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voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 2:01 pm
by gnelson10
During some long calls all of a sudden the voice quality coming in from the remote to me end of the call gets very "mechanical" sounding. This has just started happening with ooma in the last week or so. :|

Re: voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 2:14 pm
by ajw522
I've actually had that happen many times lately during long conversations with my friend who is also an Ooma Telo user. However, it only happens when his internet is under heavy use (his computers are before the Ooma Telo, therefore, no prioritization is going on). His upload speeds get terrible, and it then turns into a "robotic voice" for me on my end. Now, that mechanic voice can happen as a result of one of two things: 1) bad upload speed of the other person (if they are a VOIP user) or 2) your download speed is bad.

Re: voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 10:15 pm
by thunderbird
gnelson10 wrote:During some long calls all of a sudden the voice quality coming in from the remote to me end of the call gets very "mechanical" sounding. This has just started happening with ooma in the last week or so. :|
How is your Ooma device connected, Modem-Ooma-Router or Modem-Router-Ooma?

Some suggestions that you can do from your end:
To stabilize your Ooma device connection change from Automatic to Use Built In MAC Address:
If your Ooma setup is Modem-Ooma-Router, type http://172.27.35.1 in your computer's browser. The Ooma Setup pages opens. Click on Internet settings. Go down to INTERNET port MAC Address: and click on Use Built In. Click on Update device and restart your Ooma device.
If your Ooma device is connected behind your router, temporarily connect a network cable from one of your router's LAN ports to the wired LAN port of a computer. Temporarily disable Wi-Fi. Reboot the computer.
Than type http://172.27.35.1 in your computer's browser and select Use Built MAC address per instructions above.

If your Ooma device is connected Modem-Ooma-Router access your Ooma Setup pages and click on Advanced. Set Quality of Service Upstream and Downstream values to about 80 % of measured Upload and download speeds as measured by http://www.speedtest.net/. Note: 80 % is just a starting place and this value may have to raised or lowered slightly as required for your home's LAN requirements.

If your Ooma device is connected Modem-Router-Ooma set the Ooma Setup Advanced Quality of Service Upstream and Downstream values to zero.

If your Ooma device is connected Modem-Router-Ooma reserve a static IP address in your router for your Ooma device. Than place the Ooma device's static IP address in your router's DMZ.

To give an idea of how your Internet connection is doing, do the following:
Run http://speedtest.phonepower.com/. Click on the Advanced tab, than "view text" in the lower right had corner of the page. Highlight the text, copy data and paste data here in a new post.

Re: voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 2:08 pm
by gnelson10
I am modem-ooma-router. I adjusted the MAC address as suggested. I adjusted the QOS to 80% of upload and download speed. Here are the other statistics requested:

Speed test statistics

---------------------

Download speed: 14400 kbps

Upload speed: 3587 kbps

Download consistency of service: 62 %

Upload consistency of service: 94 %

Download test type: socket

Upload test type: socket

Maximum TCP delay: 63 ms

Average download pause: 3 ms

Minimum round trip time to server: 80 ms

Average round trip time to server: 80 ms

Estimated download bandwidth: 15200 kbps

Route concurrency: 1.0554981

Download TCP forced idle: 57 %

Maximum route speed: --



VoIP test statistics

--------------------

Jitter: you --> server: 1.9 ms

Jitter: server --> you: 0.6 ms

Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %

Packet loss: server --> you: 0.0 %

Packet discards: 0.0 %

Packets out of order: 0.0 %

Estimated MOS score: 4.2

Re: voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 3:48 pm
by thunderbird
gnelson10 wrote:During some long calls all of a sudden the voice quality coming in from the remote to me end of the call gets very "mechanical" sounding. This has just started happening with ooma in the last week or so. :|
Download consistency of service: 62 % is a little low. It's usually 80% or higher, but I wouldn't worry to much right now.

I'd test/use your new changes and see how they work out.

Let us know how it works out.

Re: voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 3:12 pm
by gnelson10
Yes, hopefully these new settings will work better. Thanks for the tips!

