You need dedication for effective VoIP
This country’s telecommunications costs are among the highest in the world and for this reason many firms have been investigating Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, which routes telephone calls over existing data lines.
For years, analysts have talked about a phenomenon known as convergence, which is essentially the bringing together of computer systems and telecommunications systems.
Companies can save money by using their existing computer networks to route their telecommunications traffic.
A data network linking a company’s offices in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, for example, can be used to carry telephone calls between those branches, thereby eliminating the need to use Telkom or cellular companies’ networks.
However, people using VoIP in big organisations have been consistently disappointed by the low quality of the calls.
Jacques du Toit, group executive at Orion Telecom, says: “Many people, particularly those in large organisations, are unhappy with the call quality on VoIP networks.
“Although its lower cost makes VoIP very attractive to companies, business communications need to be clear and not disturbed by jitter on the line or delays or drop-outs in calls.”
There are several reasons for poor clarity on VoIP. Voice calls are routed over the same networks as data and they have to fight for the same space.
But on any VoIP network the voice call takes priority and this generally means that the transfer of data for other services, such as the Internet and e-mail, slows down.
When the network is congested, the quality of the voice call is also affected.
VoIP takes the voice traffic on a network and breaks it up into data packets. Intelligent software assesses these packets and works out how best to get them to the intended recipient — the person who answers the phone.
Because the voice is broken up into these packets, they can be routed in whatever ways the software thinks is the most expedient.
A call between Durban and Cape Town, for example, may be routed via Bloemfontein and Johannesburg at the same time.
“This makes it much more secure than a traditional telephone line, but organisations should still do everything they can to ensure their networks are fully secure,” says du Toit.
“Most organisations are attracted to VoIP because it can drastically slash their telephone bill. However, many try to run their VoIP services over contended networks — networks they share with other organisations.
“You really need a high-speed dedicated link to handle VoIP traffic; one that isn’t battling for space with other data services.
“There will come a time when VoIP will be widespread among South African organisations but that will only happen when bandwidth costs come down. Although the South African telecommunications market is being deregulated slowly, costs are still too high. Increased competition, however, should see the price of bandwidth drop in the future.”
Du Toit adds that IT departments within organisations often clash over how networks are used.
“The people who run the telecommunications services fight with the people who run the data services over the company networks,” he says.
Neither side wants their service compromised in any way but, unfortunately, overloaded networks interrupt both data and voice services.”
Du Toit adds that VoIP is a widely accepted and used technology in developed economies. The reason for this is that bandwidth costs are low and dedicated VoIP networks are relatively cheap to deploy.
“Good examples of how VoIP technology has caught on in the consumer environment are services like Skype and Google Talk. These allow people all over the world to talk over existing broadband connections free.
“However, these connections are not reliable and you can easily hear that the voice quality is not as good as that over regular telephone networks. It’s good enough for domestic use, but it would be very difficult to sustain serious business communications with voice quality that low.”
Du Toit points out that big organisations do not have to throw out their existing switchboard systems to use VoIP.
“Old switchboards that are not VoIP-enabled can be updated. Many South African organisations initially felt let down by VoIP technology; expectations outran performance.
“However, many have learned valuable lessons and will start running the VoIP service over dedicated networks, thereby deriving the greatest benefit,” he said.
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