Wholesale carriers sort VoIP traffic into types by how it is generated: conversational (retail people calling people), call center, dialer, and calling card. Each type has a different call pattern, so carriers price it, accept it or refuse it differently, and stating your traffic type correctly is the first step to getting a route that works.
The main traffic types
| Type | Where it comes from | Typical pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Conversational (retail, CLI retail) | People calling people: mobile apps, operators, VoIP providers | Good ASR, long average call duration, low CPS |
| Call center (CC) | Agents making or taking calls for sales, support or collections | Medium ASR, shorter calls, steady volume in business hours |
| Dialer | Automatic or predictive dialers calling lists of numbers | Low ASR, many short calls, high CPS |
| Calling card | Prepaid cards and access numbers used by consumers | Price sensitive, often on cheaper routes |
| Wholesale (carrier to carrier) | Traffic resold from other carriers, a mix of the above | Depends on the mix; carriers ask what is inside |
Some carriers also name separate types for verification or OTP voice calls, IVR and announcement traffic, which are short, machine driven calls.
Why carriers care about traffic type
A carrier buys termination from operators and other carriers under terms that often limit what traffic is allowed. Many premium routes accept only conversational traffic because short, high volume calls lower ASR, raise complaints and can get the route blocked. A carrier that lets dialer traffic onto a conversational route risks losing that route for all its customers. That is why carriers watch ASR, ACD and PDD closely in the first days and may cut traffic that does not match what was declared.
How traffic type shapes the route
- Conversational: gets the widest choice of routes and the best prices for quality. Usually on CLI routes.
- Call center: needs routes that explicitly accept CC traffic, often with CLI or Local CLI. See call center VoIP routes.
- Dialer: accepted on fewer routes, often with limits on CPS and minimum ACD, and sometimes priced higher. See which routes accept dialer traffic.
- Calling card: usually on standard routes where price matters most. See premium vs standard routes.
How carriers recognize traffic type
Carriers infer traffic type from the numbers: the share of short calls, ACD, ASR, how many calls start at the same second, how many different called numbers there are and whether the same CLI is used for thousands of calls. A route sold for conversational traffic that suddenly receives 80% unanswered calls with an ACD under 30 seconds will be flagged as dialer traffic.
Declare it honestly
Mislabeling traffic is the fastest way to lose a route, and possibly to face charges or blocked payments under your contract. It is better to tell the seller the real mix (for example "60% call center, 40% predictive dialer, average ACD 90 seconds") and get a route that fits. Include it with your destinations and volume when you write a route request.
Get a route for your traffic type
VoIPMatcher asks for your traffic type in every request and sources VoIP termination from carriers that accept it. You can also see what other companies are asking for on the open requests board. Request a voice route and tell us your mix.
Frequently asked questions
What is wholesale VoIP traffic?
Wholesale VoIP traffic is voice calls exchanged in bulk between carriers, VoIP providers, call centers and resellers, bought and sold per minute by destination. It can be a single type, such as conversational calls from an app, or a mix resold from other carriers, which is why sellers ask buyers what is inside it.
What is calling card traffic?
Calling card traffic comes from prepaid cards and access numbers that consumers use to make cheap international calls. It is price sensitive and usually sent on standard routes. Some carriers abbreviate it as CC, which can be confused with call center traffic, so spell out the traffic type in every request.
What is CLI retail traffic?
CLI retail, or conversational retail, is traffic from people calling people through operators, mobile apps and VoIP providers, sent with the real caller ID. It has good answer rates, long calls and low CPS, which is why carriers price it best and accept it on most premium routes.
What is OTP voice traffic?
OTP or verification voice traffic is automated calls that read a one-time code to a user. The calls are very short, machine driven and come in bursts, so some carriers treat them as a separate traffic type with their own routes, billing increments and CPS limits. Declare it as such, not as conversational traffic.
Need a route?
Send the destination, route type and target rate. We reply with what we can deliver.