Mobile VoIP allows business professionals to stay connected without needing a traditional phone line. This is an invaluable communication tool for professionals who regularly travel or need to work remotely.
However, you should be aware of some challenges to implementing mobile VoIP. Here are some: choppy audio, poor bandwidth, and more.
Poor Audio Quality
One of the most frustrating problems with VoIP is choppy voice and audio. This occurs when words drop out or sound robotic. Various issues, such as an unstable internet connection or a lack of bandwidth, can cause it. It can also be due to other applications running on your network that use many resources. Try shutting down applications or putting them on a separate virtual LAN (VLAN) to optimize performance.
Another common issue is echo during calls. This happens when two devices don’t communicate with each other properly, which is usually caused by a firewall that disrupts internal and VoIP traffic. This can be fixed by disabling SIP ALG, which will open ports to allow data packets to pass through.
Reliability Issues
VoIP phone cell phone calls require a reliable internet connection to function. If the link is interrupted or slow, it can affect the quality of a call or even result in a dropped call, which can be very disruptive for a business, especially in a customer-facing environment.
To prevent issues with reliability, start by connecting to the internet via Ethernet and avoid using Wi-Fi, as it can cause jitter and echo. Also, ensure you have the latest firmware updates on your routers and check that the DHCP is configured to prioritize VoIP traffic.
If these steps don’t resolve the problem, try disconnecting and reconnecting each device on your network to isolate the issue. Lastly, check with your VoIP provider to see if they have any troubleshooting tips or recommendations.
Call Waiting
The most obvious and frustrating VoIP problem is poor call quality. It’s easier to conduct a professional business call when the voice breaks, lags and stops altogether.
Alternatively, calls can go straight to voicemail, which is disruptive and can directly impact productivity and customer satisfaction. Thankfully, one of the biggest problems is also one of the easiest to fix.
Often, this issue occurs because of routers that are inhibiting data packets. You can resolve this by re-configuring your routers to facilitate longer UDP timeouts or changing the gadgets to TCP instead of UDP.
Call Forwarding
If your employees use VoIP mobile phones, they need a reliable data connection. If the network is weak, calls might drop or have poor quality. This can be a major issue in remote locations or when traveling abroad.
Latency is another common VoIP phone problem. It occurs when data packets are delayed by network congestion or slow internet connections. You can reduce latency by shutting down extra unused VoIP devices, turning off heavy-on-resource applications or ensuring your routers give priority to VoIP traffic.
Call forwarding is a useful tool that helps you avoid missing important business calls. It lets you redirect calls to a team member or your number. You can use a desktop or VoIP mobile app to set up a call forwarding rule.
Voicemail
VoIP mobile phones enable businesses to keep their costs down by adding a phone plan to their existing cellular phone. This way, international calls are billed at low local rates, and business travelers avoid roaming charges.
Unlike regular smartphones, VoIP mobile phones provide additional features that increase productivity and efficiency in the office. These include call forwarding, voicemail-to-text transcription, auto-reply, group broadcast SMS and separation of work and personal contacts.
One of the most frustrating VoIP issues is when a call goes straight to voicemail instead of ringing. While this may seem harmless, missed calls can significantly impact your professional image and productivity. The good news is that this issue is usually easily fixed by simple steps. For example, you can reduce network congestion by shutting off extra unused systems or limiting the bandwidth used by high-resource applications such as streaming videos.