Trying to track the call path through multiple networks, we uncovered something truly unexpected. As we followed the packets from the German operator, through a wholesale operator’s network to the subscribers’ Swedish home network and all the way back to Germany, we were startled to see our first international end-to-end VoIP call. In a twist of fate, the RTP packets never arrived at their destination. The culprit? The packets’ hop count was set too low for the planned journey, leading to the abrupt termination of communication at the wholesale carrier. Starting an 80 hop journey with a maximum hop count of 64 is like trying to drive from Berlin to Stockholm on a single charge of your car’s battery. You just won’t make it.

Now, why does this tale matter? For one, it defied the old norms of international calls, highlighting the unpredictability lurking within global networks. More importantly, it underscored the need for detailed and relevant data on RTP streams with unparalleled precision. Telecom professionals, aware of the havoc that silent calls wreak, understand the importance of such insights.

This gripping story encapsulates the essence of why your voice monitoring solution must offer comprehensive, data-driven insights. ‘Generic’ solutions fall short, unable to unveil the issues faced by subscribers and service providers alike.

In the upcoming article, I’ll unravel the limitations of conventional tools like Wireshark and Homer, paving the way to a carrier-grade solution. Let’s go on a journey into a world where every voice is heard, and mysteries are unraveled.

Steering Clear of Pitfalls: The Reality of Voice Monitoring

Ever found yourself in this scenario? “Our voice monitoring tool shows we’re good, but customers keep complaining about voice quality.” If you’ve been there, you’re not alone. We’ve had numerous CSPs reach out with similar frustrations. But let me be clear: in cases like these, ignorance is certainly not bliss.

Let’s dive into some pitfalls you need to be aware of and actively avoid, drawn from real-life cases that could be happening on your network right now.

Core Network Issue

A leading Israeli CSP faced connectivity problems between central and remote sites. While standard tools hinted at issues, it took in-depth RTP monitoring to reveal the root cause—a broken glass fiber cable. Imagine the productivity losses and customer dissatisfaction before this was discovered!

One-Way Voice 

Consider a medium-sized enterprise plagued by one-way voice troubles for months. The cause? “Zombie Streams” generated by a bug in their IP-PBX:

• RTP streams of previous calls sometimes just don‘t stop
• These “Zombie Streams” contain silence and persist for weeks and months (until the reboot of the IP-PBX)
• The receiver picks the stream that arrives first
• Packets of the other stream are discarded

These lingering streams caused chaos, with callers unable to hear the other side. Think about the impact on client relationships and operational costs.

Ghost Voices

Customers startled by unknown voices in their conversations—a nightmare scenario, right? This perplexing issue remained unresolved until packet recording exposed Cisco MGWs as the culprits. The vendor’s response? A nonchalant acknowledgment of a known bug. Imagine the frustration of both customers and the CSP involved.

Now, these examples barely scratch the surface. Countless other incidents plague networks daily, causing businesses significant harm. The sad reality is that most standard tools fall short of addressing such complexities. They merely skim the surface, focusing on RTCP while ignoring the actual RTP.

Let me be frank—many CSPs unknowingly invest in near-useless tools, wasting valuable time attempting to identify issues, all while frustrating their customers and hurting their bottom line.

Inadequate voice monitoring isn’t just a technical glitch; it’s a direct blow to your business. It hinders productivity, increases operational costs, and erodes customer trust. It’s time to shift gears and invest in solutions that dig deeper, tools that unravel the intricate layers of voice communication, ensuring seamless experiences for your customers and safeguarding your business’s reputation.

The Quest for Something Better: Elevating Voice Monitoring to New Heights

If you got to this point of the article, you’re keenly aware that ensuring top-notch voice service isn’t just a challenge; it’s a competitive necessity. Call quality, encompassing seamless service, pristine audio, and a lack of disruptions, stands as a pivotal competitive advantage. In today’s crowded market, customer satisfaction is the ultimate differentiator. If they’re not content, they’ll swiftly move on to a provider who delivers.

Now, the question lingers: have you considered a solution that comprehensively covers every facet of voice monitoring? It’s not just about availability; it’s about delving deep into the realms of call management and in-call quality. Imagine having access to precise data on any standards-based voice service, empowering you to ensure seamless operations through in-depth analysis of SIP and RTP traffic. Picture auto-detection of impairments like dropped and silent calls, enabling efficient performance optimization.

So, what should this ideal solution embody? Here are some fundamental characteristics:

• Dual visibility: It seamlessly merges cutting-edge media analytics with advanced signaling monitoring capabilities, fostering highly effective network operations at a minimal total cost of ownership (I’ll delve deeper into this in a minute!).
• Versatility: Imagine having a unified view of your entire voice network and service quality, facilitating applications from root cause analysis to comprehensive monitoring and reporting. Compatibility with all standard VoIP services, including VoLTE, VoWifi, IMS, IPX, NGN, and enterprise services, is non-negotiable.

