Use the example below to calculate you voice/phone bandwidth requirements. If you plan to deploy your phones using a shared internet connection; for both voice and data that is, you will need to factor in the bandwidth your data network and computers will normally require as well. As a rule of thumb, it's always better to over estimate than under estimate.
1 active call = approximately 100 Kbps (upload and download)
10 active calls = approximately 1.0 Mbps (upload and download)
Additional information for geeks like us:
Actual bandwidth consumption depends on the codec being used. When calculating bandwidth we can't assume every channel is used at all times during a call. Normal phone conversations include a lot of silence, which often means little or no packets are sent. So even though a single voice call may initially set up two 64 Kbit RTP streams over UDP, over IP, over Ethernet (which adds overhead), the full bandwidth is not used at all times.
The following table shows how the codec's theoretical bandwidth usage expands with UDP/IP headers
| Codec | Bit Rate | Nominal Ethernet Bandwidth (one direction) |
| G.711 | 64 Kbps | 87.2 Kbps |
| G.729 |
8 Kbps | 31.2 Kbps |
| G.723.1 |
6.3 Kbps | 21.9 Kbps |
| G.723.1 | 5.3 Kbps | 20.8 Kbps |
| G.726 |
32 Kbps | 55.2 Kbps |
| G.726 |
24 Kbps | 47.2 Kbps |
| G.728 |
16 Kbps | 31.5 Kbps |
| G.722 | 64 Kbps | 87.2 Kbps |
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