Advanced Settings Tweaks

[ForumName2]

Callers are having difficulty hearing me although I hear them fine.  Are there any adjustments I can make in advanced settings that would boost the upload quality or speed so they can understand what I'm saying?

I am using Google voice with a 202 and have plenty of bandwidth on speed tests.

[SteveInWA]

Callers are having difficulty hearing me although I hear them fine.  Are there any adjustments I can make in advanced settings that would boost the upload quality or speed so they can understand what I'm saying?

I am using Google voice with a 202 and have plenty of bandwidth on speed tests.

Do you mean that they are hearing you (audio is indeed reaching their end), but the volume is too low, or do you mean that your voice is not reaching their end (no sound)?

If you mean the former, and you have not messed with the default settings already, then it's caused by a poor quality telephone plugged into the OBi.

You will need a helper, with a phone number you can call, who can be your "audio meter'.

You can increase the volume received by the OBi from your telephone's microphone.  You need to use the OBiTALK web portal, click on your device, then get into expert configuration mode.  Go to Physical Interfaces-->PHONE1, and find the ChannelRxGain parameter.  Uncheck BOTH boxes to the right of its value.  Write down the default value, so you can return to it, if you get too far off.  Increase the number, a few dB at a time, until your called party can hear your voice with no distortion -- if it distorts, lower the dB number.  Note that the default value is a negative number, so, if it starts at -4, then change it to -2, for example, and see if that helps.  If not, change it to 0, then 2, then 4, etc. You must scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Submit to make the change, and wait a few minutes for your device to reboot.

Note that we are adjusting the receive gain.  That may sound backwards, but it means, the level of amplification that the OBi adds to the sound it is receiving from your telephone's microphone.

[ForumName2]

Thank you for the fast and detailed response but now realize that I was not clear in my question.

The caller is often unable to understand what I say because the sound is garbled or clipping (even though on my end everything is fine and can hear everything they say). I have tested on both ports and with different phones with the same unacceptable results.

The instructions you gave for gain control may come in handy but I need to fix the other problem first.

[SteveInWA]

OK; yes, that is a different problem.

It is usually caused by a poor quality or overloaded uplink internet connection (the data you are sending via your ISP).  You need a high-quality broadband service, and you should not be running high data-using other things on your LAN, such as online gaming or video conferencing.

Note that cable ISPs often have this problem, when there is physical damage to the coax cable between their hub and your residence.  Examples are corroded connectors, water incursion, rodent damage, etc.  Using basic ISP speed tests is meaningless, since this problem is caused by the overall quality of the upload side of the connection, not the download speed, and the basic tests do not measure what actually impacts VoIP:  jitter, dropouts and latency.  DSL service is even more prone to poor-quality physical connections or interference on the wires.

The only test that truly simulates an actual VoIP call is the one provided by Visualware -- their BCS test.  You must consistently score a 4.0 or higher on that test.

http://www.visualware.com/bcs/

[ForumName2]

Bingo!

I think you are absolutely correct, but I was hoping for a different answer that I could fix on my side. I even upgraded my cable service to 250 down and 30 upload, but the quality must not be there. There are only two of us and we don't do any gaming. Can you think of a workaround until fiber is installed or they upgrade the node in my neighborhood?

Interestingly, the phone line provided by the cable company (out of the RJ 11 port on the back of their modem) seems to work fine. Why is their Voip line good when my Visualware aassessment reports are typically in the 1 to 2 MOS range?  I was hoping I could change the advanced settings to mimic whatever they are doing.

[SteveInWA]

The digital phone service supplied by the cable company travels on a dedicated, private network, allocated solely for the telephone service.  It's actively managed, and connected directly to the cable company's carrier-class phone switch without using the public internet.

One would think that your Internet service shouldn't have that awful of a score.  Perhaps it will clear up on its own if it is due to network congestion.  I'd suggest running the Visualware BCS test repeatedly, at different times of the day, to see if it varies.

[ForumName2]

Interesting.

I have been doing the Visualware tests since I purchased the 202 over one month ago with varying but poor results. I have seen as high as 4.1, but average in the 1 to 2 range. I do not believe this will clear up on its own. The cable company admits our node needs to be split. Apparently they may need to pull permits so it could be a while. Fiber optics just became available but the installers are not allowed to come inside at this point.

Is there a separate modem or device that I could purchase that would help manage or allocate the rather large bandwidth I have into a better quality of service?

[SteveInWA]

Nope.   It's the old "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" situation.  You have garbage ISP service.  There is no magic way to improve it.  Those wild swings are likely too many users on the node, and perhaps compounded by bad coax to your premises.  You'll have to at least temporarily abandon using the OBiTALK device and stick with the cable company's telephone service.

[ForumName2]

Not exactly what I wanted to hear but not unexpected either. Thank you for your insights.

Although our place is 25 years old, it was wired with home runs of coax to each device.  As a test, the cable guy did a hot drop directly to my modem and I received the same low Visualwear scores.

Do you think fiber-optic would solve the problem?

[SteveInWA]

I have no way to know where the bottleneck(s) is/are, nor how many segments of their cable transport are bad.

IF, by "fiber optic", you mean that they are going to run FTTH (Fiber To The Home), whereby they have a pure fiber optic path from their head-end to your house, then yes, that will provide a dramatic improvement, since fiber optic cable is not susceptible to coax wiring problems.  IF, on the other hand, "fiber optic" means that they run fiber to some neighborhood hub, and then transition to coax for the last mile or fraction of a mile, then it all depends on the quality of the coax running to your house.  If they install FTTH, then you will have a pure Ethernet connection from their Optical Network Terminal (ONT) to your home router...no coax.

Bottom line, give up for now.  And, BTW, 25 year-old coax may be RG-59, which was ok during the old analog cable TV era, but is substandard for digital TV and Internet service, which really needs RG-6. 

[ForumName2]

Yes, the fiber is at the street and they would run it to the home.  From there, they will run a line through the attic to a new modem. They will do the whole install for $75 but I will have to wait until they are cleared to go inside.  If I run the indoor portion myself they can install it pretty much the next day.

For what it is worth, I believe we wired the house with cat 5 cable since the digital HD video and Internet seem fine throughout the house. If it wasn't for the VOIP we were happy with their less expensive Internet package (about 120 up and 10 down)!

Perhaps it would be cheaper just to get another VOIP line or two from them.