Ooma Forums

I'm stumped on the Scout scratchy outbound call quality problem. I spoke to Ooma customer support several times over the last 10 days. Each rep said "yes, my call sounded scratchy" One rep called back on my Hub and said "this sounds much better". The reps gave me CS number and a promise to escalate my case, but no calls back yet.

The fact that many folks on this forum are big Ooma fans has kept me from losing patience and returning it to the retailer (one week left). I saw posts from others with this exact problem, but have yet to read of a solid solution.

My Hub calls have good sound quality both ways. My Scout calls always sound scratchy to the other (non-Ooma) party, but their voice always sounds good to me. The scratchiness is sometimes worse, but never completely gone, pointing to something intermittent. However, since Ooma recommends not faxing from the Scout, it seems like there must be a design difference from the Hub.

The HPNA doesn't seem like it should be an issue because it's digital. My Hub and Scout are connected together with only a short jumper, wall-port to wall-port (no in-wall wires or landline connected).

Any comments, suggestions or advice would be appreciated, especially from someone that's been "around the block" on this same problem, or maybe even solved it.

Bill

I doubt you'll find a solution to this. Yes, many of us have run into this and if you've tried connecting the scout directly to the hub (no house wiring) and the problem still exists then you have the same issue. Personally I have given up on the scout and just enjoy the free calling I'm getting on the Hub. The static on the non-scout side is tolerable in my case if you really need the second line but I'm just using my scout for VM.

Not that this is optimal, but should you consider the Telo in the future they have moved away from the HPNA and are now using DECT to communicate between the base and the "scout" (now a wireless handset). Sorry I can't be of any more help but I wanted to let you know that you're not alone on this issue.

Have you try it with a different cable(ie bad cable?), and check the connection at the jack of the WALL ports of both devices. When you're on a call from the scout, juggling the plug that plugs into the WALL port to see if the scratchy sound worsens or betters? You might have a bad unit and/or a bad RJ-11 connector at the WALL port(s) or just a bad cable.

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Light reading... This is a known issue for many and it is always on the non-ooma side of a scout call. However, give tommies suggestions a try and let us know if you have any luck. Also try connecting the scout directly to the hub (no house wiring) to test.

Aveamantium - Thanks for the feedback and thread references. It sounds as if you believe this is an inherent design bug with all Scouts. That's possible but the fact that it's sometimes better or worse, makes me suspicious it's not. There appears to be many happy Scout users, so maybe it's a bad batch of Scouts. If any readers have replaced a Scout and had this problem go away, I'd love to hear from them.

tommies - I've tried various cables and checked connections between Hub and Scout many times to no avail. Do you hear any difference between your Hub and Scout quality on the non-Ooma side?

I just now tried leaving myself voice mails using the same phone plugged into the Hub and then into the Scout. The difference is minimal (but still there). When I call my real landline the difference varies and is sometimes very bad. The Hub is always very good.

This would be an easier problem if it was simply the same bad quality ever time. If there's any others with info or clues on this, please let us know.

Bill

Aveamantium wrote: Personally I have given up on the scout and just enjoy the free calling I'm getting on the Hub. The static on the non-scout side is tolerable in my case if you really need the second line but I'm just using my scout for VM.

I've now tried everything and reached the same conclusion you reached - I've given up on the Scout. I've listened to a good number of test calls from the non-Ooma side. The static varies, and often borders on intolerable to my ear. The worse thing is that only the other party knows how bad it is, not you, so it's sort of rude to annoy folks that way. The Hub calls are always excellent, so I'm leaning on only using the Scout for VM access and not subscribing to Premier unless the Scout call quality improves.

Bill