VoIP Hacks: Ping Test

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems usually work just fine and rarely are there issues that don’t have very obvious reasons. Like your internet being down.  But what do you do when the problem is not so obvious? Your VoIP provider is claiming innocence and telling you to call your Internet Service Provider (ISP)… Your ISP is saying its your VoIP provider…

One quick way to rule out your ISP is to do a ping test.

• Start a call on your VoIP phone.
• Open the “Command Prompt” (if you’re in linux you already know how to do this)
  • Windows users: from the Start Menu, search for “Command Prompt”
    • Type “ping www.google.com -t” and hit Enter/Return –  Let this run.
  • Mac users: open the Terminal application
    • Type “ping www.google.com” and hit Enter/Return –  Let this run.
• The screen should look like the picture above and it should add a new line every second or so.
• The Time value should be pretty consistent and ideally under 100ms.
• While talking on the phone, if you are experiencing the quality issues while those numbers are staying consistent, then the problem is most likely with your VoIP provider.
• But, if your quality issues correspond with variations in the Time value, or you are having timeout errors appear in the results then the issue is almost certainly with your ISP.  Ate the very least it is not your VoIP provider.

 Because this test will only expose problems with your connection to the internet it can only really rule out your VoIP provider as the problem.  Your ISP will still be able to accuse your network equipment of creating the problem.  It is often a prudent step to swap out our Cable Modem or DSL with a more trusted device if your ISP is still denying responsibility.