Voice communication is easily one of the most essential requirements for group PVP. Broadcasts and chat channels have their place, but voice communication is unparalleled for being able to quickly relay information and orders; no one wants to be typing while they are dodging fire from an enemy fleet, and because of this access to a program like Ventrilo is usually a mandatory requirement of any serious PVP outfit. Well, that's not entirely true; you can possibly get by without having a microphone; as long as you aren't going to be scouting you can still listen in on what the fleet commander is saying, but still. There are three main types of voice communication software used in EVE: Teamspeak, Ventrilo, and eve isk. The latter has the advantage of being completely free and lets you talk in any of the in-game channels, but it is tied to the EVE client; so if you disconnect from EVE, you disconnect from EVE voice. As for Ventrilo and Teamspeak, it's normally comes down to personal preference, with some corps favouring one over the other. Personally, I prefer Ventrilo; it doesn't have some of the flexibility of Teamspeak, but I find the better sound quality to be more helpful. The big issue with third party programs is that setting up a server costs money to run, which can vary depending on the size you want. However, as long as everyone is willing to pitch in to cover the costs, it's relatively cheap, even for a small corporation.
It's also important to keep some kind of order on your voice servers, and you will need to enforce some kind of rule system, or all you will get is chaos. If you're the FC, and you are trying to call targets for the fleet focus on, the last thing you need is one of your pilots screaming down their mic about how they are going into structure and are about die. Really, the only people who should be talking during a fleet operation are the scouts, and the fleet commanders. If they are doing their job then it's not necessary for half the fleet to simultaneously announce that they've seen a hostile enter local. What kind of rules you have in place are up to you, but I find it's always best to try and keep the channel clear of anything not relevant to the killing of the enemy, by you.eve isk Having more than one channel will help; third party voice programs will let you create various other channels that can be divided up into general chat and operation channels, as well as meeting rooms for the management for you to make use of.
