Consistently poor sound quality

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 3

Hopefully someone has some ideas... here's the problem :
Using 2 Vtech 5.8GHz wireless broadband phones, experience consistent delays, choppy audio, etc. Have had several people comment that it sounds like "you're under water"... toughest issue is the delays, can live with the scratchiness

I had Comcast signal my cable modem and they report a download speed of 6Mbps, so I'm definitely losing speed somewhere (the router ?)... however, the testyourvoip results look good, unless I'm missing something...

If it matters, I have 6 devices attached to my Netgear router (3 are wireless, 2 via direct ethernet cabling, and the Vonage adapter.

1. Location
Franklin, Mass.

2. ISP name and type (cable, DSL, wireless etc)
Comcast Cable

3. Upload and download speeds
MySpeed reports 353kps upload 3.74Mbps download

4. Modem make and model
Best Data ECM-100 cable modem

5. Type of Vonage adapter used :
Vtech IP-8100

6. Setup of Network :
Modem --> Netgear Router (MR814v2) --> Vonage Vtech adapter

8. DETAILED results from www.testyourvoip.com with a test call to Boston.

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

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.57 96.8%
Latency 0.00 0.0%
Packet Discards 0.02 3.2%
Packet Loss 0.00 0.0%
Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 139 ms
Packet Discards 0.1%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods
Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 20 ms
Random Loss
Jitter
Min: 0 ms
Avg: 5 ms
Max: 24 ms
Signaling Quality
Post-Dial Delay 94 ms
Call Setup Time 94 ms
Media Delay 282 ms

MOS Analysis FROM Boston To You
MOS analysis chart
Media Quality
MOS
4.4 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.57 89.7%
Latency 0.00 0.0%
Packet Discards 0.00 0.0%
Packet Loss 0.07 10.3%
Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 139 ms
Packet Discards 0.0%
Packet Loss 0.3%
Loss Periods
Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 20 ms
Random Loss
Jitter
Min: 4 ms
Avg: 7 ms
Max: 20 ms
Signaling Quality
Post-Pickup Delay 166 ms
Call Setup Time 178 ms
Media Delay 202 ms

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 3:40 pm Post subject:

Well, your tested numbers are as good as good gets.

What else do you have running on your network? Was it running when you ran your test? Did you test from behind the NetGear, or directly connected to your modem?

How good is the QoS in your NetGear? Do you have the Vonage device set at HIGHEST in QoS?

EDIT: Also, have you tried plugging a computer into the Vonage adapter's Ethernet passthru port and testing from there, to see if something is slowing down that specific Ethernet port or the Vonage's MAC address? And have you tried just plugging the Vonage adapter straight into the Internet modem to eliminate the NetGear as the cause?

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 3

> What else do you have running on your network?

Nothing out of the ordinary... 3 or 4 ssh sessions, a browser, but no downloading/uploading going on...

>Was it running when you ran your test? Did you test from behind the NetGear, or directly connected to your modem?

Yes, used the normal setup, from behind the netgear router

>How good is the QoS in your NetGear? Do you have the Vonage >device set at HIGHEST in QoS?

I'm thinking QOS may be the issue... I don't believe this router (MR814v2) even supports it... may be time for an upgrade. Any suggestions for a solid wireless router with QOS ?

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 4:01 pm Post subject:

Like it so much, I even wrote up a web site for it. Wink

http://vonage.nmhoy.net/wrt54gl.html

But if you've got nothing going on on your Internet connection, QoS probably is NOT your current problem.

Try the Vonage adapter directly connected to the Internet first, if you can, or at least disable wireless in the netgear and unplug EVERYHING from it to see if it helps (might also be a good idea to try turning off the SPI firewall on the netgear, on the off chance that its processor just can't keep up with all the UDP packets from Vonage).

NetGear makes some GREAT routers, and they make some so-so routers.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 25, 2006 Posts: 3

Thanks for the support... I'll try some of the tips and report back in a day or two.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 4:32 pm Post subject:

Cool. The key is making SURE it's the NetGear before you spend $ replacing it. I don't get a comission from Linksys (dang, wish I did!) LOL, so no sense replacing a perfectly good router with a perfectly good router.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 18, 2005 Posts: 5

NateHoy,

in your configuration, are you suggesting using two WRT54GL routers, one for the 'gateway', and one for the Vonage box to plug into?

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 1:12 pm Post subject:

neonate wrote:

NateHoy,

in your configuration, are you suggesting using two WRT54GL routers, one for the 'gateway', and one for the Vonage box to plug into?

Nope.

My instructions assume you have a Vonage router already, though.

The wiring would be as follows:

With the "Primary Router" being the WRT54GL and the "Vonage Router" being whatever you have from Vonage (it could even be a PAP or Uniden or other non-router Vonage adapter, of course in place of the "Vonage Router").