Choosing Server
From VoIP.ms Wiki
Contents |
Choosing a Server
VoIP.ms offers 13 different servers, but which one should you choose? One misconception is that you should pick the closest to your location, however this is not needed most of the time, for example, if you are in the USA any of the US servers will provide a really good latency and service quality, you may also want to know that there is a network tool that will help you when deciding which server you want to use, we refer to "ping", which will provide you the latency between you and the server, therefore the server which provides you less latency, should be used.
Atlanta, GA: atlanta.voip.ms Chicago, IL: chicago.voip.ms Dallas, TX: dallas.voip.ms Houston, TX: houston.voip.ms Los Angeles, CA: losangeles.voip.ms New York, NY: newyork.voip.ms Seattle, WA: seattle.voip.ms Tampa, FL: tampa.voip.ms Montreal 2,QC: montreal2.voip.ms Toronto 2, ON: toronto2.voip.ms Montreal,QC: montreal.voip.ms Toronto, ON: toronto.voip.ms London, UK: london.voip.ms
What is a Ping?
Ping it is a standard tool, used to test network connections. Mostly used to determine if a server or device can be reached across the network and the latency of the response.(the time it takes to send a packet to the destination and for it to return to your computer)
Ping tools are part of Windows, Mac OS X and Linux as well as some routers.
How does the ping work?
It sends request messages to a target network address or DNS names at periodic intervals and measure the time it takes for a response message to arrive and return.(better known as latency).
How to ping
By opening the console in your operative system, you only need to simple write the command "ping" followed by the IP address or DNS name that we are testing.
The following is the output of running ping with the target losangeles.voip.ms.
#ping losangeles.voip.ms Ping to losangeles.voip.ms [67.215.241.250] with 32 bytes de datos: Response from 67.215.241.250: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=52 Response from 67.215.241.250: bytes=32 time=69ms TTL=52 Response from 67.215.241.250: bytes=32 time=68ms TTL=52 Response from 67.215.241.250: bytes=32 time=67ms TTL=52 ping statistics from 67.215.241.250: 4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet lost. rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 67ms, 69ms, 67ms
Latency and its importance
Latency is the time between the moment a voice packet is transmitted and the moment it reaches its destination. It of course leads to delay and finally to echo. It is caused by slow network links.
There are two ways latency is measured: one direction and round trip. One direction latency is the time taken for the packet to travel one way from the source to the destination. Round-trip latency is the time taken for the packet to travel to and from the destination, back to the source. In fact, it is not the same packet that travels back, but an acknowledgement.
Latency is measured in milliseconds (ms) - thousandths of seconds. A latency of 150ms is barely noticeable so is acceptable. Higher than that, quality starts to suffer. When it gets higher than 300 ms, it becomes unacceptable.
Here are the effects of latency over voice quality:
It slows down your phone conversations Untimeliness can results in overlapping noises, with one speaker interrupting the other Causes echo Disturbs synchronization between voice and other data types, especially during video conferencing
Other stuff that can affect VoIP Quality
Quality and reliability were the two darkest spots on VoIP's reputation for the past years. Now, in many cases, gone are the days when using VoIP was like testing walkie-talkies! There has been much improvement. But still, people are very finicky about voice quality in VoIP because they are used for years to the impeccable quality of landline phones. Here are the main things that affect voice quality in VoIP and what can be done to maximize quality.
Bandwidth
Your Internet connection always tops the list of factors affecting voice quality in VoIP conversations. The bandwidth you have for VoIP is the key for voice quality. For instance, if you have dial-up connection, don’t expect great quality. A broadband connection will work right, as long as it is not spotty, and not shared with too many other communication applications. Bandwidth dependency is besides one of the main drawbacks of VoIP.
Equipment
The VoIP hardware equipment you use can greatly impact on your quality. Poor quality equipment are normally the cheapest ones (but not always!). It is therefore always good to have as much information as possible on an ATA, router or IP phone before investing on it and starting to use it. Read reviews and discuss about it in forums. It might also be that the hardware you choose is the best in the world, but still you get problems - because you are not using hardware that suits your needs.
ATA/Router
For an ATA/Router, you need to think of the following:
Compression technologies (codecs) supported Echo cancellation, which is a mechanism for decreasing echo Firewall and security support Phone frequencies The frequency of your IP phone may cause interference with other VoIP equipment. There are many cases where people using 5.8 GHz phones have been getting voice quality problems. When all troubleshooting tricks failed, changing the phone to one with a lower frequency (e.g. 2.4 GHz) solved the problem.
Weather Conditions
At times, the voice is terribly distorted by something called static, which is a small 'dirty-weed' static electricity generated on broadband lines due to thunderstorms, heavy rain, strong gusts, electrical impulses etc. This static is not very much noticeable when you surf the net or download files, which is why we don’t complain about it when we use the Internet for data despite it be here; but when you are listening to voice, it becomes disturbing. It is easy to get rid of static: unplug your hardware (ATA, router or phone) and plug it back again. The static will be brought to naught.
The effect of weather conditions on your connection is not something you can change. You can have some short-term relief in some cases, but most of the time, it is up to your service provider to do something. At times, changing the cables solves the problem completely, but this can be costly.
Location of your hardware
Interference is a poison for voice quality during voice communication. Often, VoIP equipment interfere with each other thus producing noise and other problems. For example, if your ATA is too close to your broadband router, you might experience voice quality problems. This is caused by electrical feedback. Try moving them away from each other to get rid of the garbled calls, echoes, dropped calls etc.
Compression: the codec used
VoIP transmits voice data packets in a compressed form, so that the load to be transmitted is lighter. The compression software used for this are called codec’s. Some codecs are good while others are less good. Put simply, each codec is designed for a specific use. If a codec is used for a communication need other than that for which it is meant, quality will suffer. Read more on codecs here.
QoS and VoIP
QoS stands for Quality of Service. QoS is an important tool for VoIP success. Through the years QoS mechanisms have become more and more sophisticated. Now, you can have QoS mechanisms for small LANs up to giant networks.
How to Achieve QoS?
On a personal (small scale) level, QoS is set at router level. If you want to enforce QoS policies in your network, make sure you use a router which is equipped with QoS software, which you can use to configure the quality of service you require.
