Does Fibe Home phone work like Copper?

[sdickers]

Hi, we're in the process of getting a home hub 4000 and fibre to the home, and we have a landline running on copper, which will be switched over to VOIP.

I've experienced good and bad VOIP in the past, and I'm wondering if anyone knows if the VOIP is (good) full-duplex, meaning you can talk and listen at the same time? Like the classic copper landlines do. Or is it the (less good) half-duplex, where if one person speaks and someone else interrupts, someone's getting cut off and it becomes that awkward back and forth negotiation of who should speak next? Like walkie-talkies or a bad Zoom meeting.

I couldn't find anything online, thanks in advance!

[Sams · Accepted solution]

Hi Sdickers,

I wouldn’t worry about the technology aspect of the fibre service but rather the choice of equipment you choose.

Full-duplex or half-duplex issues usually are related to the quality of product you buy. Most common issues with the can’t talk and listen at the same scenario you mention is when you are using equipment like speakerphone or software that will try to recognize your voice to not pickup that noise as background noise for background noise cancelling purposes.

Good quality phones or speakers you will be able to speak and listen at the same time. With lower quality equipment, you will hear no sound when the equipment picks up your voice sound (walkie talkie effect).

The other tip I can give you is make sure your equipment is connected to wired internet connection and not Wifi.

[sdickers]

Hey Sams, all good points for sure: the phone experience delivered by good voice infrastructure can only be as good as the equipment you're using. We've enjoyed good call quality with our cordless phones (and of course speakerphone mode has its tradeoffs). I wanted to be sure VOIP was as good as copper.

It's been a few days and I'm happy to report there's no quality difference that I can notice. No sketchy cheap VOIP here!

[Sams]

Hi @sdickers

Glad to hear it all worked out. Fibre optic cables are defiantly the way to go. I remember once reading the speed of copper cable is something like 50GBS compares to 40 TBpS for fibre. The difference is amazing.