Choppy outgoing speech using vt2442 and wrt54gl

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 02, 2009 Posts: 6

Hello everyone. Let me first thank anyone in advance who can help out with the trouble I am having. I appreciate it a lot! I have read a lot about the choppiness that we can experience with outgoing voice, but there is so much info out there it is making my head spin! Here's my situation:

Calling while using utorrent produces very choppy audio for the person on the other end. It is so bad they can't here most of what I say. I can hear them perfectly fine. Before I go any further, here are some of my specs:

Camp Hill, PA (by Harrisburg)
Comcast hi-speed cable
Speed according to them is ~4mbps down and ~1mbps up
Modem--Motorola surfboard sb5100

going to

Linksys wrt54gl w/ latest linksys firmware

going to

1. Motorola vt2442
2. My computer
3. Laptop via wireless (not used much)

Here's my speed data w/out anything else running (vonage quality set to high for all tests). All tests reported were taken at about 7:30-8:30 pm.

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 3295928 bps
Upload speed: 1234712 bps
Quality of service: 77 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 193 ms
Average download pause: 6 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 82 ms
Average round trip time to server: 115 ms

Voip test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 17.5 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 5.1 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: 20
Estimated MOS score: 3.7

Here's the same test 15 minutes later.

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 2950624 bps
Upload speed: 1405320 bps
Quality of service: 47 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 308 ms
Average download pause: 7 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 65 ms
Average round trip time to server: 67 ms

Voip test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 11.3 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 4.1 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: 23
Estimated MOS score: 3.9

And again 5 minutes after test #2

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 3120088 bps
Upload speed: 1200184 bps
Quality of service: 87 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 239 ms
Average download pause: 6 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 68 ms
Average round trip time to server: 91 ms

Voip test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 25.1 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 6.6 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: 20
Estimated MOS score: 3.6

I ran this test almost 50 times throughout the day today and have had QOS of from the 30's up to the high 80's. Jitter ranges from ~10-77.

Here is a test about 15 min after test#3 above w/ utorrent running with a 15kbps upload.

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 2928376 bps
Upload speed: 1391896 bps
Quality of service: 72 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 272 ms
Average download pause: 7 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 66 ms
Average round trip time to server: 153 ms

Voip test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 25.5 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 3.9 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: 23
Estimated MOS score: 3.6

...and again 5 min later w/ utorrent.

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 3124944 bps
Upload speed: 982856 bps
Quality of service: 54 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 269 ms
Average download pause: 6 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 68 ms
Average round trip time to server: 157 ms

Voip test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 34.6 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 4.7 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: 16
Estimated MOS score: 3.7

I have had utorrent running in the past w/ minimal impact on my phone. Callers might say about slight choppiness, but nothing major. My Vonage was set always set to highest quality, and my utorrent upload speed is only set for 15kbps.

Over holiday break, folks had major problems hearing anything I said. Only bits and pieces of speech were getting through. Again, I could hear them fine.

So I decreased my upload speed in utorrent to 5kbps and reduced my Vonage quality to high. Folks still had trouble hearing me.

I have tried to set the QOS in my router like mentioned in other posts (with both auto and manual) but the trouble continues.

My apologies for the length of the post, but I wanted to give as much info as possible. Thank you again for your help everyone!

Posts: 86 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jan 03, 2009 Posts: 86

Configure the WAN interface of the VT2442 as static (ip address) outside of the dhcp pool defined by the Linksys wrt54gl (but in the same subnet) and set that address as a DMZ on the Linksys wrt54gl.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 02, 2009 Posts: 6

Thanks! Will try this tomorrow. Just want to double check your instructions (I'm not the best with all this).

I can't log into the 2442 w/ my desktop hooked into it, I am guessing b/c I have a static ip set up with it and my GL. I could hook a line up to the 2442 w/ my laptop and I should be able to login.

If my GT says my ip range is blah.blah.blah.100-149 I should use all the same beginning numbers but make the last set 150 or above?

