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Cisco Unified IP Phone 7931G Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8.0 (SCCP and SIP)
OL-20798-01
Chapter 9      Troubleshooting and Maintenance
  Monitoring the Voice Quality of Calls
Using Voice Quality Metrics
To use the metrics for monitoring voice quality, note the typical scores under normal conditions of zero 
packet loss, and use the metrics as a baseline for comparison. 
It is important to distinguish significant changes from random changes in metrics. Significant changes 
are scores that change about 0.2 MOS or greater and persist in calls that last longer than 30 seconds. 
Conceal Ratio changes should indicate greater than 3 percent frame loss. 
MOS LQK scores can vary based on the codec that the Cisco Unified IP Phone uses. The following 
codecs provide these maximum MOS LQK scores under normal conditions with zero frame loss:
 • G.711 codec gives 4.5 score
 • G.729A/ AB gives 3.8 score
 • G.728/iLBC gives 3.9 score
Note • CVTQ does not support wideband (7 kHz) speech codecs, as ITU has not defined the extension of 
the technique to wideband. Therefore, MOS scores that correspond to G.711 performance are 
reported for G.722 calls to allow basic quality monitoring, rather than not reporting an MOS score. 
 • Reporting G.711-scale MOS scores for wideband calls through the use of CVTQ allows basic quality 
classifications to be indicated as good/normal or bad/abnormal. Calls with high scores (approximately 
4.5) indicate high quality/low packet loss, and lower scores (approximately 3.5) indicate low quality/high 
packet loss.
 • Unlike MOS, the Conceal Ratio and Concealed Seconds metrics remain valid and useful for both 
wideband and narrowband calls.
A Conceal Ratio of zero indicates that the IP network is delivering frames and packets on time with 
no loss.
Troubleshooting Tips
When you observe significant and persistent changes to metrics, use Table 9 -4 for general 
troubleshooting information.
Table 9-4 Changes to Voice Quality Metrics
Metric Change Condition
MOS LQK scores 
decrease significantly
Network impairment from packet loss or high jitter:
 • Average MOS LQK decreases could indicate widespread and 
uniform impairment.
 • Individual MOS LQK decreases indicate bursty impairment.
Cross-check with Conceal Ratio and Conceal Seconds for evidence of packet 
loss and jitter.
MOS LQK scores 
decrease significantly
 • Check to see if the phone is using a different codec than expected (RxType 
and TxType).
 • Check to see if the MOS LQK version changed after a firmware upgrade.