Packet Loss in Qatar

[jtmarcot]

For many years, I had my Obi110 running without issue in Australia.  I've now relocated to Qatar, and I'm trying to get it working with the local fiber connection (Qtel), telco (Qtel), and GV.

After several attempts to re-configure my device with the Obitalk interface (settings would not push down), I ended up resetting and configuring, from scratch, through the device admin console.  Given I'm not using VOIP, yet, this was fairly straightforward.  

Calls are sent and received both thru the PSTN and GV.  My issue, though, is that my GV call quality is horrific.  Looking at a sample call status, my packet loss rate is at 50%.  Direct pings to google look like this....
151 packets transmitted, 141 packets received, 6.6% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 276.529/339.761/420.570/36.396 ms
It's fairly clear I'm dealing with line issues, but that's as far as I've made it.  I'm running on just 1Mbps fiber, which could figure in, but then I'm guessing folks have success on less.

Are there any suggestions?

[Shale]

Ping test to things locally. If you get this huge packet loss to everything local also, get your local system repaired. Let's hope the problem is in your house. If the packet loss locally is low, (more than 0.5% is not low) but it is high to Google Voice, look for a different VOIP provider.

[jtmarcot]

Thanks, Shale, for the quick response.

Packets seem fine around the house.  Here's the ping across wifi, thru my router, to my fiber box...
1243 packets transmitted, 1242 packets received, 0.1% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.697/4.964/32.609/3.055 ms

I've tracerouted to the listed Peer IP address (Google) and everything's quite fast until I start hitting Google's network, where the ping timings go up to 400-500ms.

So, based on this, is the only suggestion to ditch GV?

[Shale]

Packets seem fine around the house.  Here's the ping across wifi, thru my router, to my fiber box...
1243 packets transmitted, 1242 packets received, 0.1% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.697/4.964/32.609/3.055 ms

I hope the OBi is not going through WiFi. Having 0.1% packet loss would be tolerable for VOIP, but I am not used to that kind of loss in the house.

Besides ping, jitter is important. You might try pingtest.net to look for jitter and packet loss to various servers.

I was suggesting you ping outside of your house. For example, look at the gateway listed in your router. This may correspond to the first address in a tracert (traceroute) that does not start with 192, 172 or 10.  Let that get pinged for long periods, preferable from a computer that is wired to the router. If significant packet loss is detected, then the local communication supplier might be able to fix it. On the other hand, some routers do not return all pings.

500 ms ping time is a long time. That might be a problem, even if you don't lose packets. GV may indeed not be the best service for you if a faster connection is not available. A supplier with a point of presence that you can access faster could well be worth the extra cost.

[jtmarcot]

OK, yep.  Obi is across a gigabit ethernet - not wifi.  That was just me misunderstanding your rfi. 

Here's an ethernet run to the router listed on my fiber box (78.***.***.***)....

    Packets: Sent = 500, Received = 499, Lost = 1 (0% loss)
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 16ms, Average = 3ms

Regarding pingtest.net, I'm running into problems connecting to any of the test servers.  I've tried 5 or 6 of them, each failing with a possible firewall issue.  Could this be indicative?

[Shale]

Note the OBi defaults to 10 Mb half duplex ethternet. Change that to 100 full duplex-- which is the other setting. It is not going to be the problem here, but it is worth changing anyway.

http://myspeed.visualware.com/indexvoip.php may work for testing.
http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/QoS talks about needing latencies of maybe 65 ms. Other things on that site may be useful.

It sounds like a different VOIP provider is going to be the deal. Find out where you have good connectivity to, and look for a provider with a point of presence in that area.

[jtmarcot]

Thanks, Shale.  I've made the change to 100 full duplex.  As expected, that wasn't the bottleneck and didn't resolve the issue - but it's nice to know my settings are optimised in the case I ever need it.

Regarding VOIP providers, I'm keen on keeping my US number to receive calls through GV.  That leaves me choosing from US providers, which would [probably] carry the same line issues as Google.  I might have the option, in that case, of switching codecs to overcome the line issues.  Alternatively, what kind of success would you see in setting up an asterisk instance in the States and transcoding en route?

[Shale]

I have never used Asterisk... but search for jbenable  if you are considering that.

[MikeHObi]

Changing codecs won't fix issues with lost packets.  You should check local performance to local servers in your region.  It may even be that there are local restrictions on voip which lead to your problems.

[CoalMinerRetired]

There are some VoIP quality tests here: http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=5803.msg37497#msg37497

It sounds like you've got a leading suspect in packet loss. These tests will confirm that.

[jtmarcot]

So, based on earlier suggestions I've taken a swing at Anveo to see if that'd make a difference (being in Germany and running G711u).  Unfortunately, I'm unable to register from my Obi.  I'm getting an authentication error.

I'm beginning to think I'm having problems with open ports on the network.  According to http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/ all ports are closed on my local IP - specifically, 5060 and 5010 (which Anveo uses).

Could this be the cause of all my woes?

[Shale]

I'm beginning to think I'm having problems with open ports on the network.  According to http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/ all ports are closed on my local IP - specifically, 5060 and 5010 (which Anveo uses).

