Desk phones sound choppy. Pings to the voice server swing from very quick to very slow, and a file copy still completes. Which problem is the swinging delay?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
The call is not stuck in one slow lane, because the lane keeps changing speed and voice cannot tolerate that wobble. You are looking at jitter. A delay that stays high has a different name, a port that bounces is a different fault, and a name lookup does not make a ping time swing.
Full Explanation
Jitter is variation in delay. Voice and video need packets to arrive on a steady rhythm, so a ping time that swings from very quick to very slow matches choppy calls even when a file copy, which can wait and retry, still finishes. Steady high latency would make every ping slow by a similar amount. The stem's delay keeps changing, so the name for a constant delay does not fit. Port flapping is a link that goes up and down. A flapping port drops the connection rather than merely changing the ping time while traffic still completes. DNS failure would stop a name from resolving. Pings to the voice server are already getting answers, so the server is being reached and DNS is not the swinging delay. Exam caveat: jitter and packet loss often travel together. This stem gives you the changing delay, so name that first. Operational check: capture the ping times, then look for congestion or a saturated link on the path to the voice server. Note the low and high ping times in the ticket so the next tech sees variation rather than a single slow sample.