Can Your Bandwidth Handle a Shoretel Phone System?

When making the switch over to VoIP technology, bandwidth must be a key factor you evaluate during the transition. Reason being, the amount of bandwidth determines how many phone lines you can have as well as the call quality you will experience on those lines. In order to evaluate effectively, you have to know the amount of bandwidth you have as well as what you may need to implement a ShoreTel phone system.

How do I know how much bandwidth we use?

When you want to break things down to the actual amount of bandwidth you need per call, you need to know the codec, compression, and payload packet size. VoIP service providers and free online calculators can typically do these calculations for you, but you can expect about 30-90Kbps will be used per call. IP solutions like a ShoreTel phone system generate voice packets of 10-40ms. The number varies because of the vendor implementation within the packets where the digitized speech is uncompressed, compressed, then encrypted.

When bandwidth is calculated, three items are provided:

1. Upload Speed: This shows your capability of the connection in Mbps. It’s almost always a lower number than a download speed, reflecting the actual amount of bandwidth available.
2. Download Speed: The amount of data your connection can support in Mbps. If your upload speed is lower than the download, this number doesn’t matter. If it is higher than that is your bandwidth speed.
3. Ping: This is the length of time it takes your computer to communicate back to the server. During a VoIP phone call, it determines the delay between you and the other person you are speaking to. 

How much bandwidth do I need?

This varies depending on how many phone calls your connection can support at one time.  Most internet service providers deliver your connection with higher download speeds because those are more commonly used. Your VoIP service provider will inform you that a single call requires about 100Kbps (or 1/10^th Mbps) both up and down, and since you likely have slower upload speeds you can’t support 100 calls like the download speeds suggest. The realistic number of potential calls is closer to 10 or 20 per 100Kbps after taking the upload speeds into consideration.

The bandwidth our ShoreTel phone systems require for calling is just one factor in the decision to transition over to a VoIP solution, there are many other items to evaluate including monthly costs, product features and functionality as well as security

The amount of bandwidth that a VoIP provider requires for quality voice calls is only one factor to consider when making the transition to a VoIP solution. Educating yourself on the different services a provider supplies within their system is key to choosing the proper system for your organization.

At Matrix Networks, we work with you to deliver the best ShoreTel phone system for you based on your specific business and bandwidth needs. Contact us today to begin the process of implementing one of these powerful solutions at your business.