Impact of Handover on VoIP Speech Quality in WiMAX Networks

VoIP is one of the most emerging technologies in the area of speech communications. VoIP is widely deployed in fixed line access networks. However, user’s requirements on the mobility within communication and on the quality of the speech communications are increasing. Therefore, VoIP technology is more and more integrated into broadband wireless networks with QoS support such as WiMAX. The latest version of WiMAX standard, based on IEEE 802.16e, has implemented a full mobility support. The mobility is allowed due to a handover procedure. IEEE 802.16e specifies only one mandatory handover procedure: hard handover. This handover type is easy to implement, but it increases end-to-end packet delay that is critical for delay sensitive services such as VoIP. This paper evaluates an impact of the handover on the speech quality in VoIP networks.