Sound quality issues with RT31P2

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 17

Hi everyone,
My Vonage connection seems to be OK 90% of the time or so. However, sometimes it exhibits an echo and sounds slightly garbled. Not only do I sometimes have a problem hearing people, but they have a problem hearing me. I am using a RT31P2. I am in Long Island, NY and I am on Optimum Online, the standard service (a cable connection). Our download speeds are 15 megabits download and 2 megabits upload. I am using the Motorola black surfboard modem (I think the SB5100). Our setup is the Vonage router to 3 computers. Here are my test results:

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 3512008 bps
Upload speed: 1877136 bps
Quality of service: 50 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 58 ms
Average download pause: 4 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 18 ms
Average round trip time to server: 53 ms

VoIP test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 4.0 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 8.3 ms
Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %
Packet loss: server --> you: 0.1 %
Packet discards: 0.0 %
Packets out of order: 0.0 %
Number of supported VoIP lines: 31
Estimated MOS score: 3.9

Everything seemed good EXCEPT that QOS measure. I guess that would explain our audio quality problems....I was very surprised to see this problem considering our high upload and download speeds. I was also surprised to see that the test measured my speed as only 3 megabits up....I have frequently been able to actually get 12-14 megabits download so I know that my connection is actually cabable of it.

Anyway, anything I can try? Thanks a lot!

Posts: 24 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Sep 28, 2006 Posts: 24

check for - Jitter / Packet Loss / Latency
run a ping test..To run a continous ping on a Windows XP Machine:

Click on START -> RUN...
Type "cmd" (For older windows versions, type in "command")
Type "ping -t" followed by an address that is able to respond to pings
Press the "Ctrl" and "C" keys simultaneously to stop the ping and view the ping statist
To run an advanced ping on a Windows XP Machine:

Click on START -> RUN...
Type "cmd" (For older windows versions, type in "command")
Type "ping -l 600 -n 100" followed by an address that is able to respond to pings
Examples: "ping -l 600 -n 100 yahoo.com" or "ping -l 600 -n 100 google.com"
The option -l sets the buffer size in bytes for the ping command
The option -n sets the number of echo request to send
try with these and let me know the n/w setup..

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 17

Hi again,
Thanks for your help. I appreciate it. Here are the results you wanted:

Ping statistics for 66.94.234.13:
Packets: Sent = 52, Received = 52, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 84ms, Maximum = 116ms, Average = 91ms

My network setup is 3 computers to the Vonage TA. The TA is directly connected to the cable modem.

Anything else I can try?

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 17

Bump....anything else I can try?

Posts: 4751 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4751

I'm concerned about the fact that you have a 12 M connection and you're only measuring 3.5 M. What happens if you remove the RT31P2 and plug a computer directly into the modem? When problems occur, are you engaged in heavy duty internet activities with any of the computers?

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 17

Hi there,

Thank you for the quick reply. Here are my results when the computer is connected straight to the cable modem:

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 6246464 bps
Upload speed: 1793712 bps
Quality of service: 70 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 104 ms
Average download pause: 2 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 23 ms
Average round trip time to server: 26 ms

VoIP test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 4.2 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 8.6 ms
Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %
Packet loss: server --> you: 0.0 %
Packet discards: 0.0 %
Packets out of order: 0.0 %
Number of supported VoIP lines: 30
Estimated MOS score: 4.0

My QoS was a little higher, at 70% this time, and I managed to get a higher download speed at 6.24 Mpbs but still..my connection is almost DOUBLE that, shouldn't I be getting at LEAST 8 or 9? I actually ordered a new TA from Vonage (the Motorola with 4 LAN ports), so I was hoping that would fix my problem...but it now appears the problem is my internet connection, not the TA. Is there anything else I can try? Again, I know my connection is able to hit at least 10 Mpbs because I can download at that speed frequently from various websites, USENET, etc.

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 17

To answer your second question:

No, the computers were not engaged in any kind of heavy internet usage when we have these problems. In fact, a few hours ago someone told me I sounded "broken up" to them. They sounded fine to me but I was very difficult to hear sometimes. No one was home other than me at the time (and the only Internet activity that was going on at the time was me being away on AIM). When I ran the VOIP tests, no one was using the internet at all (other than me running the tests). I also made sure to take down my firewall software (I use Zone Alarm).

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 17

Just ran the test again (I was thinking last night was peak time for my cable service). I got it up to about 9.5 Mpbs down but my QoS was only in the low 70s. Here are my results:

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 9511000 bps
Upload speed: 1664864 bps
Quality of service: 72 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 67 ms
Average download pause: 1 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 37 ms
Average round trip time to server: 38 ms

VoIP test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 3.4 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 8.2 ms
Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %
Packet loss: server --> you: 0.1 %
Packet discards: 0.0 %
Packets out of order: 0.0 %
Number of supported VoIP lines: 28
Estimated MOS score: 3.9

Posts: 4751 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4751

Well, it appears that your internet service has a lot a variability to it in terms of speed, but I don't see anything in the test results to explain your problem. Since you've already ordered the VT2442, I'd wait until it arrives and see if the RT31P2 was the problem.

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 15, 2006 Posts: 17

Here are the results with my new Motorola 2442

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 6931624 bps
Upload speed: 1863792 bps
Quality of service: 64 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 54 ms
Average download pause: 1 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 18 ms
Average round trip time to server: 24 ms

VoIP test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 3.6 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 8.3 ms
Packet loss: you --> server: 0.1 %
Packet loss: server --> you: 0.0 %
Packet discards: 0.0 %
Packets out of order: 0.0 %
Number of supported VoIP lines: 31
Estimated MOS score: 4.0