Taking Stock - Pitting VoIP Against POTS

Conquering new technologies is not an easy task especially when the incumbent technology has been around for ages. Pitting VoIP against POTS in this time of bandwagon jumping sounds great in theory, but to make it work as well or better than the legacy circuit becomes something of a challenge.

Voicing the Problem
Why are VoIP deployments difficult and subject to high failure rates? To start, let’s look at the obvious: POTS Quality of Service is unwavering. It’s crystal clear and reliable. VoIP’s QoS on the other hand is not particularly stable or jitter-free unless the proper mechanisms are in place. POTS runs on mature TDM technology with separate voice and data networks. VoIP travels on evolving packet technology that supports voice, video, and data all on the same network.

Since bandwidth is shared for voice, video and, data services, unless it is managed properly to divvy out the suitable amounts for voice -- transmissions will be jittery and certainly not high quality. Implementing a Traffic Prioritization methodology that supplies and adjusts bandwidth to match what is needed to provide QoS services is critical for VoIP success. In order for Traffic Prioritization to be effective, however, it requires accurate inventory data providing an end-to-end resources view.

The Customer Speaks
Another key aspect for VoIP success is Oversubscription Management-- keeping the optimum number of subscribers relative to network capacity. The sheer volume of new VoIP customers can be overwhelming and there needs to be a process to ensure that additional network capacity can be ramped up seamlessly when needed. Oversubscription Management ensures that a network is not being over burdened with too many users. Oversubscription Management also requires accurate inventory data to make it happen.

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