Wife wants to FIRE Vonage!!!!

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 10, 2006 Posts: 8

Okay, It was MY IDEA to switch to Vonage....And YES, I was quite content, albeit THRILLED (both financially, and usability) with the service.........
BUTTTTTTT, VERRY recently we have begun to experience a problematic system..
I have tried reading around this forum for answers, but, being technologically challenged, I chose to post this, LOL, inane query,,

As I stated my service UP UNTIL last week, was superb...NOW though, we are experiencing what many here refer to as CHOPPY audio...We can hear the OTHER party, but they cannot hear us all the time....THIS is where I get the wife complaints.....I don't even use the freakin' phone, LOL.

I spoke with the techs, they told me that the problem was with my cable router, that it was outdated...
I will explain my setup, laymans terms...
I have the Vonage Linksys Router connected as per the instructions for use with a wireless router also Linksys, (BEFW11S4), and my cable modem..
The cable modem, was until last Friday a Toshiba PCX2400. This I was told was an out of date modem (by Vonage)
I went to Time Warner, and they swapped out a newer Modem..I don't know the name, it isn't on the Modem, they said something like Emmit, or something??? They calimed it was a 2.0..

I reinstalled everything, rebooted all...ANd it seemed okay, until TODAY, it started with the choppy audio AGAIN..

The Vonage router is connected to my house wiring, I have 1 cordless phone directly connected to the jack, as well as 1 hard wall phone..

Any ideas??
Again, ALL was working FINE until VERRRY recently....no longer than 1 week ago!!

There were NO changes to ANY thing, hardware, software, no moving of equipment, no loose wires, no frayed wires....ALL is the same from when I first started using Vonage 2-3 months ago!!

I have noticed though, that my internet HAS gotten SLOWER, pages load slowly, if I watch a video online, it says buffering, then plays, then buffering, then play!!
Never had THAT before, usually streamed fine..

Wife wants me to can VONAGE, and go with Time Warner...
Besides the added expense, I do not have Cable TV , I have DirecTV, and my IP service is thru Earthlink, using Time Warner cables.. So I probably would NOT get any discounts....

PLease, ANY help would be appreciated!!!

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:00 pm Post subject:

OK, let's get some information gathered up, here.

First, go to www.testyour voip.com and select "Boston", then click on "Detailed Results" when the test finishes and cut and paste everything here. The pictures and stuff won't make it - that's fine.

Second, understand that if your web speeds are slowing down, your Vonage line will (unfortunately) be affected by that. Choppy/poor audio on the other end means your "upload" speeds are slowing down or being affected. A few factors:

1. Is your wireless network secure? If not, someone might be using it. Try turning off wireless and see if that helps.

2. Are you running any new programs you haven't run before? File sharing, things like that? Try plugging the Vonage device directly into your Internet modem and see if it gets better when Vonage is the only thing in the connection.

Having things work great from Friday to Monday tells me that Tuesdays just aren't good for you (lol), or that your router, modem, or connection isn't doing well after time. Have you tried restarting things today and see if that fixes it?

The "2.0" your cable company claimed means DOCSIS 2.0, which is the latest communications specification between cable companies and their modems. It will help, but it's not a certain fix. I have a DOCSIS 1.0 modem (ancient specification) that supports my Vonage line just fine.

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 10, 2006 Posts: 8

Okay, thanks for the site!!
I scored a 2.8

Findings as follows:
Though it looks GREEK to me!!

MOS Analysis From You TO Boston

Media Quality MOS 2.8 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.57 26.2%
Latency 0.08 3.7%
Packet Discards 1.53 70.0%
Packet Loss 0.00 0.0%

Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 211 ms
Packet Discards 7.6%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods Min: 60 ms
Avg: 160 ms
Max: 340 ms
Burst Loss

Jitter Min: 0 ms
Avg: 13 ms
Max: 195 ms

Signaling Quality Post-Dial Delay 94 ms
Call Setup Time 109 ms
Media Delay 203 ms
MOS Analysis FROM Boston To You

Media Quality MOS 4.4 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.58 93.0%
Latency 0.04 7.0%
Packet Discards 0.00 0.0%
Packet Loss 0.00 0.0%

Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 211 ms
Packet Discards 0.0%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods Min: 0 ms
Avg: 0 ms
Max: 0 ms
No Loss

Jitter Min: 4 ms
Avg: 6 ms
Max: 27 ms

Signaling Quality Post-Pickup Delay 73 ms
Call Setup Time 76 ms
Media Delay 109 ms

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 10, 2006 Posts: 8

Nate,
How do these numbers look?
Is a 2.8 lousy..

