Help w/ Inconsistent Call Quality Problems

[SmackBoy]

I have 2 OBi202s for over a year and using Callcentric. I've also use GV in the past. The problem I've been having since the beginning is that the quality of the calls is wildly inconsistent from call to call and day to day. Sometimes the call is clear like a landline. Other times it's choppy or broken up and unintelligible both receiving and transmitting. Sometimes only the other party cannot hear me. I need help trying to fix this. This is my setup:

OBi202 Cat 5 connection to Netgear R6300v2 router (QoS turned on)
Comcast Xfinity cable through a Linksys CM100 modem

Results of voipqualitytest.com

DL 27+ Mbps
UL 5+ Mbps
Consistency of Service varies from 30%-75%
Jitter 0 - 2 ms
PL 0%
MOS 4+

Usually I am green lights for everything except Consistency of Service is consistently either red or yellow. How can I fix this?

[jimr]

Sorry, all I can say is you are not alone anyways.  I too used my free GV number for over two years as my only home phone line for over two years, southwest Washington State.  Then in January 2015 downstream people began complaining the call quality was horrible, even though I could hear them fine from my end.
I asked for help in the thread "choppy downstream call quality".  My internet service speed had not changed, I tried moving the phone base away from the router, changed to a brand new phoneset, tried a hardwired old phone, all with no improvement.

I finally resorted to using an Anveo phone number to call out, and immediately downstream people could hear me fine. But I've lost the wonderful full GV phone history on those Anveo outgoing calls.

One piece of advise from Obi tech was to delete Google Voice, and then re-register for GV again. I did not try that as I am not super tech savy, and I was a bit worried I might lose the GV number.

[drgeoff]

One piece of advise from Obi tech was to delete Google Voice, and then re-register for GV again. I did not try that as I am not super tech savy, and I was a bit worried I might lose the GV number.

Obi Support were only advising that you remove GV as a Service Provider from your OBi.  That does not delete the GV account, nor put the GV number at risk.

[SmackBoy]

Comcast Xfinity cable through a Linksys CM100 modem. . .

Consistency of Service varies from 30%-75%

I connected my PC directly to the cable modem and confirmed the consistency of service is still problematic.

So I called Comcast tech support. They were NOT helpful. In fact I don't think they are knowledgeable at all, they seem to just read off a script e.g. the rep didn't know the difference between a switch, hub and router. The only thing they could tell me is that my cable modem is outdated (DOCSIS 2.0) and I need to upgrade (DOCSIS 3.0. The could not explain why it would make any difference for VOIP.

So I upgraded to a Zoom 5431J cable modem. UL/DL speed has increased a little (1-2 Mbps) and consistency of service has improved a little (mostly yellow light, 50%-70%). Calls still occasionally get choppy. Longer term testing will see if this has solved the problem.

Has anybody with Comcast cable experienced high levels of consistency of service (~90%-100%)?

[202Owner]

Long shot... try browsing to the cable modem IP address to view its connection log.  If you can ID connection trouble that corresponds in time to your usage trouble, you can try referring this to your ISP to suggest they might need to come out in the neighborhood and fix some failing equipment.

Another long shot... make sure your end of the cable is solid... good dry cable, no hard bends, good connections, good grounding to house earth ground.  You've connected directly to a new modem... the only thing left to confirm on your end is the cabling and your ata.