Static heard on all Google Voice calls on OBi202
LotharX:
UPDATE: I bought another brand of cordless phone today (an AT&T), just to find out if the cordless Panasonic phone was the problem.
The scratchiness is still there when calling OBiman on the echo test. If anything, it's even worse on the new AT&T phone, but only when using its cordless handset.
The AT&T phone also has a corded handset on the base unit. OBiman sounds fine (not great, but acceptable) on that handset.
So it seems that the problem is only pronounced with cordless handsets, no matter what brand of cordless phone I use. Why would that be the case? Does the OBi202 have some peculiarity that would cause noise over DECT 6.0 radio signals?
SteveInWA:
Why do you expect that a cordless handset will sound as clear as a corded handset? Even though modern DECT cordless phones use digital audio communications, it's still a radio, and it's going to introduce some noise. Also, consider the price: you're not buying an "audiophile" product when you buy an inexpensive cordless phone -- they've "value engineered" it down to the lowest possible manufacturing cost.
I think you are after unattainable perfection at that price point.
LotharX:
Quote from: SteveInWA on March 10, 2017, 04:50:47 pm
Why do you expect that a cordless handset will sound as clear as a corded handset? Even though modern DECT cordless phones use digital audio communications, it's still a radio, and it's going to introduce some noise. Also, consider the price: you're not buying an "audiophile" product when you buy an inexpensive cordless phone -- they've "value engineered" it down to the lowest possible manufacturing cost.
I think you are after unattainable perfection at that price point.
I've used cordless telephones before over POTS lines, and those were years before the technology that's available today. I've never heard noise like this before. If you could hear what I'm hearing, you'd understand... the noise is so bad that it's hard to understand the person I am speaking to at times.
This goes way beyond the simple limitations of a cordless handset. There's definitely some sort of problem with my connection.
I've also used cordless phones, with my old Comcast VoIP connection in my previous house, and it's always sounded crystal clear to me.
Just out of curiosity, if anybody reading this has a good-quality cordless phone, please try this test for me... disconnect the ethernet cable from your Obi, then dial ***4. I am curious if the sound is reasonably clear, or if you hear any sort of distortion to OBiwoman's voice?
SteveInWA:
That ***4 test is pretty meaningless. The voice you are hearing is digitally-assembled and compressed, and yes, it sounds fuzzy. The only valid test is to call another live human being on another telephone number and have a conversation. Try a couple of different calls to different people who have some form of digital phone service (from their cable company or a quality VoIP service provider).
You can sign up for SIP VoIP phone service with one of the a la carte (no monthly plan) providers and compare their service to Google Voice. A few bucks and an hour of your time for that test compared to days worth of posts so far could be a quick and useful comparison.
If you want to get esoteric about testing, you could find another 12VDC power adapter from some other gizmo you have laying around, and swap it for the one that came with the OBi. Or, just give up and return or exchange the OBi.
I have a 202, a bunch of 200s that I manage for friends, a 1022 and a 1032. I don't hear any unusual distortion in any of the calls. I have an old Panasonic DECT 6.0 cordless phone and a cheap hardwired phone attached to the 202, and they sound fine to me. FWIW, I settled on -3dB for ChannelTxGain and ChannelRxGain. Overdriving the amplifier in the phone by setting the gain too high will cause distortion, and setting the gain too low will cause poor signal-to-noise ratio.
Finally, you can look at your OBi's local web interface (access via the IP address, not via the OBiTALK web portal) during a phone call, under the Status-->Call Status section, and view the CODEC in use. If it isn't G.711 after some potential re-negotiation up or down with G.729, then that would cause your symptom (G.729 can sound distorted and scratchy compared to G.711, which should sound like the best POTS call you've heard). Don't make conclusions based on calling one number, as that number may have a sub-par call route.
LotharX:
Thanks for that latest reply, Steve, that was particularly helpful.
I checked the CODEC during a call, and it is reading as G.711U for both Tx and Rx.
Shortly after I made that test, somebody happened to call my Google Voice number, and I picked up on my Panasonic cordless handset. The call was so scratchy that I could barely understand anything that the caller was saying. I probably understood maybe 60% of his words. This is a really severe problem, and my OBi202 is now pretty much useless using a cordless telephone.
I'd be willing to entertain the possibility of buying a high-end business VoIP telephone, but it just doesn't seem to me that I should need to go to such an expense to get a decent cordless VoIP call quality. My whole reason for buying the OBi202 (and using Google Voice) was to save some money on my telephone expenses.
I did contact OBi tech support via email yesterday about this issue. They ran diagnostics and said that my "OBi is normal and the internet connectivity is good."
They said that some sort of wireless interference from some other device might make my OBi sound scratchy. I have a whole lot of electronic devices in my house, including a lot of WiFi-enabled home automation devices, so if that's the issue, it could be anything.
They suggested that I try a cordless VTECH phone, saying that it should be working very well with the OBi. I am wary of buying yet another cordless phone, but I will if we've ruled out everything else that I can try. I see that VTECH has a line of phones that have "HD Audio," and am wondering if one of those would make any difference, since they apparently use a wider range of frequencies.
I did try playing around with various Channel TxGain settings, but nothing is helping.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page