Answering party getting garbled audio - Recent problem?

Posts: 41 · Full Forum Member Joined: Mar 13, 2005 Posts: 41

I've been getting massive complaints from the people I call telling me that they can barely hear me (garbled audio).

This is happening on 1 out of every 2 or 3 calls. This problem appeared recently, 2-3 days ago, and continues until today.

Anyone having the same issue? This is very annoying, especially with important business calls.

Yet another reason why Vonage is NOT ready for critical business use.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 14, 2008 Posts: 3

Hi,

I am having the same problem (610 area code near Philadelphia). I am getting intermittent garbled voice quality to non-Vonage phone numbers and several of my voicemails are of the same garbled quality.

Posts: 50 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 13, 2008 Posts: 50

Have you tried to run the speed test on this site under Vonage Information? This will help shed some light on what maybe happening to both of you. Can you run the test then post the details? Generally if audio is bad in one direction it could be because of any number of reasons. Most common is bandwidth issues especially with cable modems. Not related to Vonage itself rather your local ISP maybe having speed or latency issues. Post the results of the test along with your setup and maybe someone here can help.

Alan

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 14, 2008 Posts: 1

I've been having this problem for the last couple of days as well. I've been a Vonage customer since October 2003, so, I think my setup is pretty stable.

FWIW

Area code: 714
Time Warner cable modem

Posts: 50 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 13, 2008 Posts: 50

Good luck to you. Without running a speed test it would be very difficult to help you find out what is causing this issue. Cable modem speeds fluctuate extremely at times causing all sorts of issues not related to (Vonage) service nessicairly (weather can also play a factor in Internet speeds). Also hardware can fail at random being you have been a customer for 4 and a half years and I am assuming your equipment (Vonage) is that old as well. If you post the results of the speed test I am sure that will shed some light on your issue.

Posts: 50 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 13, 2008 Posts: 50

Look at the sticky notes on the main forums page and that will help you gather the info you need to help find answers.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 14, 2008 Posts: 3

Hi -

Here are the results:

____________________________________
My Results
Download 1,883,736 bps
Upload 646,232 bps
QOS 56%
RTT 0 ms
MaxPause 350 ms

Given your current Internet speeds, we estimate that your Internet connection
can support a maximum of 8 simultaneous high quality Vonage® VoIP connections.

_______________________
Would this not indicate that my connection should support a good connection? What is interesting here is that multiple people from different areas are having the same issue. So I could understand if this was a Comcast northeast issue and a LOT of people were reporting speed issues with Comcast.

Posts: 50 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 13, 2008 Posts: 50

Your quality of service is kind of low. Next time you run the speed test click the details link and it will give you something ling this. (this is my speed test)

Download speed 2871 Kbps (socket test)
Upload speed 683 Kbps (socket test)
Quality of service 99 %
Maximum pause 15 ms
Round trip time 44 ms
Upstream jitter 3.3 ms
Upstream packet loss 0 %
Upstream packet order 100 %
Upstream discards 0 %
Downstream jitter 9.2 ms
Downstream packet loss 0 %
Downstream packet order 100 %
Downstream discards 0 %

Your numbers looked ok except for the QoS number if you look at the detailed link after the test is done that will provide more info. The way cable modem works is you are on a shared pipe approx 1 - 2 miles long so essentially your on the same link as any other comcast subscriber in that 1 to 2 mile area. The more people on the more you are going to degrade or suffer. Now your speeds looked good but there are other items that affect quality other than just speed. I live in Northeast PA and have DSL and have had no issues. And it is probably not a comcast as a whole or even region issue. But being you have a low QoS and an extremeley high max pause that may indicate latency on the comcast network in your area latency and or jitter will cause audio to jitter or garble as there isn't a good steady stream over your connection. Again when on cable modem you are at the mercy of other people and what they are doing around you. If you neighbor who has comcast decides to do some serious file sharing that will affect your speed. Where as DSL is a point to point connection not affected by immediate people. Hope this helps and if the rest of the numbers come back unfavorable like packet loss or high pause times you will have to get that fixed with Comcast. Good luck Smile

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 15, 2008 Posts: 2

I am having the same problem here in Noblesville, IN. Ironically our last complaint came from somebody I called in the 610 area code as another customer has mentioned. Out local ISP has recently been acquired by Comcast, but I hadn't noticed the problem until just today.

The audio is intermittent or choppy according to people I am calling, although I can hear them pretty well. There is however a bad delay which only I seem to be hearing, making the communication issues worse.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 15, 2008 Posts: 2

Here are my results from the speedtest:

RESULTS:

Given your current Internet speeds, we estimate that your Internet connection can support a maximum of 0 simultaneous high quality Vonage® VoIP connections.

Download 692,512 bps
Upload 57,720 bps
QOS 2%
RTT 46 ms
MaxPause 211 ms

Download speed 497 Kbps (socket test)
Upload speed 59 Kbps (socket test)
Quality of service 0 %
Maximum pause 2164 ms
Round trip time 44 ms
Upstream jitter 2.9 ms
Upstream packet loss 0 %
Upstream packet order 100 %
Upstream discards 0 %
Downstream jitter 0.0 ms
Downstream packet loss 100 %
Downstream packet order 99 %
Downstream discards 0 %