Technology buffs revel in their indiscernible language and are often thrilled to death to use acronyms that leave the common listener scratching their head and considering bodily harm. QoS (Quality Of Service) is not some high tech or magic system, and in the case of VoIP is shaky at best.

 

QoS Is Important In Communications

 

VoIP is a relatively new technology, so there is bound to be a wide range of issues that will need to be worked out of course. However, QoS is always of priority concern for communication systems. Humans need to communicate with each other, whether we really want to or not, no man is an island, after all. We have to check on our friends and family, we have appointments to make or cancel, and we have to complete business transactions. No one is going to hop in the car to drive to Timbuktu for that trendy knit hat, even if that was geographically plausible. And no one is going to consider going back to the Pony Express days to conduct business, so our communication needs have to keep up, while maintaining QoS.

 

QoS Criteria For VoIP

 

One of the major downfalls of the VoIP QoS is the drop out of voices caused by IP packets being lost or delayed in the network. The more congested or busy a network, the more likely this is to happen. The same is true when the distance between the two users is larger. The farther apart your call partner is, the more likely you will have drop out of voice, or dropped calls. New routing methods may alleviate this, and as more and more networks are established, this issue should decrease.

 

Other important criteria for VoIP QoS are: latency and jitter. Latency is the delay for packet delivery and jitter is the variations in delay of packet delivery. Packet loss and discards due to jitter tend to occur in bursts

 

Other VoIP QoS Considerations

 

Similar to all communication systems, a lack of service will occur during power outage. For this reason, VoIP providers always ensure that a backup power source is provided.

 

Some VoIP services may not offer directory assistance which is also a part of QoS standard. This, at worst, will cause only minor inconvenience. Other QoS considerations are for system and network integration with other digital systems such as the digital television and home security systems.