FAQs
What is Network Latency and why is it important?
Latency (sometimes referred to as Lag) is the time taken for a packet of information to perform a round trip, for example from a PC to a Web Server and back. Some applications such as email are not sensitive to latency because it does not matter if emails take a couple of seconds to travel back and forth. However, other applications such as Terminal Services and Citrix can perform horribly on networks with high latency.
What is Network Jitter and why is it important?
Jitter refers to changes in latency - variations in the delay in sending information back and forth. The greater these variations, the more unstable certain applications become.
A retail grade service might have fantastic download speeds, but might also be unusable for VOIP, videoconferencing, Citrix and other applications, due to latency, jitter, packet loss or other factors. This is because ADSL2+ and similar services optimise speed over signal quality.
Additionally, we guarantee the bandwidth included in our business-grade services, meaning that you will often get faster downloads from links even with slower quoted download speeds.
Contention is a measure of the ratio of installed links to available bandwidth. For example, 10 businesses each with a 1Mbit link, all sharing a 1Mbit of available bandwidth, would be contended at 10:1. Retail grade Internet connections are typically contended at around 50:1, and sometimes up to 100:1 from some cheaper ISPs. First Focus Private IP network links are all true business class and are contended at 1:1 throughout our whole network.
QoS or Quality of Service is a technology that allows bandwidth to be prioritised by application type; for example Voice Over IP traffic can be given a higher priority through the network than email or Internet browsing. To implement QoS properly, it is not sufficient to purchase a QoS capable router - You need to ensure that all routing devices from source to destination are QoS capable.
Do your Internet links support QoS?
Yes. The First Focus network core is built on powerful MPLS Routers that are fully QoS enabled, and the routers we supply with our broadband links also support QoS.
Do your Internet links support Voice Over IP?
Yes. All our Internet links comply with the highest levels of service, which fully support VOIP, videoconferencing and applications such as Citrix and terminal services.
I've heard that VOIP is unreliable, and the quality is poor. Is that correct?
It certainly can be. VOIP quality is largely dependent on the quality of the underlying network. Retail-grade network links are generally unable to deliver sufficient quality, which is why First Focus would only recommend business-grade network links for VOIP. If the links are ok, then there are a range of VOIP products that will reliably deliver superior call clarity.