Call Quality

I remember a friend calling me on VoIP around 15 years ago. The quality was awful, he had to call at least 5 times to get 1 minute of conversation through. 5 years ago, call quality had improved, 8 out of 10 calls were not bad. In the last few years, VoIP call quality has continued to improve to the point where there is almost no difference between quality in VoIP and landlines. I would go even further as to say that the quality of VoIP has surpassed mobile.

But what makes a good call?

Delay

The delay is the time it takes for the person you called to hear you. Usually, the farther the person is, the longer it takes to hear you. Most people on a call have a very bad perception of the delay. Between 0 and 300 milli seconds (0.3 seconds), people will say there is no delay. Between 300 and 450, people will say there is a noticeable delay, but it is not a problem, and estimate the delay at around half a second second. Between 500 and 750, they will say it is at least 1 second, and people start to be annoyed by the delay and can barely use it. Over 750, they will say there is a 2 second delay and the call is not a good experience. Both are constantly interrupting each other, it's hard to get a good flow in the conversation. Delays in VoIP calls can be measured and improved.

Volume

We asked users to rate 50 different call recordings. The most important factor determining their rating was volume. They rated low volume calls low and loud calls higher. That's the main reason we introduced our own volume adjustment recently.

Sound quality

We took the same calls and adjusted their volume to the same level and asked users to rate them again. Now the rating really focused on the quality of the sound. It's strange in this day and age, where TV has gone from HD to 3D that phone calls are just not following the pace. Mobile phone calls are just awful quality. Compression rates are brutal, having a high impact on the quality. Add a few packet loss and calls are sometimes barely audible. Dropped calls are common. People are used to it and don't complain enough. The technology is there to have high quality calls, but the carriers are too busy making profits to change their technology. Eventually, it will change. The change will probably come from VoIP where there is less technological constraints.

VoIP

VoIP calls also have their problems. The most important factor is the internet connection. The phone must have a good Internet connection. Using WiFi, the phone must be near the WiFi antenna and the Internet must not be congested to get quality calls. If the Internet is congested, there will be packet loss (sound glitches) or even worse, no sound at all. On 3G, the same problem can occur, often when the app is used in heavily crowded areas.

At Tribair, we work on all aspects of sound quality. Every phone call is measured. We constantly find our weaknesses and improve them. Since we launched, call quality has improved and will continue to improve drastically over the next few months. Stay posted for more info.