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Cloud Net network upgraded for improved call quality

The quality of the Cloud Net network was already high but a recent planned upgrade gave the opportunity to allow us to hardwire into our ISP network.

VoIP works by translating voice into digital packets and then sending them over the Internet to their final destination where they are converted back to voice that you can hear. As the packets travel toward their destination they have to pass from network to network. Crossing a network connection is called a hop

Tier-1 ISPs are considered the largest and usually the best type of Internet access providers because there is only one hop between the tier-1 ISP network and the end-user's network. It isn't unusual for packets travelling through the Internet to go through 15, 20, or more hops from source to destination. Every hop brings with it added delays – and delays are bad for voice quality.

So anything we can do to reduce the number of hops has to be good. We had a planned upgrade to the hardware installing some new switching equipment and this allowed us to run a cable into the heart of the ISP network.

This has now meant that Cloud Net is hardwired into both the public switched telephone network (the one that BT use) and the Internet and that simply adds up to more reliability and even better voice quality. And that has to be good.