VoIP audio issues: Fix crackling, lag, and dropouts in your calls

When your Voice over IP, a technology that sends voice calls over the internet instead of traditional phone lines. Also known as VoIP, it lets you make calls from your computer, phone, or app—but only if the audio stays clear. VoIP audio issues like crackling, delays, or sudden dropouts are not normal. They’re symptoms of something deeper: your network isn’t handling voice traffic the way it should. Unlike landlines, VoIP depends entirely on your internet connection. A weak Wi-Fi signal, crowded bandwidth, or misconfigured router can turn a simple conversation into a frustrating mess.

One common culprit is jitter, the variation in packet arrival times that causes audio to stutter or skip. If packets arrive too late or out of order, your call sounds like it’s breaking up. This often happens on Wi-Fi networks without WMM, Wi-Fi Multimedia, a standard that prioritizes voice traffic over other data. Without WMM enabled, your video stream or file download can drown out your voice. Then there’s latency, the delay between when you speak and when the other person hears it. Over 150 milliseconds, and people start talking over each other. High latency usually points to poor internet speed, too many devices on the network, or a router that doesn’t support QoS.

One-way audio—where you can hear the other person but they can’t hear you—is another frequent problem. It’s often tied to port forwarding, the process of opening specific ports on your router to let VoIP traffic through. If ports like 5060 (SIP) or 10000-20000 (RTP) are blocked, your call might connect but won’t carry audio in both directions. Firewalls, NAT issues, or outdated firmware on your VoIP phone or softphone app can also cause this. And don’t overlook your hardware: a cheap headset, a noisy room, or an overloaded CPU can add static or echo you didn’t ask for.

Fixing these issues doesn’t mean buying expensive gear. It means understanding what’s happening under the hood. You don’t need to be a network engineer—you just need to know where to look. Whether you’re working from home, running a small business, or managing a remote team, the solutions are practical and within reach. The posts below walk you through real fixes: how to configure WMM on your router, how to test your network for jitter, how to set up static IPs and port forwarding without guesswork, and why your codec settings might be killing your call quality. No fluff. No theory. Just what works.