Re: voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 5:29 pm
by lhight
I've been using my Telo for about a year and haven't had any big issues with call quality until just recently, perhaps within the last couple of weeks. It's strange because the person I'm talking to can hear me just fine, but I have a very hard time hearing them. The sound is mechanical and jumbled. The problem seems pretty random. It can occur when the bandwidth isn't being used by anything else, or when we are streaming videos online. I have 18mbps cable internet. I haven't changed my setup recently. Modem->Ooma (don't have a router).

Anyone know how I can start trouble shooting this? I've checked all the cables, and read on the forums here about adjusting the upload speed in the QoS to 80% of what my upload speed is from a speedtest. I did that. I haven't noticed any improvement. What next?

Re: voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 6:11 pm
by thunderbird
lhight wrote:I've been using my Telo for about a year and haven't had any big issues with call quality until just recently, perhaps within the last couple of weeks. It's strange because the person I'm talking to can hear me just fine, but I have a very hard time hearing them. The sound is mechanical and jumbled. The problem seems pretty random. It can occur when the bandwidth isn't being used by anything else, or when we are streaming videos online. I have 18mbps cable internet. I haven't changed my setup recently. Modem->Ooma (don't have a router).

Anyone know how I can start trouble shooting this? I've checked all the cables, and read on the forums here about adjusting the upload speed in the QoS to 80% of what my upload speed is from a speedtest. I did that. I haven't noticed any improvement. What next?
Some people have had luck with the following when they have higher capacity Internet speeds:
Try setting your QoS in your Ooma to zero for both the Upstream and downstream settings, and then test.

Others have had luck setting the QoS Upstream and Downstream speeds to a higher value that the measured Upload and Downloads speed as measured by http://www.speedtest.net/

To help stabilize your Ooma Internet connection:
If your Ooma device is connected Modem-Ooma, access your Ooma Setup pages by typing http://172.27.35.1 in your computer browser window. The Ooma Setup pages open. Click on Internet, go down to INTERNET Port MAC Address: and change setting from Automatic to Use Built In. Click on Update device. Reboot your Modem, when the Modem is done booting reboot your Ooma device.

If you continue to have problems:
You could run http://speedtest.phonepower.com/ to see how your modem and Internet connection is doing, and post the following here: (Do this test not during but right after you are having problems hearing).
Download Speed: ________________
Upload Seed: ________________
Download Consistency of Service ________
Upload Consistency of Service _________
Maximum TCP Delay _____________
Jitter you server __________
Jitter server you _________
Packet loss: you server_______
Packet loss: server you ______
Packet discards _________
Packets out of order _________
Estimated MOS score ________

Re: voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 12:35 pm
by lhight
I just wanted to follow up and say thanks. I changed my QoS settings to 0 and also set my Mac address to "use built in". I waited a few days to see if I noticed an improvement. (I don't normally talk much on the phone, so it took a bit.) But, so far, it looks like things have definitely improved. So, thank you very much.

I do have a question just for curiosity's sake. What difference does changing the Mac address from automatic to built-in when the addresses for both are the same? It would be interesting to know.

Thanks!

Re: voice quality gets very poor lately

Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 12:57 pm
by thunderbird
lhight wrote:I just wanted to follow up and say thanks. I changed my QoS settings to 0 and also set my Mac address to "use built in". I waited a few days to see if I noticed an improvement. (I don't normally talk much on the phone, so it took a bit.) But, so far, it looks like things have definitely improved. So, thank you very much.

I do have a question just for curiosity's sake. What difference does changing the Mac address from automatic to built-in when the addresses for both are the same? It would be interesting to know.

Thanks!
When the MAC address is set to Automatic, MAC Address Spoofing is enabled. There seems to be a conflict between modems/routers and Ooma devices when MAC Address Spoofing is enabled. In many, many cases, this setting will cause dropped calls, garbled voice transmissions, and other problems. Many times using Built In MAC Address resolves those problems.