The rate at which data is carried over the internet from one point to another in a given time period (usually a second).

• Requirement: ≈100kbps up/down for each active call
• Upload: This is what the other person hears. Audio is uploaded in real-time from your phone to our cloud using your internet connection's upload speed. The upload connection is more prone to call quality issues because upload bandwidth is less available on many internet connection types.
• Download: This is what you hear. Audio is downloaded in real-time from our cloud to your phone using your internet connection’s download speed.
• While the bandwidth requirement is minimal, you need to consider how many calls are taking place simultaneously at any given time to ensure call quality is maintained.
  • For example, if there were 10 phone calls happening at the same time, your bandwidth requirement would be 1000kbps up/down (10 calls x 100kbps per call). Not only that, consider what other types of internet activity (file transfers, video streaming, internet browsing, etc.) are taking place on every computer or mobile device within your network.
• Each device is fighting for bandwidth so if you don’t have enough available, Quality of Service (QoS) can be implemented to help dedicate bandwidth to phones during periods when internet usage may be saturating your connection.

The average time it takes packets (audio) to travel from Point A (phone) to Point B (our cloud) and back. Many people, including internet service providers (ISP), only consider bandwidth when evaluating internet speeds. However, that is only half the picture. Bandwidth only shows how much internet traffic that can be pushed through; where latency shows how fast that traffic arrives at its destination. Think about driving on the freeway. Bandwidth represents the number of lanes that are available—if you have more lanes, more traffic can be pushed through and the likelihood of a traffic jam is reduced. Latency represents how fast you drive—it doesn’t matter how many lanes there are if other things are slowing you down (inclement weather, gravel, potholes, etc.).

• Requirement: <100ms, use a ping test to analyze latency

The change in the amount of time it takes for one packet (audio) to move from Point A (phone) to Point B (our cloud). When you are checking your email or casually browsing the web, it doesn’t really matter when packets arrive or if they arrive in order—in most cases you will never notice. But when you are streaming media, like a phone call, this packet precision becomes extremely important. If there is excessive jitter, packets will be dropped and call quality will be affected.

• Requirement: <10ms, jitter close to 0ms is ideal, but it should not exceed 10ms

The percentage of packets (audio) lost while traveling from Point A (phone) to Point B (our cloud). If packets are lost, audio will be dropped and the sound quality will be compromised.

• Requirement: <0.5%