It appeared it did from the graph. right?

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:37 pm Post subject:

UtterChaos wrote:

Nate,
How do these numbers look?
Is a 2.8 lousy..

It appeared it did from the graph. right?

Ummm.yyeeaaahhh.. 2.8's pretty miserable, and it's all on the upload (outbound audio). I bet your wife loves the quality of the audio on your end, but I can see where people on the other end might be having some problems hearing her.

More to the point, your packet discards are pretty up there (meaning a lot of data that is sent from your computer INTENDED for the server never made it, and your burst loss is pretty bad (meaning that when packets are lost, they are lost in large numbers all at once, rather than a steady loss). This will cause chop rather than just lousy voice quality.

OK, next test, go to www.dslreports.com/stest and run a speed test. Post the up and down speeds the test gives you. We'll see if you are just running out of bandwidth, or if you're losing packets.

Also, try running the testyourvoip test and the dslreports test with absolutely nothing connected to your network, if you possibly can.

And try to think of any change that may have happened about the time your problems started. New firmware for your router? One of the kids suddenly downloading TV shows on BitTorrent? New phone? New drapes for the computer room? Anything. Wink

Posts: 8 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 10, 2006 Posts: 8

[font=Arial]Hey, this is a great forum.
New here, and already receiving asisitance..Much obliged.
Here are the results from the other site:[/font]

This was using the SF, CA server

Welcome to BBR! Run more tests! see forums
2006-01-10 23:23:53 EST: 232 / 69
Your download speed : 232 kbps or 29 KB/sec.
Your upload speed : 69 kbps or 8.6 KB/sec.

Your Result
kbps
62
125
187
250
312
375
437
500
562
Yours «232 down
«69 up

Posts: 2135

UtterChaos wrote:

I have noticed though, that my internet HAS gotten SLOWER, pages load slowly, if I watch a video online, it says buffering, then plays, then buffering, then play!!
Never had THAT before, usually streamed fine..

That is a dead slow up speed, TW is much faster than that.

Based on your other statements, I think you might have some un wanted guests in your PC.

When was the last time you ran a good spyware detector?
Here is an excellent free one: Microsoft AntiSpyware

Also, are you running any P2P stuff like Kazaa?
Not sure? If you are using XP, you can go:Start > Run > Type in: msconfig > Then go to the Start Up tap (furthest right tab). It will show you all the programs that are loading at bootup.

Posts: 476 · Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:50 pm Post subject:

dconnor wrote:

That is a dead slow up speed, TW is much faster than that.

Holy cow! That download speed is super slow, too. It should be at least 10-20 times faster than that. There is definitely something using your bandwidth. Are you running any AV software? You might have a trojan living on your system.

Posts: 170 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Dec 05, 2004 Posts: 170

Have you tried just turning your computer(s) off and testing calls with Vonage? That would tell us if the computer is using the extra bandwidth or not.

Maaz

Posts: 60 · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:09 am Post subject:

Here's a program that will tell you if the computer is using any bandwidth at all. http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/NetMeter_v0999beta2.exe

I would try putting just the Vonage adapter (no other router connected) and just your computer plugged into that. Doing this would insure that no one, either wired or wirelessly, is using your connection. After you install this program, it will put an icon in the system tray (beside clock) and it should be red unless you are surfing the internet or downloading,if its green, then information is being transmitted. Then try running another speedtest after that. Also maybe try a different speedtest site since they can vary from one to the next. Try this one and pick the city nearest you. http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ Also try the http://www.testyour voip.com site again.

If we can eliminate your computer (or others) using up bandwidth, then you can blame your ISP. Do you know what download/upload speed you are paying for?