Could this be the cause of all my woes?

Try placing a test call to: **9 222 222 222. That is  OBiTALK Echo Service to test your connection. I don't think it uses the ports that you list.

[jtmarcot]

The ObiTalk Echo Service works fine - nice and clear both ways.

Regarding the quality tests...
Green - Jitter = 0.0ms
Green - Packet Loss = 0.0%
Green - MOS Score = 1.0
Green - D/L Speed = 1.18Mbps
Green - U/L Speed = 660kbps
Red - Consistency Of Service = 19%

Hunting around on the CoS problem, I noticed my Fiber modem has SIP ALG enabled.  I would disable and try again, but the darned thing is greyed out (along with a ton of other ALG settings).

Any clever suggestions before I try my provider?  Is this a likely culprit?

[jtmarcot]

After some tweaking, I managed to get Anveo up and running on my Obi.  Unfortunately, the results are the same.  Calls are choppy, and the same 50% packet loss comes up on the Obi call status.  Pings to the server (the one I'm connecting to in Germany) come back with no apparent problem.  Response times are in the 150ms range - as opposed to 600ms to GV, and no packets are lost.

Anveo runs on port 5010, so I'm not sure if the SIP ALG on my modem would even have an effect.  I'm not sure what to try next.  Any more suggestions?

[Shale]

If you have a separate router, try hooking the OBi box directly to the modem for a test call. See if that helps. If it doesn't, then a router setting would not help.

[jtmarcot]

My fiber setup has a router (Linksys EA2700) bridged to a gateway device (Huawei HG8247).  The Huawei manages the PPPOE and router duties, and I can't change much of anything on this device - even with the admin password. 

I've tried the Obi plugged directly to the Huawei, bypassing the Linksys middle man - but, as expected, there was no improvement.

I have absolutely no trouble with skype, even with video.  I know it's apples and oranges, but it is  frustrating.

[Shale]

I've tried the Obi plugged directly to the Huawei, bypassing the Linksys middle man - but, as expected, there was no improvement.

I have absolutely no trouble with skype, even with video.  I know it's apples and oranges, but it is  frustrating.

That is interesting. There are boxes that perform a function similar to OBi but for Skype calls.

It is also possible that a lower bit-rate codec would help. The reason I have hope this would help is that this document concludes that a lower bit-rate codec may make better use of a fixed size jitter buffer at each receiving end: http://ice-voip-system.googlecode.com/svn-history/r110/trunk/doc/praca_mgr-zrodla/t06099.pdf

Obi supports these codecs: G.711, G.726, G.729 and iLBC (OBi202/OBi302 only)

If you had the Anveo Starter plan (which you probably do not), I would do next is to make test calls through Anveo. Before dialing the rest of the digits, start with *4729 before dialing the rest of the digits. If that helps, then you could change settings in the OBi to change the priority of which codec gets selected for a given service provider.
Anveo Supported codecs:
  All Subscription Plans:G.711 ulaw (PCMu), GSM
  Premium Plans (Starter and up): G.722, G.729.
The Starter plan would add $7.85/mo paid monthly. Maybe trying starter for a month to test using the G.729 codec would be worthwhile. Maybe it would not. Maybe you could do online chat with them and they could offer some testing help. Alternatively you might find a different SIP provider that supports the G.729 codec or the GSM codec. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27436448-Free-SIP-account-that-support-TCP-and-G729-

This is from the OBi Admin guide if you do testing:
*4711 = Use G711 Only on the next outbound call
*4729 = Use G729 Only on the next outbound call

I understand the frustration.

[jtmarcot]

Thanks, again, Shale.

So, I've tested G729 on Anveo and it works.  No packets dropping, and clear audio both ways.  Happy.   

G729 does require me being on the starter plan, but support tells me that GSM is also available on their network (I believe on the value plan).  Does the Obi110 support GSM?

Lastly, I've tried hooking an IPKall line through so I can keep my Google Voice number going.  I've made it through registration on IPKall, and the setup on GV.  Unfortunately, though, the call doesn't make it through when I've got mismatched codecs.  It looks as if Anveo isn't converting G711 to G729, and the call falls over because of it.  Are there any workarounds for this?  Or, any providers out there that will do that conversion?  I fear I may have to look at hosted asterisk for that (in which case I've got a bit of learning to do).

[Shale]

Very interesting findings.

No Obi supports GSM unless that has been added since the admin guide was made.

I don't know about the IPKall thing.

Regarding your GV number, you could set GV up to transfer all calls to a US or Canadian Anveo number temporarily. I think you can even have a call ring both the GV and Anveo numbers, and have the first to pick up take the call. If they both rang onto the OBi110, I don't know how you select which call to answer, but there is probably a way. On an OBi202 you could have separate phones or a 2-line phone for the two services. Having GV not ring both services on your 110 would probably be the simpler choice.

[jtmarcot]

Thanks, Shale.  I figured about the GSM.

Regarding IPKall, I fear I might have the same issue with an Anveo DID.  I would still be forwarding a G711 codec from GV to an Anveo number expecting G729.