Abstract

As the modern worker is connecting to more networks in more places than ever before, it becomes critically important to utilize the services of a cloud communications provider that invests in technologies that optimizes quality of service for real-time communications. This is particularly important because network conditions may sometimes be less than ideal, or users can be switching/transitioning across different types of networks. Packet loss, delay and jitter, as well as other impairments can often be present and can potentially degrade voice quality. To deliver high-quality voice communication in the face of such conditions requires proprietary technologies and a deep understanding of the quality impairments that can affect users across different connections and clients.

8x8 commissioned Tolly to compare the voice quality of 8x8 Virtual Office in both “On net” (cloud-based VoIP-to-VoIP) and VoIP to public switched telephone networks (PSTN) environments. In the first scenario both users were cloud-connected. In the latter scenario, one user was cloud-connected while the other was connected to the traditional public telephone network.

Tests compared the 8x8 solution to Google Voice/Hangouts, RingCentral Office, and Microsoft Skype for Business Online and were run using four different client OS pairs: Apple iOS, Google Android, Apple Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

The 8x8 solution delivered the best voice quality in a majority of the test cases - across scenarios, client platforms and impairment conditions. In cases where 8x8 did not have the highest quality scores, its results were generally in line with the other solutions tested. In call continuity tests, 8x8 recovered calls in all test scenarios.