Will VOIP chew up your download quota? What happens to calls if your downloads get shaped? Find out here.
Some readers have contacted us concerning the story we posted about Internode's new naked DSL plan. The biggest question you asked was about the nature of VOIP - given that naked means no "regular" phone service, the obvious question is how download quotas and data shaping will affect your calls.
Most VOIP services will use roughly 14MB per hour, according to one ISP we spoke to. So, the good news is that it's not going to affect your download quota drastically.
However, the bad news is that VOIP is not prioritised at a couple of the naked DSL providers we reviewed. This means you'll need to be careful about downloading while using your VOIP service.
Speaking with Internode's product manager Jim Kellett, we discussed an example where a customer uploads and downloads a big torrent file. He said "traffic will not be shaped under Nodephone" and that the VOIP data running through Internode "is 'prioritised' through central servers and not affected by shaping".
However, he said that with some other IPSs, you would potentially notice a great deal of 'lag', 'echoing' on calls during these peak downloading sessions.
At Amnet, a customer service rep told us in plain English that "there is a big problem with shaping" with naked-VOIP services. And that the VOIP service, "is almost unusable once the service is shaped". That rang a few alarm bells for us.
Because the issue is not widely raised, we think it's important that customers are aware of these potential VOIP issues.
In effect, customers could find it really, really annoying if they have reached their download quota halfway through the month and are shaped to 64kpbs - a speed less than ideal to run VOIP effectively.
At Exetel, a customer service rep told us that VOIP data "would run smoothly because data is not shaped each month". Excess data charges at $3 per gigabyte are charged instead. And chief technology officer of iinet, Greg Bader told us that VOIP traffic would not be counted towards your download quota.
When we referenced the gotalk website, the company dictates under its FAQ that all downloads are counted, including VOIP calls, "even when shaped". We have a sneaking suspscion that it means you're likely to find your VOIP calls slowed down to their shaped speed of 64kpbs, which is operating under less than ideal circumstances for making calls.