Bandwidth & QoS Requirements for Voice and Video Calls

Applies to:

The recommendations below are for optimum voice and video quality when using Wickr calling:

Direct Call: (one on one)

• Audio-only:
  • 128k up
  • 128k down
• SD video:
  • 1M up
  • 800k down
• HD video:
  • 1.7M up
  • 1.5M down
• Screen sharing:
  • 1.5M up
  • 1.5M down

Group Call:

• Audio-only:
  • 128k up
  • 384k down
• SD video:
  • 1M up
  • 1.4M down
• HD video:
  • 1.6M up
  • 2M down
• Screen sharing:
  • 1.5M up
  • 1.5M down

QoS with Enterprise:

Quality of Service (QoS) is a network optimization technique to ensure your Wickr real-time communication (RTC) traffic is prioritized.  Real-time communication data is the media payload that is sensitive to delay and other network impediments.  This traffic must be prioritized within network infrastructure devices over other non RTC traffic like file downloads and web traffic where delay isn’t a critical concern.

QoS is best achieved when it is implemented from end-to-end across the network.  There are multiple ways this can be achieved:

• Access Control Lists: ACLs can be used on your network’s infrastructure devices to port-tag traffic. This is an effective method because it is end-device agnostic and takes a more centralized network approach to prioritize traffic.  In practice, a router would examine the media payload destination port range, recognize RTC traffic, and prioritize with DSCP markings.  See table below for recommended DSCP markings
• Windows Group Policy Object – For Windows-based, domain-joined desktop clients, a GPO can be set to insert DSCP marking at the end-user application. This DSCP marking will then be recognized by any downstream hop network infrastructure devices

Other considerations:

VPN: Virtual Private Networks encapsulate network traffic and add delay, which can be detrimental to Wickr voice and video traffic.  VPNs should be avoided whenever possible when using Wickr.  Furthermore, Wickr is designed to provide data in transit protection without the need for a VPN.