Use the subnet stated in the GT setup screen.

Allow DMZ and put the address I entered in the 2442 in this box.

Not to be a total goof, but what will these settings do? Is it to give the data from the Vonage device and easier road to travel?

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 04, 2009 Posts: 1

Jdawgs,
I have no idea what all that stuff means that ypu posted but I picked up on one thing: U Torrent
My daughter has been about ready to kill me for changing to Vonage. and for the last 3 days she hasnt been able to talk to her boyfriend.the problem was exactly what you discribed as the trouble that you were having.

I read your post and I know she is downloading something with Utorrent. I showed her your post.she shut the program down and she is now talking to her sweetie!

Im so glad she isnt going to kill me in my sleep! Very Happy

Sherry

Posts: 293 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jan 22, 2006 Posts: 293

Here's a great thread in which VonTechMgr respons about torrents and Vonage service. He points out some things worth noting

http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic23376.html

I've got some questions about your test results but I haven't time to think through them right now. I'll revist it this later today

Posts: 293 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Jan 22, 2006 Posts: 293

Oh and one more idea

It'd be nice to compare the test with the computer directly hooked up through the modem.

You could also try using the Vonage adapter directly into the surfboard for a bit and see what that does.

Your jitter up shouldn't be that high. So that's why it would be nice to try the test without the router in place.

And read the thread I posted earlier

Posts: 656 · Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:07 am Post subject:

Another thing Jdawgs may want to try is flashing the firmware on the WRT54GL to DD-WRT or Tomato if the hardware version permits. Reason I say this is because the Linksys firmware's QOS is really a POS. It performs much better under the 3rd party firmware. Since QOS is enabled and unless it is not configured properly, it does not appear to be functioning as it should.

Make sure your torrent client is set to a max upload of 5kbps by checking the actual upload speed where you view torrent activity to confirm. If there are multiple people connected and each is getting 5kbps or more, then it is wrong. If 10 people are downloading from you, your upload should be no more then 5kbps total split across all connections.

Confirm exactly how you configured the QOS. You mentioned manual and auto but did not describe exactly what you were assigning and how. Are you assigning High priority to the Vonage adapter by MAC address, by the physical port it is connected to, by protocol, or by service port?

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

Aside from the issues of using Vonage with U Torrents, I'd be concerned about some of the tests run with nothing else running. The max pauses and jitters are pretty high.

Posts: 656 · Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:20 pm Post subject:

You also ran the test between 730 and 8 PM which is about the most used peak hours and since your results were not good, this could indicate your cable node is heavily congested. Try to run the tests during different times and see if your results differ.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 02, 2009 Posts: 6

Hi everyone, thanks for your time in dealing with this. When I posted my tests above, it was with QOS disabled. I had tried QOS earlier in the day, but it didn't seem to help w/ anything. Here is what I did:

I went into the linksys setup and enable QOS w/ auto selected. I set port 1 (vonage device) as high, and port 2 (computer) as low. I started up utorrent at 5kbps upload and called a family member. I could hear them, but they had problems hearing me.

As mentioned in some other threads regarding QOS I tried to go with manual. Comcast says my upload speed is 1100 so I set it at 950 to start...same problems. I kept bumping down my speed but the problem persisted.

I even turned my upload in utorrent to down to 1kbps but the problem continued.

I was talking to my father about my frustration last night (without anything else running) and he mentioned that when we talk he can still here small cut-outs (very tiny)every now and then...even when utorrent isn't running. He said that it is so small that it doesn't really have an impact on the conversation, but that it is still there some times.

I also ran some test at various times throughout the day and with QOS ranging from the high 30's to the 70's and jitter going from 10's to 40's (nothing else running).

How about I run some tests again w/ my current setup. I will then run some tests using just the Vonage router hooked up to the modem. I'll post the results when I am finished.

Thanks again everyone for your help. I really appreciate it.