Problems with call clarity

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 20, 2006 Posts: 7

I'm having an issue I cannot resolve. I have a wired network with a Comcast Broadband connection coming out of a Motorola modem and into my Linksys Wireless-G Router. I only use the wireless on the outside chance I need to connect with my laptop to do some quick work from home. On the back end of my router I have 2 PC's always connected. I was happy with the Vonage service I've had since the beginning of January but since last week all of a sudden I am losing calls, the people calling are saying the quality is horrible and they can hardly understand me nearly all the time. I use my phone for work and personal use so my frustration is at an all time high. I have to resolve this issue? What is going on? I called Vonage for help and the rep was great, had me run some diagnostics and coached me on how to test my Voip. But this is no good if I keep having the same issue. It needs to be fixed!! Today I called and complained to Comcast but they can't seem to help me. I tried connecting only one phone to my Vonage adapter and the problem still occurs--so its not an issue with my house wiring.I live in the Maryland area. Is anyone experiencing this and can help me get back to normal service? I really don't want to go through the process of switching carriers AGAIN after only a couple of months. Help!

Posts: 193 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 193

Start with this
http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic7191.html

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 20, 2006 Posts: 7

Your location --Jessup MD
2. Your ISP name and type (cable, DSL, wireless etc) COMCAST
3. Upload and download speeds
4. Modem make and model Motorola sb5120
5. Type of Vonage adapter used ie RT31P2 or PAP2 --Not sure. Its a Motorola?
6. Setup of Network ie Modem---->Vonage Adapter-->PC I have my adapter into my Linksys Router model wrt54g which is connected to my Modem
7. Issue you are experiencing ie dropped calls, choppy audio etc Dropped cals--people can't hear me, say my voice is choppy etc.
8. DETAILED results from www.testyourvoip.com with a test call to Boston. Score 3.6
Me to Boston:

Round-Trip
Latency 147 ms
Packet Discards 3.3%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods Min: 20 ms
Avg: 40 ms
Max: 180 ms
Burst Loss

Jitter Min: 0 ms
Avg: 9 ms
Max: 91 ms
Jitter Min: 0 ms
Avg: 9 ms
Max: 91 ms

Boston to me:
Round-Trip
Latency 147 ms
Packet Discards 0.0%
Packet Loss 0.1%
Loss Periods Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 20 ms
Jitter Min: 4 ms
Avg: 7 ms
Max: 20 ms

Random Loss

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

You have too many packet discards on the uplink. Try plugging your computer directly into the modem and repeating the test. If the results don't improve, then you have an issue to discuss with Comcast.

By the way, you left out your upload and download speeds. How are they? Do you know how they compare to what they were when you were getting good phone service?

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 20, 2006 Posts: 7

Steve48 wrote:

You have too many packet discards on the uplink. Try plugging your computer directly into the modem and repeating the test. If the results don't improve, then you have an issue to discuss with Comcast.

By the way, you left out your upload and download speeds. How are they? Do you know how they compare to what they were when you were getting good phone service?

The speed test varies--download 1812. Upload 313.

I called COMCAST today and they said everything was fine on their end.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 20, 2006 Posts: 7

I connected my modem directly to the PC and saw little improvement: Score 3.6

248 ms
Packet Discards 4.3%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods Min: 20 ms
Avg: 60 ms
Max: 280 ms
Burst Loss

Jitter Min: 0 ms
Avg: 14 ms
Max: 143 ms

PACKET DISCARDS ASRE STILL HIHGH FROM ME GTO BOSTOn. I checked it once before I disconnected my router and I got an overall score of 3.9. So this is very unstable and keeps changing.

Can I resolve this issue or am I going to have to switch carriers?? I need phone service for work and personal. I have to know what my options are.

Thanks,

Posts: 193 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 193

5. Type of Vonage adapter used ie RT31P2 or PAP2 --Not sure. Its a Motorola?
vt1005 or vt2442?

Modem>wrt54g >vt1005>PC Is this it?

post your speeds too:
http://www.vonage-forum.com/voip-speed-test.html
Is that speed from a wireless or wired connection?

Burst Loss packet disgards ain't cool:
What are your cablemodem up/down/snr numbers?

Last week Comcast did a lot of funny stuff to the lines.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 20, 2006 Posts: 7

sinceMay2004 wrote:

5. Type of Vonage adapter used ie RT31P2 or PAP2 --Not sure. Its a Motorola?
vt1005 or vt2442? vt1005

Modem>wrt54g >vt1005>PC Is this it? yes

post your speeds too:
http://www.vonage-forum.com/voip-speed-test.html
Is that speed from a wireless or wired connection? wired

Burst Loss packet disgards ain't cool:
What are your cablemodem up/down/snr numbers? ??

Last week Comcast did a lot of funny stuff to the lines.

I was just on phone with them again. The call quality was not great but they could hear me. He sent 75 packets of data and got )% loss. He says he cannot do anything about discards.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

puradiance wrote:

Can I resolve this issue or am I going to have to switch carriers?? I need phone service for work and personal. I have to know what my options are.

It looks like an internet service issue to me, and if your ISP won't own up to it you have a problem.

Are you also getting cable television from Comcast, and do you have digital TV? I ask because I just had an issue with my cable provider. I started taking hits on digital TV transmissions a bit before starting to have internet bandwidth and phone problems. I didn't even have to bring up the Vonage issue. I just kept pointing at the television screen until they fixed it. They had no way of ducking out of that responsibility.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:45 pm Post subject:

Having struggled with Comcrap over the past few years... It most likely CAN be fixed, but expect a few go-arounds with Comcast over getting things to work properly. Their "gold standard" seems to be if you can pull up their home page, everything works! which obviously isn't the case. No matter which Voip provider you choose to go with, definitely get after Comcast to get the internet connection up to snuff.

In the meantime, you might want to try lowering Vonage's bandwidth requirements in the Vonage Dashboard. Go to www.vonage.com then click on Features > Bandwidth Saver > Configure > 30kbps > Save. This is NOT a fix, just a band-aid to give you more reliable phone service until you can get Comcast to get their stuff together.