Poor VoIP quality on UFB

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Jonski

265 posts

Ultimate Geek

#199192 8-Aug-2016 11:59

Since I switched to Snap, and later 2degrees, I've had quite a poor telephony experience. Local calls are muddy and international calls (to Ireland) are worse to the point of being unusable. Even the dial tone is muddy.

I have VoIP over 100/20 UFB and a 7390 Fritz box. I have a Uniden WDECT phone connected to the phone port which was fine prior when running on POTS.

A local call I placed yesterday to a Spark number looked like:

Fritz stats

So it appears ok from a technical perspective (correct me if I'm wrong), but I don't know if there are problems transcoding the codec from Ulaw to Alaw or anything else.

We don't call Ireland from our landline any more as it's not reliable enough but the numbers were about the same. I logged a ticket with 2degrees at the time and the answer that came back was "everything is fine".

So... any thoughts as to where from here?

Thanks

Jon

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

richms

28168 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1606281 8-Aug-2016 12:08

wdect unidens are 2.4Ghz devices. They are horrible things.

If the dialtone is bad then its not a problem with the IP side of it as the dialtone comes from the ATA.

I would suggest trying with a wired phone to make 100% sure the fritz is working ok, and then replace the uniden with something else.

Richard rich.ms

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Vocus

#1606287 8-Aug-2016 12:16

Also try moving the WDECT base away from the router/AP. As it will interfere. Those 2.4Ghz handsets are bad news nowadays, I had one ages ago (before Wi-Fi became popular) and ended up scrapping it because the interference got so bad.

darylblake

1162 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1606339 8-Aug-2016 13:58

I am guessing the fritz box is probably the problem. For some crazy reason 2degrees and Snap have decided that these are the units they want to use for voip, and in my experience they a awful.

I had a fritz 7340 and it was on and off for years, one way voice sometimes, sometimes calls would not come in, sometimes the registration would drop away. And even poor quality sounding voice. A god awful unit in my opinion. I have heard since that they have done firmware updates to supposedly make them better, but as soon as I got rid of mine with a new router and a PAP2T I have not had 1 VoIP issue, its been 2 years now. :P

If your internet is working fine, it wont be your UFB. You need hardly and bandwidth to deliver VoIP.

Jonski

265 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1606729 9-Aug-2016 09:29

Thanks for these suggestions. I tried a corded phone last night and the dial tone seems a bit clearer. Still not perfect though...

I called my somewhat deaf mother (as a worst-case test) from both phones and I think that the corded phone performed better, but it was marginal.

I'm going to arrange a call to Ireland hopefully this weekend so will see how that goes.

Cheers

Jon

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

timmmay

20574 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1606756 9-Aug-2016 10:08

I've done many Skype video and audio calls, national and international with no problems at all on 2degrees fiber, so I don't think it's jitter/latency.

When you say "VOIP" do you mean the 2degrees provided VOIP service, a third party VOIP, Skype, or something else?

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Vocus

#1606854 9-Aug-2016 11:11

It could also be that the Fritz is not set up correctly for the analog parameters for NZ, as most countries have different impedances, tones, etc and if it's set wrong it can make the sound less than optimal. Also there are often gain settings which may need tweaking for some handsets. If it was supplied by Snap/2Degrees they may be able to configure it for you.

Jonski

265 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1606872 9-Aug-2016 11:34

timmmay:

I've done many Skype video and audio calls, national and international with no problems at all on 2degrees fiber, so I don't think it's jitter/latency.

When you say "VOIP" do you mean the 2degrees provided VOIP service, a third party VOIP, Skype, or something else?

The first one - the 2degrees telephony package.

I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

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2degreesCare

1537 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

#1610437 12-Aug-2016 08:31

Hi Jonski,

Can you please flick us a private message with your phone number and broadband customer number, we'll take a look and see if we can work out what's up.

Certainly by the sounds of things, if it is a bit better with a corded phone that would point towards a bit of interference with the cordless phone.

Thanks

Ralph ^JOB

surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#1610465 12-Aug-2016 09:07

I get awful VOIP call quality through the fritzbox. (i am on ufb 100/50).

Crackles, pops, dropouts.

Initially I thought it was a handset that had been dropped, so I replaced the handset.

I've tried wired connection, DECT, all to no avail.

I've called 2degrees, who upgraded the fritz to a 7490 -- didn't help even a bit.

2degrees have tweaked and modified settings .

One thing I have noticed....if the fritz is busy with network activity then the problem is worse. The connection is perfect when there is no network activity at all.