VoIP Connection Problems & Testing

I enjoy the cost-saving benefits of using VoIP services like Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, or Google Talk via truck stop hotspots and I’ve successfully convinced a whole herd of drivers to do the same. It should be noted, though, that not every Wi-Fi Internet connection is of sufficient speed or quality to support VoIP calls. These are the two primary problems:

* Satellite Internet Connection: Communication satellites are located in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles above the earth’s equator. It takes time, even at 186,000 miles per second, for the signal travel from the truck stop to the satellite and back to the relay station where a hard wired connection to the Internet is made. This delay, known as “latency”, has little effect on most Internet related activities but it wreaks havoc on voice communications.

* Slow Upload Speed: Internet connection bandwidth is generally configured to favor download speed. Sending a request for your email or a web page requires very little bandwidth whereas downloading your request might require quite a lot. This bandwidth differential can cause problems when you’re attempting to use a truck stop hotspot for VoIP calls because the alloted upload bandwidth might not prove sufficient. Sending upstreaming your voice requires as much bandwidth (or, in my case, more) as down-streaming the voice on the other end.

At any truck stop hotspot you can run a simple bandwidth test, using a service like Speakeasy, to discover download and upload For the most part, as long as the location isn’t too busy, you can get a good idea of the bandwidth available. Another testing option, more VoIP specific, is to visit a site like TestYourVoIP.com or VoipReview.org where you can get a fairly accurate idea of whether or not the current connection conditions will support VoIP calls. These sites measure the upload and download speeds but, beyond that, they also measure Quality of Service (QoS) issues like bandwidth jitter and packet dropping. (I’m hoping against hope that, as more and more drivers begin using VoIP services, truck stop hotspot operators incorporate QoS protocols that give priority to streaming technologies like VoIP.)