Spirent Communications and Signals Research Group (SRG) revealed their findings on Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) which enables calls to be made via Wi-Fi connectivity using the phone's native dialler, and which offers switch-over to VoLTE (or circuit switched voice) when users move out of the Wi-Fi coverage area. The research was aimed at studying the seamless-ness of the VoWiFi service and its ability to deliver the expected user experience.
"By and large, we found that VoWi-Fi is as good or as bad as the underlying Wi-Fi network. Without question, the call quality was much better and more consistent with a residential Wi-Fi access point in a controlled environment and with minimal network traffic. With public Wi-Fi access points, the consumer needs to be more forgiving, especially in areas where other Wi-Fi users like to congregate", said Michael Thelander, the President of Signals Research Group.
The research saw SRG working with Spirent using both residential and public venue access points including those at a major convention center and at an international airport lounge. Amongst others, the tests involved the analysis of the impact of network loading and comparisons with VoLTE, 3G HD Voice, and Skype and call hand-offs between VoWi-Fi and VoLTE to determine what, if any, challenges exist with respect to network interoperability, said Spirent and SRG.
