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Latency, Jitter and Voice or Video Quality

Latency is round-trip delay; jitter is variance in packet arrival. Voice and video tolerate modest latency but choke on unstable jitter — the classic symptom is fine one minute, robotic the next while Speedtest still shows “900 Mbps”.

Next step: Pair clean internet with business-grade routers. Contact us if only one VLAN suffers dropouts.

Bufferbloat on cheap routers

Oversized queues on consumer CPE inflate latency under load. Smart queue algorithms (fq_codel / cake) or vendor “gaming modes” that actually shape upstream help — test with a large upload while on a voice call.

Wi-Fi is not the WAN

Mesh pods fix dead spots but add hops. Hardwire desk phones and APs where possible; separate guest SSIDs from voice SSIDs.

Carrier routing vs last mile

Traceroutes to your SIP provider or Teams edge reveal if problems are local or peering. Document evidence before accepting “must be your Wi-Fi” from tier-1 support.

QoS complements capacity

Mark EF/CS5 for RTP where your kit supports it — see QoS guide — but fix bufferbloat first or QoS fights itself.

Related guides

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