Advice on solving internet speed issues + VoIP connectivity

Hello everyone,

New to the Tech Guy, apologies if I'm posting in the wrong forum.

Our company is running a VoIP phone system across all locations, and our agents have indicated that calls are either being dropped when on hold or transferred or our customers are unable to hear our agents due to audio distortion. Our PBX provider, as well as our own analysis, has indicated that this pertains to poor upload speeds/connectivity.

The location that is experiencing the issues is in an area that is essentially a black-hole for ISPs. We are currently with Telus, receiving the best package possible considering our area and distance from the CO. We are supposed to be receiving 15mbps down and 1mbps up, however, we end up getting anywhere from 8-14mbps down and 0.52 to 0.84 up. We are unable to upgrade to a higher speed, and Fiber Optic is 3-6 months out at their best guess, more likely 6-12 months out. The technicians they have been sending have been unable to alleviate the issue. I've been unsuccessful in finding an alternate provider since our location doesn't have the required infrastructure for Shaw, and most other providers charge significantly higher for lower speeds since they are renting/licensing the larger ISPs' infrastructure.

We are currently looking at a provider (WiBand) who may be able to install a tower relay that will transmit the internet via the relays from a main point that has Fiber Optic installed. The internet speeds proposed are 25mbps down and 5mbps up which aligns with what we would like, however, the cost is significant. We're feeling a little stuck as we need to have more reliable service, however, since we are not scaling up our sales department in that location we are hard-pressed to take on the switching costs.

Overall, I'm looking for any advice or recommendations on how we may secure our internet speeds to improve reliability. Should we continue working with Telus and see if they could install a dedicated line? My concern is that with the 2 VoIP phones in that office, even 0.52 should be enough. I don't want to have to get a separate internet for each phone and then the office internet on top of that as it would triple our monthly cost. It would still be cheaper than switching to WiBand, though it is not the ideal solution. WiBand had mentioned something pertaining to our firewall and that it could be affecting our phones' connectivity, though this crosses into areas outside of my familiarity with IT.

Any information that anyone may provide is greatly appreciated. I tried to be comprehensive regarding our situation, though please let me know if you will need additional details to provide a solution or advice.

 

Our PBX provider said that, given the issues that the location in question is facing (audio distortion on our side, calls disconnecting when placed on hold or transferred to the location), they believe it to be a bandwidth issue. They noted that our other locations are not experiencing the same issue and have sufficient bandwidth, and they have been unable to detect any issues from the server. Unfortunately that is all the information we have been given.

 

We are using internet on the same connection, however, our agents are only using our sales & CRM software via the web interface. I'm unsure how much of a drain that would place on upload. Would our next best alternative be acquiring a dedicated line for the phones? Would 0.52-0.84mbps upload be enough for two?