Voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) is a technology that’s seeing greater implementation in businesses, but your connection is essential for stable service. For this reason, you need to know your internet speeds before you settle on a provider. VoIP test tools can also provide additional insights about your network’s health that can help you select and set up your VoIP system in a way that ensures maximum call quality.
As a general rule, most VoIP tests will provide you with the following information about your connection:
- Download: This shows how long it takes to transfer information from another server to your network. It affects your experience when doing anything online.
- Upload: The upload speed determines how long it takes to send data to another server and impacts video conferencing and VoIP calls.
- Ping: This test calculates how long it takes for your device to “talk” to the server. It measures latency or delay times during communication between devices.
- Jitter: During transmission, some data packets arrive out of order or are delayed, leading to dropped calls or inconsistent call quality.
We’ve compiled a list of the best VoIP test tools to help you test for all of these metrics. We’ve also included a free testing tool of our own that is easy to use and only requires that you click the “Start” button underneath the gauges. You can try it out below:
Once clicked, the download, upload, ping, and jitter gauges will start to fill. In addition, you’ll also be presented with your IP address, network provider, and the distance to the test server in kilometers. This test stands out when compared to other providers in this list, such as RingCentral and Nextiva, because it doesn’t require any additional software download to run.
Our VoIP speed test grants you the ability to ascertain your connection’s compatibility with VoIP systems quickly and easily and you can learn more about what these results mean for your business by visiting our more comprehensive VoIP speed test article. Still, our test is not the only option available. Larger businesses that expect to field several simultaneous calls may want to consider other VoIP tests. These may go by other names like quality of service test or VoIP network test but are essentially speed tests with some added functionality.
Here’s a quick and easy listing of a few alternative tests that you can use if your testing needs are more robust.
RingCentral Quality of Service Test
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Provides information based on simultaneous calls | You’ll have to download Visualware BCS to run the test |
| Allows you to test based on duration | It may take more than one attempt to get accurate info |
| Has multiple codecs to determine VoIP call quality | Data is only based on RingCentral’s service |
RingCentral is one of the best VoIP phone providers and makes it easy to tie both VoIP and unified communications together for a business. The RingCentral Quality of Service (QoS) test is particularly useful because it doesn’t only give you an impression of your connection speeds, but it also allows you to set download and upload bandwidth starting points in megabytes per second (Mbps) as well as set the codec you expect to use.
Source: RingCentral
The test also allows you to state how many simultaneous calls you will expect to be made at the location. This provides you with a quick reference so that you understand how multiple calls on a single connection could affect call quality. The test also provides you with both jitter and packet loss estimates measured in milliseconds (ms). These are important stats as they both affect the quality of calls and disconnection rates.
The two codecs provided for the test include one for higher quality, G.711, and another for lower call quality G.729.
Test Your Network With RingCentral
Nextiva VoIP Speed Test
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Provides five locations from which to test concurrent calls | You’ll have to download Visualware BCS to run the test |
| Simulates the number of VoIP lines | Data is only based on Nextiva’s service |
| Provides data about packet loss | |
Like RingCentral, Nextiva’s speed test for VoIP requires the Visualware BCS software to connect your network to the provider’s. Where Nextiva’s speed test differs is its “concurrent calls starting point” field. This allows you to establish a point of origin for your call that includes Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Phoenix.
Source: Nextiva
After selecting the starting point, Nextiva allows you to determine how many VoIP lines to simulate. In total, you can simulate up to 200 VoIP lines or as few as two, helping you understand how your VoIP network will respond to varying numbers of simultaneous lines. Once the test completes, Nextiva will calculate latency, download and upload speed, your IP address, packet loss, and jitter.
Test Your Network With Nextiva
8×8 VoIP Speed Test
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| This is a simplified test | Information about simultaneous connections not provided |
| Provides information about 8x8 hosts | Doesn’t give information about the distance to test server |
| Includes a guide about VoIP connections | |
| You can copy the information provided and share it with your information technology (IT) department | |
Out of the VoIP speed tests in this list, the most similar ones are 8×8, Ooma, OnSIP, and our own speed test. With 8×8’s test, you click a “Start” button, and the test immediately initiates. This is advantageous for nontech savvy small business owners because it generates the information without any software downloads and provides detailed information that will help the business owner make a decision.
