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Solutions for choppy call quality; QoS??

Started by a2dox, July 17, 2013, 03:36:31 PM

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a2dox

I've had my Obi 110 and Google Voice set up working for a number of months now, and thought it was working pretty well.  However, as we have more and more devices using up bandwidth, I'm getting a lot of complaints recently from people who call that they can't hear me and that the call is breaking up.

I read that the solution is to adjust QoS settings to give priority to voice, but then discovered that my Apple Airport Extreme doesn't have QoS.  I really love my Airport Extreme and really, really don't want to get another router and have to set up my wireless network all over again.  (While I somehow manage to get these systems set up and working on my own, I'm not a techie, and it requires a lot of research and time and aggravation on my part, so I hate to tinker when I have everything working smoothly.)

Another thing I read was that setting the Obi's ethernet port speed to 100 might help.  I just checked my settings, and the speed was set at 10, so I've now set it for 100 and am waiting to see if that will help.

Will that alone fix my problem?  Or do I need to find a way to incorporate QoS into my system?  I am not all that well-versed in how this stuff works, so I'd really like a clear, simple explanation of how to set up something that will work.

Right now my Obi is plugged into my Airport Extreme router, which is plugged into a Scientific Atlanta 2203c modem.  Can I simply get an Ethernet switch to incorporate QoS into the mix?  If so, where do I put it?  Would I connect it to my modem, and then plug both the Airport Extreme and the Obi into the switch?  (I thought I saw somewhere that the Obi wouldn't work in that configuration, because it wouldn't be able to get an IP address?)   Would I put it between the modem and the Airport Extreme, and keep the Obi connected to the Airport Extreme?  Or, do I need to incorporate another router into the mix?  If so, where would it go, and how could I introduce it without having to set up my WiFi network all over again?

Any help would be appreciated.

Shale

#1
A quick search seems to indicate that Apple Airport modems don't do QOS.
I think whatever device you add would have to between the modem and the apple router.

I would think that device would be a router that does the QOS. The OBi would plug into that. Perhaps other things would also plug into the new router. The Apple router would plug into the new  router too.

I don't know how QOS switches work. Maybe somebody does, and will tell you that such a device would help you.

When you cascade routers, you don't want the second device to hand out IP numbers. Your Apple airport router might have a pass through setting for that. If not, http://macnugget.org/projects/aebx/ provides a workaround for that. I don't know if this solution would be needed with the newest versions.

On the other hand, you might choose to sell your Apple router, and use the new router for everything. Maybe it has some special features you want to keep.



CoalMinerRetired

You can also try some quality tests, see here: http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=5803.msg37497#msg37497

Note that you want to run the tests multiple times, and you also want to be connected the same way your Obi is -- if it's connected at 10 Mbs half duplex then you run the tests while connected the exact same way -- and of course run when you have the normal bandwidth loads.

Those tests won't point to any one thing in particular, they will give you a general idea of what's going on as far as letancy, dropped packets., etc.

RFord

What are your Download/Upload speeds?  Do the choppy calls happen all the time or only when there is significant "other" uses of the internet?