Where to set QoS and sound improvement

This forum includes tips for maintaining the best audio quality possible with the Ooma System. If your Ooma system is having issues with dropped calls, static audio or echo, look here for assistance.
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Shawn
Posts:94
Joined:Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:59 am
Where to set QoS and sound improvement

Post by Shawn » Sat Mar 06, 2010 7:44 am

Here is my equipment and setup:
1) Motorola SB5120 cable modem
2) Netgear WNR2000 v.1 router
3) Ooma Telo
4) House wiring connects to the phone jack of Telo, and disconnect from phone company at the outside network box
4) Internet Service: Comcast Performance, download 20 mb/s, upload 2.5 mb/s, ping 99

The Ooma Telo unit is downstream of the Netgear router. The Netgear has the option to set QoS. I set the QoS using the Netgear by using the MAC id of the Telo at the highest priority. I did not touch the QoS setting for the Telo (at first). With this, there is no sound breakup even when I was doing heavy downloading. My question is whether there is anything gain by further adjusting QoS for the Telo unit?

With regarding to the sound quality, there was always a humming background noise with burst of buzzing during the quiet moments of a conversation. I contacted customer service on this issue. The suggestion was to adjust the QoS setting by hooking up my computer to the Telo unit. I brought up my web browsers (Firefox and IE). Both could get into the Ooma setup page but froze after that. We worked on both browsers for a while then it hit me to disable the antivirus software (KIS). That resolved the browser issue. I noticed the QoS setting in the Telo unit was at 384 kb/s upoad and 0 for download. CS person advised me to up both numbers for up and download. I tested the sound after hanging up from CS but it did not seem to make any difference on the humming and buzzing. I then tried the fax mode. There were some reduction in the humming but the burst of buzzing was still there. With nothing better to do, I changed the wifi channel on the router. For reasons unknown, the humming is down to hardly noticeable level and the buzzing seemed to be gone. I thought I would share this with the Telo users that still have the humming and buzzing problems.

Going back to the QoS setting, I think it would make sense for me to have 0 for both up and download in the Telo and just let the router do the controlling.

murphy
Posts:7554
Joined:Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:49 pm
Location:Pennsylvania

Re: Where to set QoS and sound improvement

Post by murphy » Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:04 am

If you have nothing connected to the Home port of the Telo, the Telo QOS setting has no meaning.
Set both values to 0 (disable).
Customer since January 2009
Telo with 2 Handsets, a Linx, and a Safety Phone
Telo2 with 2 Handsets and a Linx

Shawn
Posts:94
Joined:Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:59 am

Re: Where to set QoS and sound improvement

Post by Shawn » Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:14 am

murphy wrote:If you have nothing connected to the Home port of the Telo, the Telo QOS setting has no meaning.
Set both values to 0 (disable).
Yes, I agree.

swynn97
Posts:20
Joined:Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:52 pm

Re: Where to set QoS and sound improvement

Post by swynn97 » Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:47 pm

OOMA needs to stop telling people to check QOS on the OOMA box for EVERY problem....

Simon

wcbtelo
Posts:2
Joined:Fri Mar 12, 2010 1:43 pm

Re: Where to set QoS and sound improvement

Post by wcbtelo » Fri Mar 12, 2010 2:03 pm

I just fired up my Telo yesterday, removed the landline wiring drom my punchdown block and back-wired it into the house wiring. Everything seems to be running perfrctly, except I have that same strange, intermittent hum that only happens under certain circumstances during the quiet "whitespace" in the call. This is NOT a 60Hz AC hum.

It seems to happen when there has just been duplex activity (that is, when both I and the caller have been talking) and when my side of the call has had a slightly greater volume or range than usual and is suddenly silent while the caller's side still has sound. It does something like this:

Caller: So is this your new Telo?
Me: Of course it is! (slightly excited and louder)
Caller: It (wooom) sounds great!
Me: Except for that odd "woooom" sound I just heard.
Caller: What?
Me: That strange "wooom" sound! (again, louder)
Caller: Odd, (woooom) I don't hear anything.
Me: Gaaaah!

It's a very low pitched sound with an amplitude envelope that starts off just audible, ramps up over maybe .1 second, then fades more slowly over maybe another .5 seconds. It happens about once every 45 seconds throughout the call.

I can tolerate it, but - and this is what will quickly kill my Telo contract - my wife can't stand it.

If I can't fix this thing, it's back to the telco (which was FiOs, and therefore VOIP, so I know this isn't a general VOIP issue).

My setup:
Ooma Telo
Cat5 Ethernet to 100Mbit integrated coax/ethernet FiOs Router - 25 ft.
Cat5 (1 pair) from Telo to punchdown block - 20 ft
Cat5 (1 pair) from punchdown to wall jacks - 20 ft
Maybe 5 jacks throughout the house, two wired.
Handset on a Uniden non-DECT system
Offline fax pluggd into other wall jack

Problem is reproducible with phone base station plugged directly into "Phone" jack rather than through house wiring.

Shawn
Posts:94
Joined:Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:59 am

Re: Where to set QoS and sound improvement

Post by Shawn » Fri Mar 12, 2010 11:19 pm

Have you try setting the default to fax mode? It helps on some sound quality issues.

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