Quote from: KevKan on December 28, 2015, 06:50:27 PM
Steve, don't know for sure if your reply was directed at me. If it was, I didn't mean to imply it was a VoIP provider issue. I was just inquiring about who his provider was and to point out how helpful mine was in the enabling the resolution of the problem.
I'm glad your ITSP was helpful in resolving
your specific problem. However, it doesn't apply to the original poster's problem, which is caused by the OP's internet service, not the provider; contacting the provider would just be a waste of time, since they can't do anything about the underlying cause. The OP's provider is Google Voice, by the way, per the first post.
Google Voice uses the G.711 PCM CODEC to transform audio into the bitstream that travels over the internet. A G.711 stream uses about 95Kbps (64Kbps for the CODEC bitstream, plus network overhead). A two-way conversation uses double that bitrate. The symptom is that the called party (not the calling party) hears audio drop-outs or "breaking up". This is caused by the upstream connection from the called party's home network to the internet. That connection is being offered at a theoretical maximum of 320Kbps, which, if it was working well, and no other devices on that user's home network were sending data, should support a phone call just fine.
However, the 320Kbps isn't guaranteed, and many factors can cause it to degrade (e.g. excessive distance between the home and the central office, old, corroded copper wire, moisture in the wiring, load coils on the loop, etc.). This puts it at the hairy edge of unreliable/marginal service for VoIP. The solution is to attempt to get Frontier to either test and optimize their existing service to that house, or, if possible, upgrade it to a faster tier of service (or to leave Frontier and use cable internet for a lot more money).