• Accurate data: Relying on its own measurements, independent of potentially unreliable data from third-party systems, it provides a reliable foundation for strategic decisions.

• Network segmentation: Swiftly isolating network elements that are causing impairments, accelerates troubleshooting. It also enables the creation of customized statistics for individual customers, interconnection points, and network elements.

• Automated analysis: Root cause indicators are automatically identified, drastically reducing troubleshooting efforts and enhancing operational efficiency.

• KPIs for media analytics: Deep insights into actual RTP transmission quality and user experience provide invaluable data for continuous improvement.

• Scalability: A solution that’s not only scalable but also robust, ensures that your capabilities grow with your business demands.

Sounds hard to find? Couldn’t agree with you more. In fact, this is exactly why Voipfuture was established. Siemens engineers discovered that there were no tools to automatically detect RTP issues, so they set off to create their own tool. But that’s a story for another article. 

Adding One-to-One Results in a Value Greater Than Two

Ensuring crystal-clear calls isn’t just a priority—it’s a necessity. But here’s the catch: I’m not just talking about the standard fare of checking call establishment; I’m delving deep into a realm where call connectivity meets in-call quality (just as I promised in the previous section). Enter the concept of dual visibility—a game-changer in the world of voice services.

Traditionally, VoIP analytics often fixate on the control plane, focusing primarily on SIP signaling and call connectivity. It’s like ordering a product online—sure, the order is placed, but does the product meet expectations? Dual visibility, which encompasses both SIP signaling and RTP media control, paints the full picture of VoIP.

So, what exactly is dual visibility all about? Close one eye. You can still see your surroundings, but you have a reduced scope and everything appears “flat”. Now open both eyes. Not only do you now have a wider field of view, but you also get a sense of depth. With dual visibility on SIP and RTP, similar magic happens.

Here’s why dual visibility matters.

1. Understanding the evolution: In the realm of telephony, history tells a story of circuit switching and its inherent simplicity. A physical connection ensured audio transmission. Enter IP technology, and suddenly, data is split into packets, paving the way for more complexity. Monitoring each 20ms audio packet separately is a challenge. This complexity created the need for monitoring RTP media transmission. However, the industry’s focus on circuit-switching legacies led to a gap in media monitoring.

2. SIP signaling: SIP signaling, governed by Session Initiation Protocol, forms the backbone of call establishment in VoIP. It connects all parties over the internet, streamlining the call setup process. Monitoring SIP signaling provides critical insights such as call setup time and post-dial delay, ensuring successful call establishment and simplifying troubleshooting. When talking about SIP signaling, I feel it’s the right place and time to share with you the Phoneburner SIP story, where they wondered about failure to set up new calls during peak hours. In the end, they found that they didn’t buy enough channels from their service provider. While the traditional monitoring tools they used, such as Homer and Wireshark, were not able to explain their call quality issues, the cut-off effect was clearly visible in Qrystal, a carrier-grade advanced solution.

3. RTP media control: While SIP ensures connections, Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) transports audio over the internet. RTP media monitoring becomes pivotal in scenarios like silent calls, where the call is established, but audio is lost in transit. Dual visibility allows us to pinpoint such issues, understand where data is lost, and resolve problems efficiently.

4. The power of dual visibility: Dual visibility isn’t just about seeing both planes—it’s about understanding the interplay between them. While SIP signaling offers a broader context, RTP media control zooms in on specifics. Combining these perspectives equips us with a holistic understanding of the voice services we offer and the end-user experience. It’s not merely the sum of its parts; it’s an amplified understanding that simplifies issue detection and resolution.

Click here to uncover the full story of dual visibility and revolutionize your understanding of VoIP monitoring.

Before We Part: The Eureka Moment

Amidst the various insights explored in this article, there’s one that stands out—the pivotal role of superior voice quality for communication providers and their clientele. It’s not just a facet; it’s the very essence of seamless communication and customer loyalty.

In a landscape brimming with diverse voice monitoring tools, the ability to distinguish and ask the right questions becomes imperative. Not all solutions were created equal. This article underscores the necessity of advanced tools, a point vividly illustrated through real-life examples. The emphasis isn’t merely on sophistication, but on efficacy.

However, a solution is not just about its technical capacity. It’s also about simplicity, flexibility and scalability.

Crucially, voice monitoring solutions don’t just resonate technically; they directly impact the balance sheet. The return on investment materializes swiftly, often within a year. Moreover, the CAPEX remains low, thanks to standard carrier-grade server hardware or virtual machines, ushering in an era of cost-effective and operationally efficient voice monitoring. It’s not just about hearing; it’s about listening to the pulse of business, resonating with savings, efficacy, and unparalleled customer satisfaction.