Audio Drop, choppy, Obitalk Network

[sniffer104]

A few problems I am having after buying this OBI-110 about a month ago. The issues are not getting better but are getting worse. My friend has an OBI-110 and we both are having the same problems. We use the ObiTalk network to talk and dial with the 9 digit numbers. It worked very well a month ago but now we have problems everyday. We get perhaps 15 minutes of talk time than the choppy words and dropping of volume down to 25% starts. The voice is completely bandwidth restricted we both sound like 90 yr old people when this happens. We are both tech savy and understand port forwarding and QOS issues. These are not old problems so at this point we are fairly certain there is an issue with the OBI network and perhaps the OBI-110's. Also, he has an Itouch with the Obion software that worked well and now cannot log into the Obi network at all. We both have google voice on SP1 and it works ok with the occasional voice choppyness. It is disappointing to see how fast the product has gone down in just one month for us. What is surprising is how poorly OBI is communicating these situations to users on this forum or in some way on the web site. Skype has a heartbeat posting which is very useful. We are both getting very disappointed in this product as our hopes were high from Amazon.com ratings and comments.

[Stewart]

Given that you can call each other for free via GV (and presumably SIP, too), why is OBiTALK even important?  Assuming that you have a good reason, I'll go on.

Most folks don't have this problem; something is wrong with one or more devices, networks, or accounts.

Try calling between your respective PCs with OBiAPP.  If that's fine, call between device and app to see which device is causing trouble.  If it's not fine, test at work/school/friend's to see which network is problematic.

On a bad call, what does Call Status show (in both OBi devices)?  If you immediately call back, goes it get good agian for another 15 minutes?  Please post some details:  what countries you are in, ISPs, modems, routers, etc.

[lannyknight]

I have been trying to solve the choppy, receiver end, voice quality issues with little improvement.  I bought a new router going from an Airport Extreme to a Netgear N600.  I gave up my Motorola surfboard 6120 for Comcast brand.  I bought a switch to handle my AV streaming on a different node.  I got an RMA to swap out my OBI 100 for a new one.  My girlfriend patiently helped me test each of the problem solving solutions to no avail.  Then one night, things sounded fine for a while like they would do and I reached over and turned on the dimmer switch to my living room lights and BINGO, my girlfriend on the other end of the line, says "What did you do, you sound horrible?"  I turned off the dimmer, and 30 seconds later the superb voice quality returned.  I have repeated the problem several times a day over the last week and each time I get the same result.  I am happy that I have found the problem, but tired of sitting in the dark so that I can call someone.  Any thoughts of a interference free dimmer or something else?

[Stewart]

I reached over and turned on the dimmer switch to my living room lights and BINGO, my girlfriend on the other end of the line, says "What did you do, you sound horrible?"

Though dimmer switches are notorious for both conducted and radiated EMI, I don't know how it could be affecting your OBi.

If you have the OBi driving your house phone wiring, test with one phone, connected directly to OBi with a short cord.  If available, try a different phone.  If you have a spare DSL filter, try it (both forwards and backwards) in the path between OBi and phone.

Conceivably, the interference is affecting your cordless phone base and is unrelated to the OBi.  Test with a corded phone, if available.

If none of the above result in any improvement, test whether a call relayed through the OBi that does not involve the PHONE port is still affected by the dimmer.  If so, conceivably the dimmer is somehow affecting your Internet service -- see whether a call from your computer (using Gmail) is degraded.  If that's fine, a power line EMI filter (such as used with X10) may help.