What is causing the static on my IP phone or VoIP system?
Posted on Thu, Jan 19, 2012 @ 08:12 AM
Up to Two Hours of Free VoIP Troubleshooting with an Atris Engineer. More information below.
Static (or hissing, popping, echoes, skipping, etc.) on an IP phone or system has many causes and there really is no one solution that can instantaneously fix the majority of these issues. In many cases, people spend most of their time trying to isolate what the problem actually is (not counting the time that they are panicking!). Solutions are still relatively complicated in any VoIP network but at least you have a starting point when you know what you are dealing with.
Do you need more bandwidth? This is the first thought that everyone has - if you don't have enough internet capacity, the flow of the voice packets will be interrupted and you could hear chatter and static. And the answer is . . . maybe, but it depends (really, really, really). There are a lot of other factors involved such as do you have VoIP or SIP, do you have a dedicated circuit for voice (i.e., only voice calls are on that connection) or are your data/internet and voice connections separate, do you have dumb switches or managed switches, do you have a firewalls (and if you do, are the settings correct?), etc. Adding more bandwidth by itself RARELY fixes a static issue.
Could this be my VoIP carrier, my SIP provider, my internet service, or something else OUTSIDE of my system? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Everything inside your system might be operating normally but the VoIP calls may be encountering interference outside of your offices. This is a frustrating situation because it requires you to simultaneously exclude your own network while having outside parties confirm the origination of the issue within their own platform (this is how the "it's not us, it must be you" starts).
Would a spike in traffic or excessive traffic on my network affect VoIP? Yes but again, don't jump to conclusions. If your organization experiences unusually large surges in data at specific times or only on some days, you may want to check if you have any business processes occuring at the same time. You can also ask check your network traffic to see if anyone (or maybe more than one) is downloading movies or streaming music. See if a pattern emerges and then, once identified, if you can have the traffic activity modified.
So the takeaway is that even if you've excluded many possibilities, this is not a 'deductive' thought process (i.e., "it's not an of these causes, so this other thing must be the problem"). When a particular cause is excluded, all it means is that one particular cause is not 'the' cause. And by the way, only exclude things when you are 100% sure they can be excluded - otherwise you'll create a 'busy' loop for yourself that just wastes your time and leads you down many false garden paths.
Atris will provide your organization with up to TWO HOURS of FREE TROUBLESHOOTING with an Atris VoIP engineer. We know how frustrated you are. Simply contact us at info@atris.biz or call our offices, provide some basic information about your systems and as much detail as you can about the problems you are experiencing (what it is, how it came about, when it occurs, any patterns, how your network is set up, who is your VoIP/telecom/internet provider and how are you receiving service, do you have VoIP or SIP, do you have separate voice and data networks, what are your internet speeds, etc.), and one of our network technicians will be happy to speak with you.