[WXC/VFX] VFX and QoS

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [WXC/VFX] VFX and QoS

shermanp

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#15970 18-Sep-2007 16:07

Well, I got VFX connected today.
Call quality seems fine, although it seems slightly fuzzy/not quite as clear as it could be (maybe my cordless 1.8GHz phone being too close to the wireless router?) at my end, however, the people on the other end say it is crystal clear for them.
However, as soon I start up something that starts uploading (eg: P2P), the people on the other end notice the difference in call quality right away (quite a bit worse).
What can I do to minimise this as much as possible? (QoS settings?)
I have the Linksys WAG54GP2v2 (which seems to be working flawlessly for internet, wireless, although I haven't had it for long).
What settings to I need to set to maximize call quality when uploading?
I don't mind if my uploads temporarily get slowed to almost nothing.

My plan is FS/128 (and no, upgrading to FS/FS is not an option yet)

When I was uploading while talking, the app in question was still uploading at a steady 11-12 KB/s, which makes me think that the router is not allocating enough bandwidth for the call.

Thanks

GEOMAX

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#87034 18-Sep-2007 16:19

I suggest you check your linespeed to see what you are actually getting.your upload apeed may be lower than you think. Test it here https://www.speedtest.net/ cheers George

shermanp

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#87040 18-Sep-2007 16:48

My speedtest (to the Auckland server):

Download Speed = 4326Kbit/s
Upload Speed = 116Kbit/s (it got up to around 127Kbit/s before dropping slightly right at the very end)
Ping = 50ms

It seems to be about as good as a FS/128 plan can get...

GEOMAX

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#87060 18-Sep-2007 17:55

your speed is OK for 128/FS.
Have a look at your codec and compare to this table. http://www.ozvoip.com/voip-codecs/
If you are using G711 codecs it will be marginal as it uses 88k and trying to control with QOS will be patchy at best. i initially used 128/FS and found the 128k patchy what ever I did and only got quality voip when changing to FS/FS. cheers George

coffeebaron

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#87119 19-Sep-2007 09:00

By default your VFX service will use G729 codec, but you can verify this by logging into the voice status page of your WAG, and refresh a few times whilst making a phone call. You will see the in use codec listed. If for some reason this is G711U, then that could be your problem as it won't work too well on a FS/128 connection.

To test the QoS, do a couple of speedtests (with no other Internet activity) to http://speedtest.xport.co.nz/ and check your results are consistent. Then make a phone call and run the speedtest again whilst staying on the phone. If the QoS is working correctly, there should be a noticeable drop off in speedtest results (as the WAG is reserving some for VFX). If there is no noticeable drop in speed, and if your call breaks up, then yes that would indicate a possible issue with the WAG.

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shermanp

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#87144 19-Sep-2007 10:54

Yes, it is using G.729 (G.729a according to the stats).
When I did the speedtests before the call, they were around 4Mbit/90+ Kbit/s
When I did the speedtests during the call, they were around 3.25Mbit/50Kbit/s
However, while the speedtest was running, (during the D/L test especially), the call was breaking up and very poor quality. The person on the other end also said that he could hear me for a few moments.

coffeebaron

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#87148 19-Sep-2007 11:18

shermanp: Yes, it is using G.729 (G.729a according to the stats).

That's correct

shermanp: When I did the speedtests before the call, they were around 4Mbit/90+ Kbit/s

Your uplink seems a little on the low side. There should be no reason why this isn't much closer to 128Kbps. Possible DSL issue, noise on line etc

shermanp: When I did the speedtests during the call, they were around 3.25Mbit/50Kbit/s

Tends to indicate the QoS is doing atleast something here

shermanp: However, while the speedtest was running, (during the D/L test especially), the call was breaking up and very poor quality. The person on the other end also said that he could hear me for a few moments.

I'm surprised you got call breakup on the downstream with a .75Mbps margin.

