the same problems during the day as the unshaped account.

 

[mietsiem]

Does it make a difference what time of day I'm 'calling'?

 

[HavocXphere]

Try to go unshaped if you can.

On shaped, Skype uses about 25% of my 384k line. Sounds horrible. Unshaped should be better.

 

[mietsiem]

Thanks HavocXphere!
Any suggestions on the ISP?

 

[HavocXphere]

Any suggestions on the ISP?

WebAfrica seems to be the ISP favoured by most on this forum. Oh, and I've not tried unshaped myself, I'm just saying it should technically be better.

 

[stoke]

Try to go unshaped if you can.

On shaped, Skype uses about 25% of my 384k line. Sounds horrible. Unshaped should be better.

HU?
You're implying that unshaped will use less bandwidth!
Wow.
In that case. If I get an unshaped account I'll be able to download a 2 GB file and only use perhaps 1.8GB?
No no no no no.

VOIP requires good LATENCY. Latency means a fast trip for the data to get there.
Unshaped accounts may provide the faster trip because they do not give HTTP data preference like shaped accounts do.

However, like I said, if the internet is busy, shaped or unshaped is not going to make a difference, and purchasing the more expensive unshaped account does not guarantee that you will get good latency.

To me, it's pointless spending more money on something that has no guarantee's that it will actually work better.

 

[celltech]

I have shaped at home & unshaped at work ...

Surely unshaped - works better.
Im using the same voip provider at home and at work

 

[Roman4604]

All depends if you use a local or international VoIP provider. Most local ones will relay the calls internationaly via their own leased circuits, thus you are only using local bw on your ADSL account (to get to their switch here in SA).