Can FirstNet LEO satellite carry voice calls and Microsoft Teams meetings?

Question

Accepted Answer

Yes. With typical latency of around 50 to 80 ms, FirstNet's Eutelsat OneWeb LEO service supports VoIP, video conferencing and cloud applications at business grade, and pairs with FirstNet's cloud PBX.

Latency is the reason. Traditional geostationary satellites orbit much farther from Earth, which adds delay that makes conversations awkward. Low-Earth-orbit satellites are much closer, so round trips are short enough for real-time voice and video.

What the service offers:
- Typical latency of around 50 to 80 ms
- Speeds up to around 150 Mbps, depending on your service profile
- Support for SD-WAN, VoIP, cloud applications and video
- Managed installation, monitoring and support included

Call quality also depends on the site. Dense tree canopy or structures in the antenna's field of view can affect performance, which FirstNet validates during site readiness, and like all satellite technologies, LEO can be affected by severe weather.

For sites where calls must not drop, LEO can be combined with fibre or LTE/5G under SD-WAN, or bonded with Peplink so active SIP and RTP sessions survive a link cut.