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DAILY NEWS
Aug 29, 2006 10:18 AM
Internet Phone Quality Improving, Montreal Firm Says
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VoIP phone service now sounds better and connects faster than the standard public-switched phone network (PSTN), according to data collected over the last 12 months in a standards-based, single-ended service quality test system.
Minacom is a privately owned company, based in Montreal. Founded in 1996 by Michel Nadeau, the company provides solutions for telcos and cable MSOs, spanning Voice, VoIP, Video, Fax, Modem, Internet and Mobile Services. Its products and services are used by over 60 service providers worldwide, serving over 20 million subscribers.
The company's test results show that VoIP service quality increased steadily over the last year, with an average Mean Opinion Score (MOS) of 4.2, compared to 3.9 for the PSTN - MOS is a scale commonly used to describe speech quality, ranging from 1 (worst) to 5 (best).
Based on a MOS threshold of 3.6, only 1 out of 50 calls in North America were considered to be unacceptable - 1 in 10 worldwide - while greater than 85% of VoIP calls exceeded average PSTN quality over the same period.
Detailed results show that VoIP service bettered PSTN quality worldwide, and improved in all regions over the course of the survey. In addition to superior sound quality, calls over VoIP connected quicker overall - 8.2 seconds on average, compared to 8.9 seconds for those placed over the PSTN.
Regionally, the PSTN was faster to connect for calls placed to North America (4.3 seconds vs. 5.7 for VoIP), while international calls connected faster with VoIP (8.7 vs. 10.4 seconds for PSTN). Linear regression indicates that VoIP is closing the gap, connecting 2 seconds faster in July 2006 than a year earlier.
A recent Internet Phone quality study by Brix Networks indicated that 1 in 5 calls were classified as unacceptable, and that call quality was steadily declining. As this study may have created the impression that VoIP service is not capable of delivering PSTN-grade phone service, Minacom felt it should be clarified for both those in the VoIP industry, and individuals and enterprises considering VoIP service, that this report evaluated computer-to-computer (PC-PC) Internet phone service, similar to those offered by Skype, Google Talk, MSN and Yahoo Messenger.
The quality and service reliability of these applications does not compare to that of the VoIP phone services offered by telcos, cable operators, and broadband VoIP providers who carefully deploy, monitor and manage the quality of their services. PC-PC VoIP quality is subject to many diverse impairments, including firewall settings, computer performance, antivirus installations, high-compression codecs, and Internet bandwidth shared with gaming, file downloads, web surfing and email. By contrast, VoIP offered by service providers is switched using telecom grade equipment, uses lower-compression codecs, and is prioritized over regular Internet traffic using sophisticated, standards-based multimedia telephone adapters (MTAs), maintained and monitored by the operator.
Minacom's tests were conducted over PSTN, managed broadband and cable VoIP lines, the same services offered to residential and enterprise customers by phone, cable and hosted VoIP providers. Each month, Minacom's PowerProbe 6000 service level test probe places hundreds of calls from Minacom's QoS labs in Montreal to public destinations worldwide over PSTN, broadband VoIP, cable VoIP, DSL, FTTP and wireless networks, publishing the results in a free email newsletter now in its fourth year of circulation.
The results shown in this current study are based on the data published in these reports over a one year period from July 2005 to July 2006.
Minacom builds Service Level Test Systems for Telcos and Cable MSOs, and Internet Telephony Service Providers. Minacom's automated test systems help maintain the integrity and quality of large-scale multi-service deployments, including Voice, VoIP, IPTV, Caller ID, Voicemail, Conferencing, Fax, Dial-Up Modem, Video Conferencing, and IP Services from Ping and DNS to Audio & Video RTP Streaming.
Minacom systems are web-controlled by a centralized server platform that integrates years of operational experience into test setups, test strategies and result analysis rules used by over operators worldwide including at&t, Comcast, France Telecom, Liberty Global, Primus, Orange, Clearwire, VSNL and Bellsouth, as well as softswitch manufacturers such as Siemens, Cedar Point and Ericsson.
