—— Latency Benchmark ——

Every Vendor Hop Costs You 200ms

Most platforms measure one step and call it latency. Full roundtrip is what callers feel: sentence ends, AI responds. That gap decides whether they stay or hang up.

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< 1.2s

typical AI response latency

< 1.2s

typical AI response latency

platform for the full AI pipeline

2.7B

minutes processed

2.7B

minutes processed

40%

more abandonment above 1.2s

40%

more abandonment above 1.2s

—— The Problem ——

Bolt-on pipelines stack latency at every boundary

Six hops between caller and AI

PSTN to telephony, WebSocket, your server, STT, LLM, TTS, then back through the chain. Each hop adds 50 to 300ms.

Six hops between caller and AI

PSTN to telephony, WebSocket, your server, STT, LLM, TTS, then back through the chain. Each hop adds 50 to 300ms.

Partial metrics hide the real number

STT-to-first-token and TTS time-to-first-byte each measure one step. Neither measures how long a caller waits between finishing a sentence and hearing the AI.

Partial metrics hide the real number

STT-to-first-token and TTS time-to-first-byte each measure one step. Neither measures how long a caller waits between finishing a sentence and hearing the AI.

Optimization cannot eliminate architecture

Switching to a faster provider saves time on one hop but does not remove the other network boundaries.

Optimization cannot eliminate architecture

Switching to a faster provider saves time on one hop but does not remove the other network boundaries.

Streaming helps, but boundaries remain

Streaming reduces batch delays, but each stream still crosses a network boundary. Processing inside one engine remains faster.

Streaming helps, but boundaries remain

Streaming reduces batch delays, but each stream still crosses a network boundary. Processing inside one engine remains faster.

Build a Voice AI Agent

Python

TypeScript

Java

Ruby

PHP

Perl

C++

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

from signalwire import AgentBase
from signalwire.core.function_result import FunctionResult

class SupportAgent(AgentBase):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__(name="Support Agent", route="/support")
        self.prompt_add_section("Instructions",
            body="You are a customer support agent. "
                 "Greet the caller and resolve their issue.")
        self.add_language("English", "en-US", "rime.spore:mistv2")

    @AgentBase.tool(name="check_order")
    def check_order(self, order_id: str):
        """Check the status of a customer order.

        Args:
            order_id: The order ID to look up
        """
        return FunctionResult(f"Order {order_id}: shipped, ETA April 2nd")

agent = SupportAgent()
agent.run()

Python

TypeScript

Java

Ruby

PHP

Perl

C++

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

from signalwire import AgentBase
from signalwire.core.function_result import FunctionResult

class SupportAgent(AgentBase):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__(name="Support Agent", route="/support")
        self.prompt_add_section("Instructions",
            body="You are a customer support agent. "
                 "Greet the caller and resolve their issue.")
        self.add_language("English", "en-US", "rime.spore:mistv2")

    @AgentBase.tool(name="check_order")
    def check_order(self, order_id: str):
        """Check the status of a customer order.

        Args:
            order_id: The order ID to look up
        """
        return FunctionResult(f"Order {order_id}: shipped, ETA April 2nd")

agent = SupportAgent()
agent.run()

Python

TypeScript

Java

Ruby

PHP

Perl

C++

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

from signalwire import AgentBase
from signalwire.core.function_result import FunctionResult

class SupportAgent(AgentBase):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__(name="Support Agent", route="/support")
        self.prompt_add_section("Instructions",
            body="You are a customer support agent. "
                 "Greet the caller and resolve their issue.")
        self.add_language("English", "en-US", "rime.spore:mistv2")

    @AgentBase.tool(name="check_order")
    def check_order(self, order_id: str):
        """Check the status of a customer order.

        Args:
            order_id: The order ID to look up
        """
        return FunctionResult(f"Order {order_id}: shipped, ETA April 2nd")

agent = SupportAgent()
agent.run()

Multi-Vendor Pipeline vs. Single Engine

Bolt-On Pipeline

Six or more network boundaries per conversational turn

Independent queues and timing behavior at every vendor

Partial metrics hide the full caller roundtrip

State and cancellation cross asynchronous service boundaries

Optimization lowers individual hops but cannot remove them

SignalWire

One media engine orchestrates the full pipeline

STT streams concurrently while the caller is speaking

Cancellation and barge-in occur at the audio layer

Typical full-roundtrip response stays below 1.2 seconds

No application-layer orchestration hop

LLM and TTS coordination happens inside the engine

—— Inside One Engine ——

How SignalWire Achieves Sub-Second Response

Call arrives at the media engine

The platform owns the audio stream, call state, and timing from the first packet.

Call arrives at the media engine

The platform owns the audio stream, call state, and timing from the first packet.

STT streams concurrently

Speech recognition begins while the caller is still speaking instead of waiting for a separate application hop.

STT streams concurrently

Speech recognition begins while the caller is still speaking instead of waiting for a separate application hop.

LLM inference runs in parallel

The AI kernel coordinates context and inference without an external orchestration server between the model and the call.

LLM inference runs in parallel

The AI kernel coordinates context and inference without an external orchestration server between the model and the call.

TTS generates audio inside the engine

Synthesized audio returns directly to the caller with audio-level barge-in and cancellation control.

TTS generates audio inside the engine

Synthesized audio returns directly to the caller with audio-level barge-in and cancellation control.

Try it now

Sigmond Runs on SignalWire

A voice and video AI agent built on the SignalWire SDK, wired to a live knowledge base, able to see what you show him. Build the same thing on voice, phone, WhatsApp, or SIP, or an entire white-label platform with SignalWire as the network underneath.

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Measure the full roundtrip yourself.

Run the same conversation on your current stack and on SignalWire. Compare what your callers actually experience.

Start building

Dive into docs

Measure the full roundtrip yourself.

Run the same conversation on your current stack and on SignalWire. Compare what your callers actually experience.

Start building

Dive into docs

Measure the full roundtrip yourself.

Run the same conversation on your current stack and on SignalWire. Compare what your callers actually experience.

Start building

Dive into docs

Measure the full roundtrip yourself.

Run the same conversation on your current stack and on SignalWire. Compare what your callers actually experience.

Start building

Dive into docs