Internet Requirements for VoIP Dialers (Voice over Internet Protocol) VoIP phone service require a high speed internet connection with adequate and consistent bandwidth to have consistently high quality calls.
Minimum Requirements:
To determine your internet bandwidth, you may quickly perform a test at this website: https://www.speedtest.net
Click the “Begin Test” button. It first tests your “Ping”, then your “Download Speed”, and finally your “Upload Speed”.
Ping: Should be less than 90 ms Download: You need at least 1.5 megabytes (mbps) per user for each of our Dialers or if you have our Business VoIP Phone Service, you need 1.0 megabytes (mbps) for each IP Phone. Wireless and satellite internet connections may or may not work well, depending on their signal strength. Wired connections are the best.
Firewall & Router/Modem & Anti-Virus Management
Firewalls are used to protect your network and computers from outside attacks, viruses, malware, etc. To use VoIP technology, you will need to open the following ports on your firewall/modem/router: Port 5060 TCP and UDP Port 5004 UDP Port 3478 and 3479 UDP for stun Server Port 16348-32768 UDP (RTP, RTCP multimedia Streaming) In addition, if you are running Windows Firewall on your PC, you may have to open the above ports.
Routers & Modems are hardware used to distribute network traffic and bandwidth. Most internet services provide you with a router/modem combination. If you do have a router/modem combination, you cannot also have a separate router. If your modem does not have a router built in, you will need a separate router. If you do need a router, we recommend Cisco Linksys, as they are designed to work well with VoIP. Note: Some modems/routers do not work well (or do not work at all) with VoIP. (You may need to ask your internet provider if your modem is VoIP compatible.)
Anti-Virus software that we recommend is included free: “Windows Security Essentials” with Windows 7 and “Windows Defender” with Windows 8. Some other anti-virus software (such as Norton, AVG, Kaspersky, Sophos, Avast, Trend Micro, Web Root, and McAfee) may block or degrade your VoIP service, but they can often be unblocked by making an exception for our VoIP software. Contact us if you need clarification or assistance. You may need to engage an outside PC or network technician.
Dedicated or Shared Internet Service
Other simultaneous activities (traffic) by you or other people (such as web browsing, audio and video file streaming, uploading and downloading files, watching YouTube, etc.) that are using the same internet service can greatly reduce the available bandwidth for your dialer, thus possibly reducing the quality of your VoIP calls. In addition, if your internet service provider shares the same service with other people or companies in your neighborhood or building, your service can be diminished at any time if any of those other people are using a lot of bandwidth. When there is not enough bandwidth available, you will notice an increase in the time it takes to view web pages, download files, etc. But when VoIP voice “packets” slow down, the quality of the calls get “choppy” or “echo”, or simply drop. If your bandwidth is inadequate for high quality sound, we recommend getting higher bandwidth and/or using a Quality of Service (QOS) router. If you have numerous VoIP phones as well as numerous employees using their computers on the internet, we recommend getting a separate (dedicated) internet connection for your VoIP and another for your other internet uses.