Poor Voice Quality

Posts: 19 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 20, 2005 Posts: 19

For the past several weeks, I have noticed a definite loss of voice quality in incoming calls and callers are also complaining about my voice breaking up and sounding like I am underwater.
I have a PAP2 TA and WRT 54GS router with Shaw high speed, in Vancouver BC.
Also, I'm having trouble connecting to the Voip speed test on this website.
Greatful for any suggestions on how to determine the problem and rectify it. Thanks.

Posts: 53 · Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 10:40 am Post subject:

I'm using Shaw as well; I live in the Westend.

I just ran the Speed Test and it's working for me. Are you using a firewall like Zone Alarm? If so, you need to give the Java applet permission to access the internet as the speed test uses Java. Most times I use the Mozilla Firefox browser, but with some sites, like the speed test, the browser doesn't always work the way it's supposed to, so I revert back to Microsoft's IE6. Those are the only two things I can think of.

As for my high-speed connection I rarely get the fast speeds that are advertised. There are my most recent readings:

Download 1,574,192 bps
Upload 979,192 bps
QOS 49%
RTT 86 ms
MaxPause 109 ms

For 8:30am on a Friday, this is good. Usually my upload is twice as fast as my download speed. I experience the occasional line noise from time to time with Vonage and most times I've traced the noise to my cordless phone and interference from the cellphone towers above my head. (Can anyone say "Critical Mass"?)

Hope this helps you.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jun 27, 2005 Posts: 10

I am going to say that maybe your speed is an issue. Not knowing your setup, maybe you Internet is being used by something or something is wrong with your service.

Do you have a wireless router? If so log into it to verify the connectivity on it. Maybe someone is getting free Internet.

Next do some speed tests to verify that your speeds are good? Use google to search for speed test sites.

If everything checks ok then verify that you account with Vonage is set to high quality.

You could also have a bad network/cables. Not saying you do but could...

Posts: 19 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 20, 2005 Posts: 19

I'm paying for high speed Shaw service but the Voip test at 0745 hours Tuesday was:
Upload 435 kbps
download 851
QOS 39%
RTT 83 ms
max pause 491ms
My test results are always in these ranges and the download speed is never more than 1 Mbps.
I have a protected wireless network and new cables in the Voip system.My Vonage account settings are at high quality on the bandwidth saver.
When I telephone Shaw Cable they were extremely unhelpful and provided a lecture on the recent CRTC decision and blamed Vonage for using Shaws system and hardware etc. I advised the customer non- service rep that I was paying for the high speed service and any dispute between Shaw and Vonage was their problem and not to punish the paying customer. The rep never addressed the slow speed issue. I hung up in discust and will try again to see if any of their service reps are so helpful.The Shaw rep did try to sell me a dedicated part of the bandwidth for an extra $ 10.00 per month. I replied that I am already paying for enhanced internet service and another charge is just another rip-off. It seems that the customers are caught in the middle of a battle between Shaw and Vonage.
Any further ideas or recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks .

Posts: 53 · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 12:21 pm Post subject:

I hear you. I'm paying $50/month for Shaw's "NEW & IMPROVED" High-Speed X-Treme 1. Below is a snippet of what they advertise from their website.

Feature:

Was: Download Speed Up to 5.0 Mb
Now: Up to 7.0 Mb

Upstream & Downstream Traffic Combined 50 Gb/month
Price $10/month*

My speed test as of a few minutes ago was: (10:10am PST)

Download 634,296 bps = 0.63 Mpbs
Upload 970,440 bps = 0.97 Mpbs
QOS 83%
RTT 91 ms
MaxPause 172 ms

Not even CLOSE to what I am paying for. WHY?

I probably wouldn't have told them I was having problems with Vonage. I think it's better to address the speed issue directly and getting what we're supposed to be, their advertised product.

Also, don't rely on Shaw's Speed Tool. I've run it a few times and it's wrong. It seems to take the fastest speed detected during the test and uses that as the test result, which gives me the impression that this is my speed all the time, which it's not.

I'll be giving them a call as well. Hope you can work it out.

Posts: 53 · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:18 pm Post subject:

Kind of funny how CS Reps turn things around so it's always the customers fault, (sometimes it is).

I just got off the phone with Shaw, after spending an hour troubleshooting my 6Mbps discrepancy in speed.

I was asked to connect my computer directly to the Shaw modem, bypass the router, and run their speed test, which produced the same result. I ran the Vonage Speed Test as well, same result. In the end I am told that the speed between their office and the modem is a little slow but still acceptable. My loss in speed must be the result of either my router???, Zone Alarm or the Windows Firewall. Even though I ran the tests connected directly to the Modem without using any firewalls and got the same result. What a waste of time.

Where do they find these people? Maybe Shaw knows they have issues and they train their CS Reps to do this, it's their way of saying they don't want to do anything about it.

Maybe it's time to find another ISP. I heard through the grapevine that someone is rolling out wireless high-speed city wide and in other major centres across Canada soon, and it's not Shaw or Telus. I hope this is true.

Never mentioned anything in the call about using Vonage. Glad I didn't otherwise I'm sure they would have blamed Vonage too.

Posts: 19 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 20, 2005 Posts: 19

Od, thanks for your comments. I too called Shaw today and they told me it was slow speed because the temporary internet files were being saved for the 7 days I had set. Pardon? Again, Shaw is simply hoping that paying customers will not notice how poor their internet speed and service are. I will also be shoping for a new ISP and TV provider. If anyone has any viable and cost effective alternatives for TV and ISP in Vancouver, please let me know. I would be glad to send Shaw to the same place I sent Telus.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jun 27, 2005 Posts: 10

Shaw is feeding everybody a line of bulls#%@. Not to sure what is avaliable in your area. Shaw had started this QOS which does not work. There speed issues are due to the overload of their small nodes.

Call Shaw and tell them to get out to fix their system. For the overload caused by Voip of Vonage and others providers this would have to mean everybody in the damn area is on their Voip talking and surfing the net.

As much as I hate bell I would see if highSpeed is available in the area or another DSL provider that offers nakedDSL.

Hmmmm I wonder how Shaws Voip is working?

Go to the http://www.dslreports.com/forum/shaw
for more help inregards to the shaw issues.

Posts: 60 · Full Forum Member Joined: Apr 21, 2005 Posts: 60

In regards to your internet speed, I'd like to recommend the "Line Speed Meter" at http://www.tcpiq.com/tcpIQ/LineSpeed/Default.aspx which will check upload and download speed every 2hours (or other frequency) and after doing that for say a week, you'll be able to show Shaw what your speed really is over a period of time and not just one reading. It's free and easy to use.

Posts: 53 · Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:52 pm Post subject:

Thanks for recommending tcpIQ, exactly what I was looking for.

I spent two hours on the phone with Shaw yesterday. The CS Rep finally admitted that I should be getting better speeds that I have been. By the end of the second hour after she had done a bit of tweaking on her end, I was getting around 2.0 Mbps (up from 0.6Mbps), still not close to 7. So my issue has been passed onto the 'senior team members'. I'm happy that they're looking into it.

I plan on using tcpIQ everyday to track my line speed. I would recommend it others as well. If everyone used this to track their connection speed by ISP, area, day and time, ISP's would have very little choice but to deal with the problem when confronted by the hard numbers this tool can produce. Thanks again dcongrav! Very Happy