A stable network connection between the Aircall application and the media servers is key to having good call quality. Instability can easily impact quality, and one common source of instability is the local network between:

  • The device running the Aircall application, and

  • The machine giving access to the internet (often a router)

There is a quick way to check if the local network is generally unstable: the ping command.

Aircall provides separate articles for Windows and Mac, as the syntax is slightly different. Follow the steps below if you are using Aircall on Mac.

Run the local network test

1. Open Terminal

Steps

  1. Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock.

  2. Type Terminal in the search field.

  3. Click Terminal.

A Terminal window will open.

2. Find your default gateway (router IP)

In the Terminal window, type:

route -n get default

You should see an output similar to the one below, including a line with gateway.

Image showing the expected output


Write down the IP address shown in the gateway field. In the next steps, we will refer to this value as A.B.C.D.

3. Run the ping test to your router

Use the IP address from the previous step (A.B.C.D) in the following command:

ping -t 180 A.B.C.D | tee Documents/pingRouterTest.txt

Then wait around 3 minutes (the 180 seconds shown in the command above).

A file called pingRouterTest.txt will be created in the Documents folder of the user running the command.

Understand the results

Open the pingRouterTest.txt file in your Documents folder and review the following:

  • Time values per line

    • Look at the time= values in each line (at the end of the line).

    • Ensure they have similar values; small fluctuations of a few dozen milliseconds are fine.

    • This means packets from the router are taking roughly the same amount of time to arrive and the transmission is uniform, which is good for call quality.

    • If you see big changes, transmission is irregular and will introduce jitter, usually perceived as distortion in the audio.

  • Are the times too long?

    • When pinging the router from within the local network, the time values should be only a few milliseconds.

    • If you see larger values, there is delay in the transmission, which will cause latency in the call audio.

  • Packet loss count

    • At the bottom of the file (typically the second line from the bottom), check the packet loss value.

    • This value should be zero.

    • If it is not zero, some packets are getting lost in transit. For call audio, this means parts of the voice are lost and the audio will sound choppy.

If packet loss is zero and the time values are low and roughly the same, you can rule out local network transmission problems as the source of your bad call quality.

Suggestions

If the local network connection is wireless (usually Wi-Fi), run the tests again using Ethernet.

  • You will need an Ethernet cable and possibly an adapter.

  • If test results are good over Ethernet but not over Wi-Fi, the Wi-Fi stability or signal strength needs improving.

If the results are also bad over Ethernet, the problem will usually lie in the router itself.

  • As a first step, try rebooting the router outside of business hours.

For more information, please see Improving Wi-Fi performance in home and small office environments.