One of the most common worries businesses raise before switching to a cloud phone system is bandwidth. Will the internet connection handle the calls? Will voice quality suffer when the office is busy? The reassuring answer is that VoIP is surprisingly light on bandwidth — far lighter than streaming video or large downloads — and most modern Australian connections handle it with ease.

Still, getting the numbers right matters. In this guide we explain exactly how much bandwidth VoIP uses, how to calculate what your business needs, and how to make sure every call sounds crystal clear.

How much bandwidth does a single VoIP call use?

A typical VoIP call uses roughly 85 to 100 kilobits per second (Kbps) in each direction when you account for the audio codec and network overhead. That is a tiny amount of data. To put it in perspective, a single standard-definition video stream can use 30 to 40 times more bandwidth than one phone call.

Because calls use bandwidth in both directions at once, you need to plan for that capacity on both your upload and download speeds — and upload is usually the tighter constraint on Australian connections.

Calculating bandwidth for your business

The simple formula is:

Number of simultaneous calls × 100 Kbps = bandwidth required (each direction)

Here is how that scales for a typical office:

• 5 simultaneous calls ≈ 0.5 Mbps each way
• 10 simultaneous calls ≈ 1 Mbps each way
• 25 simultaneous calls ≈ 2.5 Mbps each way
• 50 simultaneous calls ≈ 5 Mbps each way

An important distinction: you size for simultaneous calls, not total staff. A 20-person office rarely has all 20 on the phone at once. A realistic estimate is that a third to a half of your team might be on a call during the busiest moments.

Why speed is only half the story

Raw download speed gets all the attention in NBN marketing, but for voice quality, three other factors matter just as much:

• Latency — the delay between speaking and being heard. Keep it under 150 milliseconds for natural conversation.
• Jitter — variation in how data packets arrive. High jitter causes choppy, robotic audio.
• Packet loss — data that never arrives, heard as words dropping out. Aim for well under 1%.

A connection can be fast and still deliver poor calls if latency, jitter or packet loss are high. This is why a stable connection beats a merely fast one for voice.

VoIP and the NBN: what Australian businesses should know

The NBN comfortably supports VoIP across all its common business plans. Even an entry-level plan provides far more capacity than a handful of simultaneous calls require. The bigger considerations are the type of connection and having a backup:

• Fibre-based connections (FTTP and FTTC) offer the most consistent performance for voice.
• Fixed wireless and satellite can work but may show higher latency and jitter, so quality of service settings matter more.
• A 4G or 5G failover keeps your phones running if the NBN drops — a major advantage of cloud phones, since calls can reroute automatically to mobiles or another site.

How to test your connection before you switch

1. Run a VoIP-specific speed test. Standard speed tests measure download speed; a VoIP test also measures jitter, latency and packet loss.
2. Test during your busy period. A connection that looks great at 7am may struggle at 11am when the whole office is online.
3. Check your upload speed. Many issues trace back to limited upload capacity rather than download.

Five ways to guarantee great call quality

• Prioritise voice traffic with Quality of Service (QoS) settings on your router so calls take priority over downloads.
• Use wired connections for desk phones where possible, rather than relying on Wi-Fi.
• Keep firmware updated on routers and handsets.
• Separate voice and data on a dedicated network or VLAN in larger offices.
• Add a failover connection so your phones survive an outage.

The bottom line

VoIP needs far less bandwidth than most businesses expect — around 100 Kbps per call. The real secret to flawless calls is not a huge connection, but a stable one with voice traffic given priority. For the vast majority of Australian businesses on the NBN, the infrastructure to run a professional cloud phone system is already in place.

Uniden Voice assesses your connection, configures QoS and sets up failover so your Voice Over Cloud system sounds great from day one. Get in touch for a free connection check.

Your business phone number is part of your brand. It is printed on your vehicles, sitting in customer phones, listed across hundreds of online directories and tied to years of marketing. So when companies consider moving to a modern cloud phone system, the first question is almost always the same: can I keep my existing number?

The good news is yes. Thanks to a process called number porting, Australian businesses can move their landline and mobile numbers to a VoIP system and keep them exactly as they are. In this guide we break down how porting works, how long it takes, what it costs and how to switch without dropping a single call.

What is phone number porting?

Number porting is the regulated process of transferring an existing phone number from one carrier to another. In Australia it is governed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Local Number Portability (LNP) rules, which give every business the right to take their number with them when they change providers.

When you port a number to a VoIP provider like Uniden Voice, the number stops being tied to a physical copper line and instead routes calls over the internet. To your customers, nothing changes — they dial the same number and reach you. Behind the scenes, your calls now travel across a flexible cloud network instead of ageing infrastructure.

Which numbers can you port?

Most Australian business numbers can be ported, including:

• Geographic landline numbers (such as 02, 03, 07 and 08 area codes)
• Mobile numbers (04 numbers)
• 1300 and 1800 inbound numbers
• 13 numbers

There are a few exceptions. Numbers that are part of a bundled service, in dispute, or already in the middle of another port request can be delayed. That is why it pays to confirm portability before you commit to a switch.

How long does porting take in Australia?

Timelines depend on the type of port:

• Simple ports (a single number with no complications) can often complete within a few business days.
• Complex ports (multiple numbers, hunt groups or numbers spread across services) typically take a few weeks because they require coordination between carriers.

The key thing to remember is that your old service stays active right up until the moment the port completes. A well-managed port flips your number over to the new system at an agreed time, so there is no window where customers cannot reach you.

What does it cost to port a number?

Porting fees vary by provider and number type, and some carriers waive them entirely as part of an onboarding package. The bigger financial picture is the ongoing saving: once your numbers live on a cloud platform, you remove line rental charges, slash call costs and stop paying for hardware you no longer need. For most businesses, those monthly savings dwarf any one-off porting fee within the first billing cycle or two.

Step by step: how to port your number to VoIP

1. Confirm your details. Gather a recent phone bill, your account number and the exact business name and address held by your current carrier. Porting fails most often because these details do not match.
2. Choose your new plan. Decide how many numbers, users and features you need on the new cloud system before the port begins.
3. Submit the port request. Your new provider lodges the request and manages the carrier-to-carrier coordination on your behalf.
4. Set up your system in parallel. While the port is in progress, configure your handsets, call routing, voicemail and auto-attendant so everything is ready to go live.
5. Go live. At the scheduled cutover, calls to your number start flowing through your new VoIP system — usually without you noticing a thing.

Common porting mistakes to avoid

• Cancelling your old service early. Never cancel the existing line yourself. Cancelling releases the number and can make it impossible to port. Let the port complete first.
• Mismatched account details. Even a small difference in the business name or address can reject a port. Match your current bill exactly.
• Porting during peak season. Where possible, schedule the cutover for a quieter period so any minor hiccups have minimal impact.

Keep your number, lose the limitations

Porting to VoIP is the rare upgrade that costs you nothing in continuity. Your customers keep dialling the same number, while your business gains the flexibility to take calls anywhere, scale lines up and down on demand, and add features that copper lines could never deliver.

At Uniden Voice, we manage the entire porting process for Australian businesses, from confirming portability to coordinating the cutover, so the move to Voice Over Cloud is smooth and downtime-free. Talk to our team to find out how easily your existing numbers can make the move.