These tests simulate the data transmission of a VoIP call over your network, typically measuring latency, jitter, upload speed, and download speed. When tested together, these results can give you a strong sense of what calls will be like for your team.
Whether you’re interested in installing a VoIP system, making network changes, or troubleshooting a problem, a speed test takes less than 30 seconds.
Three free VoIP speed test options
There are dozens of free speed tests out there. All three are great because they come from reputable business phone services.
I encourage you to try these three — you can also explore other free options.
1. RingCentral’s free VoIP speed test
RingCentral is one of the best business communication solutions on the market. Trusted by more than 400,000+ organizations worldwide, its VoIP technology powers everything from small business phone systems to contact centers, all-in-one communications suites, and everything in between.
More on RingCentral: Review of Ring Central | Ring Central vs. Dial Pad.
His Free VoIP Speed Test One of the most advanced options you can find. Although the test takes a little longer to run, you’ll get a lot of details that others don’t provide.
Before you begin, set the number of simultaneous calls that can be played on your network. I recommend conservatively estimating your excess, as this ensures your network can handle the worst-case scenario.
You will be able to set test call duration from one to five minutes. The more tests you run, the more likely you are to spot potential problems. Two minutes is usually enough.
It also gives you the option to experiment with different VoIP codecs. If you’re not sure what this means, you can leave it at the default selection.
The test measures latency and packet loss. Your audit summary will be color coded (green, yellow and red) for all metrics so you can quickly see where you passed or failed.
This is all based on RingCentral’s recommendation of less than 30 ms jitter and less than 1% packet loss.
However, the best part is the MOS (Mean Opinion Score). This is a simple 1-5 rating scale, with 5 being the best possible score. If you want a quick answer, you can ignore everything else and just look at that number—if it’s a 4 or 5, you’re safe to move on.
The main limitation of this test is that it only lets you test 50 concurrent calls. While this is sufficient for most businesses, other free tests support up to 200.
Also, you have to install a plugin to run it. It’s completely safe to do so and you can remove it when you’re done.
2. Nextiva Network Quality Speed Test Tool
Nextiva is another industry leader in the world of VoIP phone systems and business communications. It’s a great choice for startups, scaling teams, and enterprise organizations that want to prioritize customer engagement.
More on Nextiva: Nextiva Review | Nextiva vs. Ring Central.
Nextiva’s VoIP Speed Test It’s also completely free, but takes less time than RingCentral.
Like RingCentral, you’ll need to install a plugin to run it. It is completely secure and takes few seconds to install.
One of the more unique aspects of this test is the ability to choose the origin of the call. This can be helpful if you have clients or offices across the country.
This can improve the accuracy of your results, and you can run the test multiple times from different locations to simulate calls from across the country. You might be surprised how location and distance affect your results.
I also like that Nextiva lets you test up to 200 calls simultaneously (compared to only 50 with RingCentral).
Nextiva’s test shows latency, download speed, upload speed, your IP address, packet loss, and jitter. According to Nextiva’s guidelines, packet loss should be 0%. Shake and ping (or Network latency) should both be less than 70 ms.
3. Ooma Free VoIP Speed Test
Ooma is a great alternative for traditional office spaces that require a physical desk phone. Its plug-and-play hardware makes it easy for even small teams to get started in less than an hour.
More on Oma: Oma review | Oma vs Ring Central.
His Free VoIP Speed Test is the easiest of the three. It takes less than 30 seconds to run and does not require downloading any plugins.
Despite its simplicity, you’ll find all the essential information you need to determine whether or not your network can handle VoIP calls.
The test measures ping, jitter, download speed, and upload speed. You can also change the host location and run multiple tests to see how your results vary based on location.
But the simplicity of this tool has a few drawbacks. For one, it doesn’t actually tell you how to read the results — although you can find that elsewhere on Ooma’s site. Here’s the answer so you don’t have to go on a scavenger hunt: jitter should be less than 30ms and latency (ping) less than 150ms.
For two, Oma doesn’t let you run tests for concurrent calls. You’ll have to do some math to figure out if your network is strong enough.
It recommends 256 kbps of upstream and downstream per call. If you think your office will have four simultaneous calls, your upload and download speeds should be at least 1,024.
Finally, it doesn’t measure packet loss so you’ll have to use another option if you think that will be a problem.
Tips for running a VoIP speed test
While VoIP speed testing is relatively easy, there are some tricks you can use to ensure accuracy and get the most out of your results.
Run the test at different times of the day.
If you run the same test multiple times throughout the day, you’re likely to get different results. This is a good thing because it increases the accuracy of your results.
Running a test at 5am in an empty office is very different from 2pm when dozens of people are using devices on your network. Some tests actually recommend having an idle internet connection (no other applications are being used) when running a VoIP speed test.
But it may not tell you the whole picture. Using a redundant connection doesn’t really simulate a real-world scenario.
At any given time, there are likely to be other devices on your network.
I also generally think it’s best to run my tests when network traffic is heaviest to simulate a real experience. You can also test your speed when the connection is idle as a baseline, but make sure you’re also testing throughout the day to see how those results change.
Test from different locations in your office.
Proximity to your router can affect your VoIP speed test results. You can start by running the test as closely as possible to simulate the best possible connection.
After that, you should go further by covering different rooms and floors if you have them.
See: See Best VoIP Routers. Is your name on the list?
Simulate a large number of simultaneous calls.
What is the maximum possible number of concurrent calls you can have at any given time? I recommend testing to that extent, but also taking it a step further.
At this point you might have a small office with only ten employees, each with their own line.
But what happens in six months when you do a second round of employment? Or next year when you have dozens of employees calling and making calls throughout the day? Testing at high demand tells you whether or not your network can handle the growth.
It also shows you what might happen in a peak situation or if you have guests.
Ask remote workers to test their home networks.
Every network is different, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to find that home networks will be different from your office. Thus, it is a good idea to run a test from each individual’s home to simulate call quality.
Fortunately, it is very easy. All you have to do is send them a link to the speed test you want them to run and ask them to take a screenshot of your results.
If the connection is unstable, you can troubleshoot from there to determine if they need different hardware, a more powerful plan, or a new Internet service provider.
Test periodically, even after you’ve deployed your VoIP system
While your initial VoIP speed test should be fairly accurate, things change.
It’s possible that your network configuration has been updated or that your ISP is throttling your connection. It’s also possible that you have more devices than you initially expected. To make matters worse, employees may not say anything even if they are experiencing poor call quality.
Running a new test every few months can help catch problems before they become major problems.
Even if you’re still getting “passing” scores, you can compare them to your original results to see if the new tests are headed in the wrong direction.