Dropped audio-totally stumped.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 08, 2007 Posts: 9

I get intermittent dropped incoming audio. I have tried every troubleshooting configuration and my connection seems fine. Dropped audio occurs with both corded and cordless phone. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. Here are the particulars:
I have cable TWC with Earthlink provider. I have the Vonage box directly downstream from cable modem. This has been replaced once, but problem persists. From there the connection goes onto a wireless router, then to my computer.

Download: 9.6 mbps
Upload: .486 mbps
QOS: 98%
Jitter: you-->server 2.8ms
Jitter: server-->you 8.2ms
Max pause 3ms
Packet loss/discards/out-of-order: 0%

The only idea the vonage tech had was perhaps the voltage on my cable was somehow low. He recommended I get TWC to test it.

Posts: 1178 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1178

For the sake of evaluation, please run the full test at this website and also the testyourvoip.com site and post the details here. From your limited details, there is no explanation.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 08, 2007 Posts: 9

CableModem: RCA DCM425
Cable service: Time Warner
Location: NYC
ISP: Earthlink
Vonage box: Motorola VT1005RB

Speed test statistics

---------------------

Download speed: 7844192 bps

Upload speed: 483872 bps

Quality of service: 61 %

Download test type: socket

Upload test type: socket

Maximum download pause: 114 ms

Average download pause: 1 ms

Minimum round trip time to server: 36 ms

Average round trip time to server: 36 ms

VoIP test statistics

--------------------

Jitter: you --> server: 4.7 ms

Jitter: server --> you: off

Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %

Packet loss: server --> you: off

Packet discards: 0.0 %

Packets out of order: 0.0 %

Number of supported VoIP lines: 8

Estimated MOS score: 4.0

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 3:54 pm Post subject:

Your scores look very good, but the download (which would be inbound audio) does have a tad of jitter and max pauses, which could account for some minor "chop" in the conversation.

I'm also confused as to what this means:
Packet loss: server --> you: off

How bad is the dropped audio? Are you missing entire words, or syllables, or parts of syllables? How often is it?

I'd also do the test on www.testyour voip.com and pay careful attention to the "server to you" data, which is what is significant for inbound audio.

It's probably worthwhile to have TWC do a line test, which they should be able to do right from their offices. A weak signal could account for it, or some other issue. Many (but not all) cable modems have a stats site you can log into, usually at http://192.168.100.1/ - but that depends on the brand of modem and whether your ISP has left that stats page enabled or not.

It is also possible that something is wrong on the Vonage end, but the one statistic for the server->you looks like potential, if minor, trouble - and the other statistic is missing. So, while very inconclusive, I'd say the evidence so far points to some sort of connection problem.

I assume you've tried pulling power to your cable modem AND Vonage adapter for at least 5 minutes, to see if a complete reset helps?

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 08, 2007 Posts: 9

Thanks for the info. The testyourvoip link is not working. I tried to do the test on the forums site, but it keeps giving me a message that I've exceeded the number of tests for this time period. I will try and post a complete test later. In any event, if I go to other test sites I can see that my connection is variable in terms of jitter and QOS. What can I do about this?

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 08, 2007 Posts: 9

Thanks for the info. The testyourvoip link is not working. I tried to do the test on the forums site, but it keeps giving me a message that I've exceeded the number of tests for this time period. I will try and post a complete test later. In any event, if I go to other test sites I can see that my connection is variable in terms of jitter and QOS. What can I do about this?

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 7:13 am Post subject: Re: more

choifoto wrote:

Thanks for the info. The testyourvoip link is not working. I tried to do the test on the forums site, but it keeps giving me a message that I've exceeded the number of tests for this time period. I will try and post a complete test later. In any event, if I go to other test sites I can see that my connection is variable in terms of jitter and QOS. What can I do about this?

Call your cable company and tell them you are having some jitter problems when trying to use VoIP. Have them do a line test, and ask them to focus on the download portion of the test (them to you). In all likelihood, it is some minor problem they can adjust for.

One other thing to try is to plug just a single computer into the Cable modem and see if you can do the line test that way. If things improve, then it is your Vonage device and/or router that is causing the problem.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 10, 2007 Posts: 7

I think you might also want to check your cable modem. Sounds like it works fine but it runs DOCSIS 1.0. In order for you to use Vonage properly you need to upgrade to a modem that runs docsis 1.1 or higher ( I think we're coming up to docsis 3.0 soon so upgrading to 1.1 at least is reasonable 2.0 if you wanna make sure that 5 years from now you might still be using it!)

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 08, 2007 Posts: 9

Thanks. For those pf us who are uninformed, what is Docsis, how can I tell what version is used by the modem, how do I use a higher version, by getting a new modem or upgrading? how is the higher version better?

Posts: 46 · Full Forum Member Joined: Aug 07, 2007 Posts: 46

DCM425's are Docsis 2.0 certified.