Comcast Sppeds - how to Improve

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 6

My Results with Comcast
Download 5,296,784 bps
Upload 303,072 bps
QOS 53%
RTT 17 ms
MaxPause 285 ms Sad

I have been using Concast here in Dallas - as you can see my results are not great. Adaptors sit behind a D-link router - they are the older Motorola ones provided by Vonage a year ago. Any suggestions on improving my Vonage service?
Thanks

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:37 pm Post subject:

it probably has nothing to do with your setup and everything to do with your isp. what cable modem? and what exactly is your problem, or do you even have one? if so, post detailed results from the testyourvoip.com boston server.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 6

Hi - Thanks for your interest
I posted the testyourvoip.com results below - Golden Phone looked much better than this. I seem to experience some packet loss at times as well as voice quality when calling and receiving calls. I believe it is the Comcast ISP issue.
The cable modem is a Motorola SB5120 from Comcast.

MOS Analysis from You 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 157 ms
Packet Discards 2.7%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods
Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 60 ms
Random Loss
Jitter
Min: 0 ms
Avg: 3 ms
Max: 76 ms
Signaling Quality
Post-Dial Delay 89 ms
Call Setup Time 132 ms
Media Delay 363 ms

MOS Analysis FROM Boston To You

Media Quality
MOS
4.0 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.57 60.3%
Latency 0.00 0.0%
Packet Discards 0.38 39.7%
Packet Loss 0.00 0.0%
Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 157 ms
Packet Discards 1.7%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods
Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 60 ms
Random Loss
Jitter
Min: 0 ms
Avg: 1 ms
Max: 53 ms
Signaling Quality
Post-Pickup Delay 255 ms
Call Setup Time 266 ms
Media Delay 287 ms

Golden Phone results
Audio MOS Details
MOS
4.4 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.60 100.0%
Latency 0.00 0.0%
Packet Discards 0.00 0.0%
Packet Loss 0.00 0.0%
Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 19 ms
Packet Discards 0.0%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods
Min: 0 ms
Avg: 0 ms
Max: 0 ms
No Loss
Jitter
Min: 0 ms
Avg: 0 ms
Max: 0 ms

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:02 pm Post subject:

definitely showing some loss. go to http://192.168.100.1 click Signal and post Signal to Noise ratio and Power Level (both of them)

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 6

Here are the modem signal results.

Downstream

Signal to Noise Ratio 34 dB
QAM 256
Network Access Control Object ON
Power Level 6 dBmV

Upstream
Channel ID 6
Frequency 19500000 Hz
Ranging Service ID 2821
Symbol Rate 3.200 Msym/s
Power Level 46 dBmV

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:31 pm Post subject:

well fortunately or unfortunately those values are within normal limits. your network setup is cable modem to dlink (what model #?) to Vonage right? it could also be an issue of using the internet while on a phone call which can suck needed bandwidth from your Voip connection, especially with a dlink router which doesn't have qos.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 6

Good news /bad news - in the future when I need a new router (inevitable at some point). Obviously there are now some with QOS settings. Any recommendations there? As mentioned the Comcast ISP status seems to be rather up and down here in Dallas.

I am also looking to put Vonage into my home in Colorado - I am thinking about the V-Tech Phone -Vonage set up. Does it have a wireless transmitter ? If not what would your recommend for a router. In Colorado I have a direct wireless to wireless ISP that runs up to 512kbs?

Thanks jestarx

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:59 pm Post subject:

is it even a router? I have no idea, but anyway, the linksys wrt54g seems to be the most popular model.
as far as a wisp, people have different experiences with them. they can be problematic due to inherent latency. if I were you, I'd take the motorola with you on a trip to the house and see how it works before ordering a new line.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 6

Thanks for your analysis and assistance. I will take my Vonage box with me to Colorado and see how it works. Sounds like I should look into a router with QOS in the future and no easy solutions for the Comcast ISP issues here in Dallas.
jestarx

Posts: 14 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 01, 2003 Posts: 14

jestarx wrote:

Good news /bad news - in the future when I need a new router (inevitable at some point). Obviously there are now some with QOS settings. Any recommendations there? As mentioned the Comcast ISP status seems to be rather up and down here in Dallas.

My suggestion would be for you to put your Motorola unit between your cable modem and d-link. This will help you in two ways... 1) QoS. The Motorola unit (even though it doesn't have the best QoS, it's still better than nothing). 2) Security. By placing the Vonage Motorola unit before your D-Link, it will allow your D-Link to firewall your PC's from the internet and if for some reason someone is able to Hack the Motorola unit in the future (by means of hacking the SIP ports), your PC's will remain protected. It's another layer of security.

I know this may not help at all with your up/down speeds, but it will allow you to possibly have slightly higher call quality.

I have Comcast in Zion, IL and I also have 2 ATA-186 and the Motorola box, for a total of 4 lines (1 ATA = Home line, 1 ATA = Business/Fax lines, and the Motorola is a line for a REACT group I belong to). I am paying for the extra IP's the Comcast offers and have a switch in place. That's configured as: uplink to modem, ATA1, ATA2, Motorola, SBS2k3 Server (Which connects to another switch for LAN access). I also do PC repairs so the only time I really ever use the LAN port on the Motorola is when I work on someone's PC and want to ensure I don't get any viruses on my network.

I have been able to successfully use 3 of the 4 lines at a time with no issues.