Measuring Up - Testing and Analysis

As the VoIP parade marches on, SPs are clamoring for their share of the increasingly crowded market. According to a February report by the Telecommunications Industry Association, active VoIP lines in the United States have increased from around 50,000 in 1999 to 6.5 million at the end of 2004. The same study predicted this number to grow to 9.9 million by the end of 2005, and approach 26 million by 2008. While this count may still seem small compared to wireless and traditional wireline services (each of these technologies is estimated to currently boast over 175 million accounts in the U.S. alone), the gap is closing. With new technology and greater convergence, this gap is likely to narrow as subscribers opt for VoIP technology.

In spite of its massive upsurge in popularity, many consumers remain leery of VoIP. While some avoid the service based on confusion about the unfamiliar technology or concerns about emergency services, many are simply afraid that the QoS is not going to be up to par. Some have less-than-fond memories of older services, which hardly provided suitable call quality. Others have had run-ins with delay, jitter, lost data, or other problems to which many VoIP services are prone. In order to overcome these shortfalls and retain customers, many of whom may have a few jitters of their own about the new technology, SPs have to be Johnny-on-the-spot when it comes to identifying, isolating, and solving problems at every step of the way. Enter Testing and Analysis solutions.

Stefan Pracht, product marketing manager for Agilent’s OSS Group points out the need for monitoring in the face of increasing call complexity. According to Pracht, a traditional POTS telephone call, traveling over standard copper wire, involves something in the ballpark of five signal messages between the point of origin and the end receiver. A run-of-the-mill VoIP call ups that to around twenty-five messages. SIP? At least fifty messages. In fact, some of the next-gen SIP push-to-talk walkie-talkies may require up to 1,000 messages in a single call. That’s a lot of cracks through which any amount of data is prey to fall.

And what happens when there isn’t anyone around to patch the crack and maintain positive QoS? The customer may drop the VoIP service and rush back into the waiting arms of a legacy system, or pick up another VoIP service who claims to maintain superior QoS, or opt for any other combination of voice services, provided they are lured by the promise of a better customer experience.

It benefits SPs to retain VoIP customers once they have them. Paul Capozzoli, OSSG product manager for Agilent, points out that VoIP firms may have to spend up to $300 for every new customer they recruit. Given that many VoIP providers only recoup $20 to $40 of that per month, the SP has to hang onto the customer for months, or even years, to turn a profit. Therefore providers are better off maintaining positive relationships with customers once they have them aboard.

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