UPC Broadband Value, VoIP

flodis79

How stable is the 1mbit/128kbit Broadband Value from UPC/Chorus/NTL? Is it possible to use it for voice chat over Yahoo/MSN/ICQ and regular VoIP services such as the Betamax range? Planning to get that broadband service in Ringsend area, any experiences? How is the QoS? Can we expect 1mbit, or lower?

Planing to go for the €50 tv/phone/BB package - but seeing the specs on the BB are a bit low, which alternative packages in the same price bracket are there?

bk

flodis79 wrote: »

Planing to go for the €50 tv/phone/BB package - but seeing the specs on the BB are a bit low, which alternative packages in the same price bracket are there?

There isn't anything within €20 of this package from anyone else.

You'll end up paying €50 for just BB and phone, no TV from anyone else.

hightower1

flodis79 wrote: »

How stable is the 1mbit/128kbit Broadband Value from UPC/Chorus/NTL? Is it possible to use it for voice chat over Yahoo/MSN/ICQ and regular VoIP services such as the Betamax range? Planning to get that broadband service in Ringsend area, any experiences? How is the QoS? Can we expect 1mbit, or lower?

Planing to go for the €50 tv/phone/BB package - but seeing the specs on the BB are a bit low, which alternative packages in the same price bracket are there?

Idealy you'd like to get the 3mb pack on the broadband for use of voip, ringsend has good networking and very little line disturbence but perhaps paying the little extra for the 3mb line would be wise to avoid slow down

christophicus

What ??? I would have thought that 1Mb is more then good enough for Voip, it uses very little bandwidth, ping is much more important.

AntiVirus

It depends on the codec your using for voip. Here's a table I found on another forum.

http://forum.voxilla.com/voip-wiki/much-bandwidth-do-need-support-voip-23658.html

christophicus

Hmm thats interesting. I use Ventrilo alot and when i first started using it I looked into how much bandwidth it takes up and supposedly it is only about 8Kb for every voice stream. Vent's default codec is very good in terms of sound quality.

I would expect UPC/Blueface style VOIP to be of a higher quality, but I did not think there could be such a huge difference in bandwidth.

hightower1

see your bandwith does make a diff, pings are important but you need a good bandwith to avoid the packet loss

watty

UPC and Blueface are different systems.

Including packet overhead real use is 10k to 12k for an 8K codec such G.729 or iLBC and up to 100k for 64k G.711

Actual packet overheads for each codec depend on the codec framing vs network framing of your ISP and Internet. Mobile, DSL, LLU, Cable, Ripwave may thus use different overheads on basic codec speed. An ISP's dedicated ATA can also use header compression, not usually possible on 3rd party VOIP suppliers.

Also that is TWO way. i.e. the upload is typically the limiting factor.

ping is NOT that important. You may have problem with echo cancellers if it too high. Up to 100ms is workable. 860ms Satellite is possible. <70ms is nice. The biggest latency issue is not the actual ping time but variation (jitter). Speech codecs don't cope with jitter.

The other issue is packet loss. G.711 (100k typically) can cope with 10% and the speech is intelligible. At more than a few percent G.729 is useless because of the compression used. iLBC is desigend to be "internet friendly" so can cope with packet loss, but may rise to 16kbps or 20kbps rather than 10kbps or 12kbps. Still less than G.711.

You do of course need the same codec at both ends on peer to peer (IP calls or calls to customer of same provider by number). Calls by number outside of Internet need the same codec on your ATA and the provider's Voice/PSTN gateway.

UPC only use their own network and Gateway, so can in theory apply QOS to ensure low packet loss and low jitter. Blueface is a separate network, thus QOS can't be applied in same sense.

You also need to use same version of G.711 (uLaw = PCMU or ALaw PCMA) as the other end. A decent ATA will allow you define
1: G.729
2: iLBC
3: G.711 A
4: G.711 u
The set up phase will negotiate in that order. Fax or Analogue modem needs less than 1% packet loss and G.711 (T.38 doesn't work with any modem and only works with some Faxes and only if the Gateway AND the far end both support T38. The Analog Fax has to be supportive of T38, it's a TIF format file interchange with both ends of Internet simulating FAX machines, hence reason it only works actual Faxes and not many of them. Never enable T.38). A decent ATA automatically switchs to G.711 if it detects FAX/Modem tones.

So no/low packet loss G.729. Higher packet loss but better than 200kbps upstream G.711 (you have otherstuff too, so 128k up only barely works G.711).

stiofanD

flodis79 wrote: »

How stable is the 1mbit/128kbit Broadband Value from UPC/Chorus/NTL? Is it possible to use it for voice chat over Yahoo/MSN/ICQ and regular VoIP services such as the Betamax range? Planning to get that broadband service in Ringsend area, any experiences? How is the QoS? Can we expect 1mbit, or lower?

Planing to go for the €50 tv/phone/BB package - but seeing the specs on the BB are a bit low, which alternative packages in the same price bracket are there?

Can't speak for the 1mb package, but I have the 2mb/200kbps package from UPC and I use it for all my calls via blueface and various betamax providers. The bandwidth is perfectly adequate and call quality isn't affected unduly by simultaneous web surfing etc.

Unfortunately, I don't think they offer the 2mbps package any more - only 1, 6 or 12mbps