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Vestalink: ~8 second delay before ring back heard

Started by NickC, March 14, 2014, 06:11:22 PM

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NickC

I'm in the trial period for Vestalink.  Call quality is as good or better than GV but I observe a longer than expected delay before the calling phone starts ringing.

When I place a call there will be a long period of silence before ring back tone is heard on the calling phone.  Approximately 7-9 seconds before ringing is heard. 

When calling from GV there's only a second delay before ring back is heard.

When comparing the overall latency of a GV call or Vestalink call and the called phone ringing, GV appears to be ~4-5 seconds faster.

Vestalink support mentioned that GV plays "fake" ring back tones before the call is actually initiated while Vestalink only plays the ring back tone when actually ringing out.

The long silence when placing a call makes it unclear if the phone is actually going to call or not.  So far it always connects but I'm also concerned if needed in an emergency case.

Is this long delay of silence expected for non-GV providers? 

I tried changing the DigitMap but that didn't have any impact.
obi202

NickC

I tried callcentric and aveno - both operate more like GV where a ringback tone is played nearly immediately after entering the phone number to call.

I retested with Vestalink and confirmed that you don't hear a ringback tone for ~8 seconds. 

However, the overall call latency from entering the phone number to the called phone ringing is the same for all providers.  In my testing, it was ~12 seconds for the called phone to ring.

It would be nice if Vestalink started playing the ringback tone ASAP to make it obvious that the phone is working.  This helps with the WAF and makes it more consistent with behavior observed with regular land lines (no long periods of silence).

Since the overall call latency is the same, I went with Vestalink.
obi202

intelafone

The reason we don't send the ring back immediately is because that is incorrect, the ring back should only be heard when the other phone is actually ringing.  When we started in 2010 we did the immediate ring similar to GV and Anveo.  It becomes annoying for some users because the ring will change sound as it progresses to the other phone.  I recommend you add this to our feedback forum, because we could implement an option that allows users to decide how they want this to work in their account settings. 
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CLTGreg

Quote from: intelafone on April 06, 2014, 10:54:44 AM
The reason we don't send the ring back immediately is because that is incorrect, the ring back should only be heard when the other phone is actually ringing.  When we started in 2010 we did the immediate ring similar to GV and Anveo.  It becomes annoying for some users because the ring will change sound as it progresses to the other phone.  I recommend you add this to our feedback forum, because we could implement an option that allows users to decide how they want this to work in their account settings. 

I appreciate you explaining this. I recommend you do the option if only to introduce the function in to our heads. I didn't notice this until I had some 404 errors so I thought things were getting worse. I would have had a better opinion if I would have known this. I think must people are going to think something is wrong or "just slow" because of the price or what not.

Doc_Glenn

I find the dead time really distressing. Well, what about two signals? First is some tone to signify that the system is "working" (oh, the original Star Trek computer!). Then the ring back when it is real.

JH2011

I tested my Callcentric and they don't put any fake rings either.

I think I prefer it that way, without the fake rings.

SteveInWA

Note that there are three separate issues:

1:  how long does call setup take (from the time your ATA sends the call commands to the provider, until the far-end switch starts ringing the called party

2:  how the providers are playing the ring-back tone

3:  how long does it take from the time you stop keying in ("dialing") the phone number, until your ATA sends the commands to the ITSP

#1 varies by ITSP.  I use Callcentric, and generally it is very fast.  Some providers take longer.

#2: the ring-back tone is essentially fake.  It's generated by the phone switches to give you that comfort level that stuff is happening to complete your call, and it has no direct 1:1 correspondence to the called party's phone ringing.  So, the telcos can manipulate it, or even replace it with music, advertising, or whatever.  In the classic POTS PSTN world, the ringback tone generally starts at the "correct" time, that is, when your called party's telco's phone switch is starting to ring their phone.  In the old days (if you are over 55) you may recall that calls would take a noticeable amount of time to start ringing, while the switches were click-clacking and selecting trunks, etc.  After the ancient analog switches were replaced by the digital SS7 switches, call setup was almost instant.  In the SIP world, it can be manipulated.

#3 is tricky, as it depends on your "dial plan".  SIP ATAs have two delays built-in, to wait and see if you are done entering digits, and those delays can be selectively eliminated via the dial plan string, and it depends on whether you're dialing 7, 10 or 11 digits, or some *xx command.  Dial plans are tricky.  There are some experts here on the forum who can help with editing yours, if that is the issue.  Try entering a # key after you're done dialing to see if it speeds things up.  "#" is like the Enter key; it means "I'm done entering characters, go ahead and process the string".  If entering # helps, you've got a sub-optimal dial plan.

JH2011

Quote from: SteveInWA on April 19, 2014, 02:42:09 PM
Try entering a # key after you're done dialing to see if it speeds things up.  "#" is like the Enter key; it means "I'm done entering characters, go ahead and process the string".  If entering # helps, you've got a sub-optimal dial plan.

Much appreciated Steve!
Using "#" cut down my "hear ringtone" time from about 8/9 secs to 3 secs! (Obi/Callcentric).


NickC

Something must have changed with Vestalink since this seems "fixed" now.  I hear ringback immediately.

thanks!
obi202