Cable VoIP Sounds Better Than Some Landlines

A. G. Bell writes "A recent study that looked at the quality of phone calls came up with some surprising results. Ars Technica reports that while 'traditional' VoIP call quality lagged behind landlines, service from cable ISPs was much better because of their use of PacketCable: 'VoIP from the cable companies actually surpassed the traditional phone network in reliability, meaning that the service was more often available and connected calls without dropping them. Cable providers also led the way in audio quality; the top firm in Keynote's study actually turned in an MOS of 4.24, above most real phone networks.'"

Comments

depends a lot on the phone

[mytrip]

I have a Cisco 7960 at home and a polycom 601 at work and they both toast landlines. We sell voip systems based on asterisk and a lot of it depends on whether the phone is full duplex, half duplex, if you use a switch or a hub, your isp. My isp is time warner and is very good. My same phone on my moms comcast would suck at 6pm when it is congested. VOIP on a pri definitely rules though if you have a full duplex phone. even on speakerphone.

some pure...

[Morphine007]

...anecdotal evidence for you:

I'm using a Cogeco* VoIP phone, and it's awesome. It's clear as a bell, whereas the Bell POTS connection that I had previously had enough static on the line that it made it tremendously hard to hear the conversation. For the longest time I thought it was the handset...You can imagine my surprise when I switched over, used the same handset, and found that all that static had disappeared.

* - I don't work for Cogeco and frankly couldn't care less if they survived or went belly-up tomorrow... but they're a cable company and it fits with TFA...

Re:Surprising? No.

[ackthpt]

Given the bandwidth of a cable (or any other broadband) connection I don't see why this should be surprising. Since a standard phone line needs to be upgraded for ADSL anyway, clearly the throughput with VoIP should be better than POTS.

The analog bandwidth of a landline is sufficient for decent quality anyway. The most limiting factor is the poor microphone and speaker used in most of these. I've had some great phone calls over VoIP where I couldn't understand what the blazes the other party was saying and it was mostly chalked up to them using some awful little wireless job which picks up interference from everywhere and vox clipping.

VoIP on Cable I fully expect to come in 5.1 audio at some point, why the heck not? You've got the bandwidth and then some. The question: does anyone ever really need this will be buried in the relentless pursuit of More Toys.

"Hello, this is sylvia"
"mrs. blechman, this is the gas board. you are 3 months behind in your gas payments when can we expect a payment?"
(ulp) "HELLO? HELLO? Is there anyone there? HELLO?"

Re:I guess it depends where you do the study

[king-manic]

I lived in 3 different towns in NJ and one in CA and I think the landline has gone down like once in 25+ years. I've never had a landline to landline call dropped, ever. I didn't even think that was possible.

I have had the cable drop off dozens of times though as have most people I know. I'd rely on Verizon for VOIP in a second but I would trust Cablevision to deliver my email. If what they are saying is actually true on a national scale then I'm shocked.

Landlines in most areas are regulated. If their dropped calls/ 1000 rise above a certain level they get fines. Most areas are about 9-15 / 1000 before fines come into play. POTS are rarely fined.