2degrees - call quality to Australian mobiles

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › 2degrees - call quality to Australian mobiles

ritzlal

451 posts

Ultimate Geek

#248624 2-Apr-2019 19:25

Just wondering if there has been any discussion around the call quality from 2degrees to mobiles in Australia. It's something I've experienced for several months now but haven't quite managed to get to the bottom of. Basically when I call mobiles in Australia on various networks (primarily Vodafone), voice tends to be crackly or break up a bit so the words can be difficult to make out. It's not always that bad and often the issue is only noticeable at my end (other party does not notice any quality issue). However, on occasions, the other party also reports the same issue.

This has been tested with at least 4 different phones and 2 different 2degrees connections.

Is there anything I should be checking or testing from my end?

Thanks.

Linux

11424 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2209715 2-Apr-2019 19:34

Nothing you can do

timmmay

20580 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2209716 2-Apr-2019 19:36

This isn't really helpful or practical, but Skype and WhatsApp calls are usually clearer than old style phone calls.

richms

28176 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2209778 2-Apr-2019 21:07

Voice on cellular is generally bad, but I find that incoming calls from 2degrees to work are among the worst of the lot with what sounds like some trashy codec being converted to another trashy codec.

Bandwidth is plentiful now so I dont know why telcos still mess about with that low bitrate stuff that made sense 20+ years ago.

Richard rich.ms

DjShadow

4085 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#2209788 2-Apr-2019 21:43

richms:

Voice on cellular is generally bad, but I find that incoming calls from 2degrees to work are among the worst of the lot with what sounds like some trashy codec being converted to another trashy codec.

Bandwidth is plentiful now so I dont know why telcos still mess about with that low bitrate stuff that made sense 20+ years ago.

That was the thing that stood out to me when I first tried 2 degrees at launch was the poor sound quality, guessing from the above it hasn't got any better.

wibble

85 posts

Master Geek

#2209883 3-Apr-2019 05:49

ritzlal:

Just wondering if there has been any discussion around the call quality from 2degrees to mobiles in Australia.

Are you calling from mobile or landline?

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2209932 3-Apr-2019 08:15

Can't wait for the time all the carriers have are passing high quality G.722 audio around, and then cruising across to the mobile networks with "HD Voice".

I assume there is a technical reason why it can't happen yet, and it's not just a business reason.

Linux

11424 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2209966 3-Apr-2019 08:58

chevrolux:

I assume there is a technical reason why it can't happen yet, and it's not just a business reason.

Business reason is cost

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2209982 3-Apr-2019 09:20

richms:

Bandwidth is plentiful now so I dont know why telcos still mess about with that low bitrate stuff that made sense 20+ years ago.

Because they can push more users onto it for less cost. Or at least thats my thinking..... noone complained 20 years ago about the quality, so they kept it the same :)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#2209988 3-Apr-2019 09:30

Linux:

chevrolux:

I assume there is a technical reason why it can't happen yet, and it's not just a business reason.

Business reason is cost

But can you really put a price on beautiful HD audio?

jnimmo

1097 posts

Uber Geek

#2210000 3-Apr-2019 09:59

chevrolux:

Linux:

chevrolux:

I assume there is a technical reason why it can't happen yet, and it's not just a business reason.

Business reason is cost

But can you really put a price on beautiful HD audio?

For a while I was even considering adding some SIMs from the different carriers to be able to get HD calling from our landlines to mobile.. but given number portability there was no reliable way to determine which carrier to send it out over.

I guess either regulation or more customer feedback is required to all carriers

richms

28176 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2210317 3-Apr-2019 19:30

xpd:

noone complained 20 years ago about the quality, so they kept it the same :)

Oh yes they did with the shift from analog to that shockingly bad first generation GSM codec from back them.

Richard rich.ms