At wit's end: Other end cannot hear me well or at all

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 20, 2008 Posts: 12

I am not technically inclined, but know my way around the computer for certain things. I have had Vonage for almost 2 years now but the last 6 months have been a nightmare with audio quality.

I use Brighthouse Roadrunner cable for my internet connection with a Webstar router, and the modem is a LINKSYS. My vonage device is a VTech. I have the wireless phone. I have the vonage device connected to the router, and the internet cable box connected to the router.

I have messed with my firewall settings previously and this does not help, and I have messed with the broadband saver feature several times. I had it set on normal and today switched back to high but nothing seems to work still.

I should also mention I turn off everything with the internet to talk on the phone to try and see if this helps and it does not. I have tried moving the base to different rooms but this also does not work.

Some calls start out fine, but then the longer I talk then they cannot hear me and start complaining. Sometimes they just cannot hear me at all. Today I received a few calls and they just said, if you can hear me call me back at so and so number. I tried calling back and they could not hear. This is a problem with ingoing and outgoing calls. Strangely I always hear them perfectly on "my" end.

Nothing has changed in the two years with my internet service or equipment. I need to figure out something fast as I cannot use the phone and it's getting to the point where I will need to cancel if I can' t get it working dependantly. I hate doing that as it is a good deal in terms of price, and if I can get it working again it would be great. I don't use the phone THAT much, but when I need it, I need it!

I ran my VOIPtest and here is what is says, I don't know what this means personally:

TO BOSTON

Media Quality
MOS
3.8 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.58 46.1%
Latency 0.00 0.0%
Packet Discards 0.67 53.9%
Packet Loss 0.00 0.0%
Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 138 ms
Packet Discards 2.0%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods
Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 40 ms
Random Loss
Jitter
Min: 0 ms
Avg: 7 ms
Max: 32 ms
Signaling Quality
Post-Dial Delay 78 ms
Call Setup Time 94 ms
Media Delay 266 ms

Posts: 4694 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4694

Two percent packet discards is moderately high. Please remove the router, plug your computer directly into the modem, and repeat the test. Please post the results for both to and from Boston.

You might want to repeat the test a few times with some time between to see if there is an intermittent issue.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 21, 2008 Posts: 3

My phone is having the same problem. I did the VoIP test and everything is great. Why are people still having a hard time hearing me?

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 20, 2008 Posts: 12

Is it better for voice quality to be set at normal or higher? I do not choose highest as I do not have a souped up internet connection.

Is packets being moderately high a good or negative thing?

I hooked up the modem directly, and here are the results:

Media Quality
MOS
3.6 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.57 40.2%
Latency 0.00 0.0%
Packet Discards 0.85 59.8%
Packet Loss 0.00 0.0%
Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 134 ms
Packet Discards 2.7%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods
Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 40 ms
Random Loss
Jitter
Min: 0 ms
Avg: 7 ms
Max: 40 ms
Signaling Quality
Post-Dial Delay 78 ms
Call Setup Time 93 ms
Media Delay 234 ms

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 20, 2008 Posts: 12

mkpayne22 wrote:

My phone is having the same problem. I did the VoIP test and everything is great. Why are people still having a hard time hearing me?

Yeah, I'd rather have a hard time hearing them myself. At least this way we know the phone isn't working. I have no way to tell unless they start going hello? hello? or hanging up on me. Or else just saying, boy your phone is breaking up, your phone ****, or what is wrong with your phone? Every one of those has happened to me with different calls this week alone lol

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 21, 2008 Posts: 3

Yeah I even went and got a new phone. I have a hubby who is out of the country with military so our conversations mean a lot and him not being able to hear me is getting so frustrating. I hope to get some kind of help.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 20, 2008 Posts: 12

mkpayne22 wrote:

Yeah I even went and got a new phone. I have a hubby who is out of the country with military so our conversations mean a lot and him not being able to hear me is getting so frustrating. I hope to get some kind of help.

I know what you mean. Today I think one of the calls was a job place, I have been unemployed and really need work, but they couldn't hear me and kept hanging up. I was thinking of another phone but I'm broke. If the solution is to buy more equipment I would rather just cancel. Knowing my luck it wouldn't solve the problem anyway.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 21, 2008 Posts: 3

I don't know if this will help you but I changed my bandwith to the lowest setting and it seems to help so far. Good Luck!!!

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 20, 2008 Posts: 12

mkpayne22 wrote:

I don't know if this will help you but I changed my bandwith to the lowest setting and it seems to help so far. Good Luck!!!

Thanks. I have tried that before but it didn't help me enough yet. I'm glad for you and hope it holds out, good luck! Smile

Posts: 4694 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4694

LexLuv101 wrote:

Is it better for voice quality to be set at normal or higher? I do not choose highest as I do not have a souped up internet connection.

Is packets being moderately high a good or negative thing?

Packet loss is a negative thing. In the latest data it's up to 2.7%. You'll notice that the test reports that packet discards are responsible for 59.8% of degradation in your communication. Since you've connected your computer directly to the modem, it indicates that the problem is with your ISP (which includes the modem itself) rather than your personal LAN gear.

Please post the rest of the details listed in the sticky.