I think call Xnet (or your ISP) and get your line checked out. Also run some WinMTR ( http://winmtr.sourceforge.net/ ) tests to speedtest.xport.co.nz and see if you are getting any packet loss. The stats for your ADSL router would be helpful too: noise margins, line attenuation etc. Following that, maybe your WAG needs to be checked out.

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shermanp

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#87153 19-Sep-2007 12:02

First, regarding the speedtest, I should have mentioned that my upload speed always seems to drop just before the speedtest has completed. It was going at around 120+ Kbit/s up for most of the test.
Running WinMTR on wpeedtest.xport.co.nz gives 0% packet loss.

That is my DSL stats.
Please note that the router is incorrectly detecting my connection as interleaved. Interleaving is actually turned OFF.

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shermanp

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#87157 19-Sep-2007 12:16

Uh, Sorry, misunderstood you on the winMTR

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                      WinMTR statistics                                   |
|                       Host              -   % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
|                             192.168.1.1 -    0 |   63 |   63 |    0 |    2 |   31 |    0 |
|              int-l35-akl-dsl02.wxnz.net -   10 |   63 |   57 |   15 | 378 | 3625 |   15 |
|             ge-1-0-0-57-jcore3.wxnz.net -   16 |   63 |   53 |   15 | 317 | 3344 |   16 |
|                   speedtest.xport.co.nz -   28 |   62 |   45 |   15 | 283 | 2844 |   16 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
   WinMTR - 0.8. Copyleft @2000-2002 Vasile Laurentiu Stanimir ( stanimir@cr.nivis.com )

That's one of the test results

A second test:
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                      WinMTR statistics                                   |
|                       Host              -   % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
|                             192.168.1.1 -    0 |   66 |   66 |    0 |    5 |   94 |    0 |
|              int-l35-akl-dsl02.wxnz.net -   23 |   66 |   51 |   15 | 464 | 3282 |   31 |
|             ge-1-0-0-57-jcore3.wxnz.net -   16 |   65 |   55 |   15 | 552 | 3547 |   31 |
|                   speedtest.xport.co.nz -   19 |   65 |   53 |   15 | 547 | 3281 |   16 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
   WinMTR - 0.8. Copyleft @2000-2002 Vasile Laurentiu Stanimir ( stanimir@cr.nivis.com )

While it is downloading, the only packet loss occurs at the speedtest.xport.co.nz and is a steady 19%.
The upload test is rather different however, with these results taken when the speedtest was finished.

shermanp

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#87159 19-Sep-2007 12:36

Just a slightly off topic question here...
Apart from increased upload speed, is there any other advantage of FS/FS over FS/128?

I'm thinking that now that it is getting warmer (and thus I need to use less power...) that I may think about upgrading to the next plan up, if its worth it.

coffeebaron

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#87162 19-Sep-2007 13:41

shermanp: While it is downloading, the only packet loss occurs at the speedtest.xport.co.nz and is a steady 19%.
The upload test is rather different however, with these results taken when the speedtest was finished.

OK, there in lies your problem. 19% packet loss is major. From your ADSL stats, you should have pretty much 0% packet loss (seems like you are quite close to the exchange). You mentioned Interleave is switched off, I'd first get that switched back on and see if this helps. However, considering your "good" ADSL stats, this looks more like a bad port at the exchange, or a fault somewhere, rather than because you have interleave switched off.

Log a fault with Xnet (I think that's your ISP according to WinMTR). Tell them about the packet loss on your connection and go from there.

As for upgrading to FS/FS, until you get you packet loss issue sorted, this won't help very much. However, going to FS/FS will enable you to use G711U voice codec, which may give you better voice quality with your cordless phone you are using.

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shermanp

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#87203 19-Sep-2007 18:09

Thanks for your replies so far :)

I have called Xnet (got a rather nice chap by the name of Brian) and he's requested interleaving to be turned on. If, after this has happened, I still have packet loss problems etc, I'm to do the usual whole lot of speedtests throughout the day and go from there....