The statistics provided include latency in milliseconds, download speed in megabytes per second, upload speed in megabytes per second, and jitter in milliseconds.
Source: 8×8
In addition to these details, you can also decide which 8×8 host you’ll be accessing for VoIP calls. These include servers in Ashburn, Virginia; Santa Clara, California; and London. The test also tells you which host you’re connected to, as well as your business internet service provider (ISP) and your current IP address.
Ooma VoIP Speed Test
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| This is a simplified test | The test is somewhat slow |
| Multiple hosts to choose | Doesn’t provide information about the distance to the test server |
| Included provider pricing data | |
| You can copy the information provided and share it on multiple platforms | |
As mentioned, Ooma has a pretty similar feel to both 8×8’s and Fit Small Business’ speed tests, but with Ooma, you have more hosts to select than 8×8’s. When we tested, we were granted access to two hosts in Secaucus, New Jersey, and several New York City-based hosts to simulate VoIP calls.
Like the others we mentioned, Ooma has listings for jitter, download, upload, and ping. Like 8×8, you can copy the link to share your results with your team. You’ll also be able to share the results on Twitter or Facebook. While Ooma doesn’t give you info about VoIP speed and your test results like 8×8, it does have a listing of monthly service rates and pricing if you decide to go with them as a provider.
OnSIP VoIP Test
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| This is a simplified test | You’re forced to provide company information before you can perform the test |
| Includes a guide about VoIP speed results | The test is somewhat slow |
| You can copy the information provided and share it on multiple platforms | No way to check speeds based on host servers |
OnSIP’s test is visually very similar to Ooma’s. It provides much of the same information, except there’s no way to select your host to test your speeds. Outside of this, you have the same readout of download, upload, ping, and jitter, and you can copy the results and share them to either Twitter or Facebook in a similar way to Ooma’s. It also features IP information as well as listing your ISP.
Source: OnSIP
Phone.com VoIP Speed Test
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| VoIP test provides very detailed information | You’ll have to download Visualware BCS to run the test |
| It calculates packet loss by percentage | There’s no method to simulate different host connections |
| It has details like the mean opinion score (MOS), which directly measures VoIP performance | |
The test at Phone.com is similar to Nextiva and RingCentral because it requires that you have the Visualware BCS client installed before you can run it. Still, once installed, the test provides multiple information points that will help you determine if your connection is suitable for Phone.com’s VoIP service.
In both graph and chart form, data is presented to tell you how well your connection would perform in several key VoIP criteria. For example, there’s a dedicated chart that highlights round-trip consistency to determine how well data will flow from your VoIP phone to your recipients’ and vice versa. While the info provided isn’t specific to the provider, it delivers some important statistics and tells you precisely if VoIP connections will be of good quality.
Test Your Network With Phone.com
Fusion Connect Speed Test Plus
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Provides five locations from which to test concurrent calls | You’ll have to download Visualware BCS to run the test |
| Simulates the number of VoIP lines | Data is only based on Nextiva’s service |
| Provides data about packet loss | |
The most unique feature of Fusion Connect’s system is that the speed test calculates call quality both to and from your call recipient. Like other tests in our guide, it gives you precise numbers for download, upload, latency (ping), and jitter. In addition to this, it also tells you the quality level of your line.
For those who want to understand how quality may differ based on factors like the time of day or extended internet or wi-fi traffic, the “Your Results History” tab will be very useful. With this, you can run multiple tests so that you have a larger sampling of speed data from which to make a choice.
Test Your Network With Fusion Connect
Bottom Line
Any business considering VoIP must take a speed test to ensure that their connection can handle the load that VoIP will present to your network. Knowing how much your network can handle helps you understand how many concurrent calls you can have over a VoIP connection and decide whether to upgrade your internet speed via your ISP.
While it’s important to ensure that you have the right hardware, such as VoIP phones and headsets, ensuring that you have the right connection for VoIP should never be overlooked.
