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Good Call Quality is determined primarily by LOW JITTER on the VoIP Path in the Broadband connection. Any HIGH JITTER (>50ms) will severely affect your VoIP Call Quality!

There are four parts to the VoIP path as follows:

  1. Your LAN (ATA, Modem, ISP 1st HOP "router")
    Any HIGH JITTER issues here will affect ANY VOIP provider. You may be stressing the bandwidth by running too many applications on your LAN; there may be a faulty modem or router; some wiring/plugs may be loose or degraded leading to low signal conditions. HIGH JITTER also usually happens with Cable where there are too many people on the shared cable (choppy upstream).

  2. Your ISP Network/Backbone (from ISP 2nd hop and all the other HOPS within the ISP network on the VoIP path ** BEFORE the Primus Network**)
    Any HIGH JITTER problem here and this will affect various services; VoIP, gaming etc. Note that depending on which HOP (router) where the HIGH JITTER is located, one VoIP service may work OK and another may not.

  3. The CONNECTION (peering point) between your ISP's network and Primus' network.
    Any HIGH JITTER problem here, and various people using TBB between their ISP and Primus will be affected. There may be several physically different connections between the two networks, so only VoIP Paths using the HIGH JITTER connections are affected.

  4. The Primus Network/Backbone and TBB servers
    If there are TBB general system issues, then this will obviously affect Call Quality. Although there are issues, perhaps once every 6 months, these rarely cause the constant problems that various TBB users keep complaining about which are generally related to HIGH JITTER in the other HOPS above!


For most users, the VoIP Path in each of the four sections descibed above has LOW JITTER - less than 60 ms - and these users have great Call Quality, perhaps with some intermittent static (general Internet "noise").

However, some users constantly have Call Quality problems, and these are usually attributable to the first three components in the VoIP path described above - meaning these problems are usually the result of a BAD ISP CONNECTION somewhere!!

PS: The description above applies to VoIP in general (all 3rd party VoIP providers and not just TBB).


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by canoe See Profile
last modified: 2006-04-28 14:24:12