Deployment of VoIP Technology: QoS Concerns

Voice over IP (VoIP) is an emerging communication service allowing voice transmission over a private or a public IP network. VoIP allows significant benefits for customers and service providers including cost savings, phone and service portability, mobility, and the integration with other applications. Nevertheless, the deployment of the VoIP technology encounters many challenges such as interoperability issues, security issues, and QoS concerns. Among these disadvantages, QoS issues are considered the most serious due to the QoS problems that may arise on IP networks, and the stringent QoS requirements of voice traffic. The aim of this paper is carry out a deep analysis of the QoS concerns of the VoIP technology. Firstly, we present a brief overview about the VoIP technology. Then, we discuss the QoS issues related to the use of the IP networking technology for voice traffic transmission. After that, we present the QoS concerns related voice clarity. Finally, we present the QoS mechanisms proposed to make the IP technology able to support voice traffic QoS requirements in terms of voice clarity, voice packet delay, packet delay variation, and packet loss.