babylon5
join:2008-01-15
| Voice Quality Issues: ATT DSL and CV
To all,
I have voice quality issues with AT&T CallVantage where I would experience the following:
1) voice echoing
2) clicking
3) I can hear the person; but the person cannot hear me
it is a though my voice is coming back to them as
"choppy"
Here are my specs:
Internet Service: AT&T Internet Without Voice Line Elite
Connection Setup: Modem --> TA --> LINKSYS Router
I have performed test results for VoIP and DSL using the
following:
1) »www.testyourvoip.com
2) »help.sbcglobal.net/dsl/speedtest
Please note that for the www.testyourvoip.com, I tried using "Boston" because I was getting the following error:
Your computer couldn't call our location on the standard SIP port (5060). Generally, this failure is caused by a firewall blocking our calls. We are going to re-run the test over a commonly available port (6000) to diagnose the problem.
However, I did not receive this error when I choose "San Jose".
For your preview, I am attaching the test results.
Any suggestions on how to proceed further with this?
Thanks.
Babylon5 |
|
gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs:
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T CallVantage
·Comcast Digital Vo..
 ·Comcast
| A few things.
Have you always had this issue or just recently?
Any reason you have the TA in front of your router?
Do you have a phone plugged into the TA or ?
Try doing the following
Go to a command prompt and type
ping -n 100 dslreports.com
then type this
tracert dslreports.com
Post both of those results back. |
|
babylon5
join:2008-01-15
1 edit | gdm: I started having this issue about a couple of weeks after I started with CV. According to AT&T's esclation dept that it has something to do with my TA being behind the router (this was my original setup at the time when I initially experienced voice quality issues). They said that this can cause voice quality issues. Thus they recommended for me to move my TA to be in front of the router; but I am still having voice quality issues.
My phone (Uniden TRU8865) is connected directly to the TA.
I will do those two commands and post it back to the forum.
Will it also help if I provided the details from www.testyourvoip.com since the previous screen shot was only a summarized version? |
|
gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs:
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Comcast Digital Vo..
·Comcast
1 edit | Well I wouldn't put it in front of the router but that's just me. Do you have the modem or router controlling the PPPoE connection?
When I had dsl I had modem controlling the pppoe then the router. From that I had the TA and pc's plugged into the router. I never had an quality issues and that was 3 years ago when I had att dsl.
It doesn't hurt to post the stats from testyourvoip. |
|
MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T Southwest
| reply to babylon5
Normally I'd suggest first checking your ISP at testyourvoip.com but you've already done that. Your score is excellent. There's no concern there.
Second thing I'd suggest is rebooting your TA.
Third thing is call AT&T tech support back and see if they can switch you from Bucket 4 to Bucket 3. I found this helped when I had echoing problems. The bucket basically identifies the codec and bandwidth that will be used for the calls. |
|
babylon5
join:2008-01-15 | reply to babylon5
gdm: I agree with you because the router provides an extra layer of protection. Anyway, did you have to do something special with your TA where you had to specify its static ip address on the DMZ of your router? |
|
gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs:
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Comcast Digital Vo..
·Comcast
| I didn't have to do anything just hooked it up. With U-verse I originally setup the DMZ mode of the TA then took it away. I had read it needed that for setup but later found out it wasn't.
I would take MyDog's advice and call CV support about the buckets.
My hunch is the ping and tracerts aren't going to show anything. |
|
babylon5
join:2008-01-15 | reply to babylon5
MyDogHsFleas & gdm: Can you please in more detail about buckets as well as what is the difference between a Bucket 4 and 3? I am not familar with this.
Thanks. |
|
gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs:
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Comcast Digital Vo..
·Comcast
| MyDog could probably better then I. I guess CV uses what's called buckets to help determine the setting your TA needs to get good call quality.
On Vonage this was basically a setting the user could control. So clear sound needed more bandwidth....if you lowered the bandwidth setting then the quality was worse. |
|
babylon5
join:2008-01-15
1 edit | reply to babylon5
MyDogHsFleas & gdm: I spoke with AT&T CV Support and the technican mentioned that the size of the "bucket" depends upon the download speed, and since mine is 4.974 Mbps, he said that "bucket 4" is the best one for this speed.
At the same time, he also said they do not support the setup if the TA is behind a router. It seems that I am going around in circles with them. |
|
gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs: | Well that's completely not true. What's the name/model of your TA? |
|
babylon5
join:2008-01-15 | reply to babylon5
gdm: It is a DLINK DVG-5102S |
|
gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs:
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Comcast Digital Vo..
·Comcast
3 edits | Same version I have and CV support said I can stick it behind the router. I am on u-verse so don't have a choice.
Looking at the guide they do show it that way. I know a few people that have it behind the router with no issue.
Have you unplugged your TA at all during these issues you have been having?
Let's do the ping and tracert and see what you get. Don't download any files when doing this. |
|
MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
1 edit | reply to babylon5
The size of the "bucket" depends mostly on the upload speed, actually. Download speeds are almost always way more than needed.
If I were you, I'd just keep calling and play "tech lottery". Some of them are much better than others. Just keep on presenting the problems. Maybe say something like, "I heard that buckets can be important for voice quality. Why don't we try changing it and see what happens?"
Putting the TA in front of the router is the "approved" way of doing it, and you should probably leave it like that until you get your problems fixed. That way, they won't have that to throw in your face. |
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Fisamo
Premium
join:2004-02-20
Apex, NC
·VOIPo
·AT&T CallVantage
| As you said, the bucket setting is dependent upon the user's upload speed, and it only matters if your TA is in front of your home router. It does not affect the CODEC you use--that's determined by whether FAX and modem support is on/off. FAX support off is G.726; FAX support on is G.711u.
The bucket settings determine how the TA prioritizes internet traffic. If you're assigned 'bucket 1' (typically if you have 128k upload service or when you first connect your ATA in front of a router), your TA does very agressive QoS and effectively kills your internet connection when you're on the phone. Users with 384k are assigned 'bucket 3'; I'm not sure if it's essentially 512k and up or 768k and up that get bucket 4. When you're in Bucket 4, QoS is disabled (with the presumption that your bandwidth is sufficient that you need no traffic prioritization).
Of course, your ATA can only prioritize traffic that passes through it, so having your ATA behind a home router makes the bucket setting irrelevant. If you leave your ATA in front of your router, ask the tech to put you in Bucket 3, which should give you some prioritization without killing your internet connection when you're on the phone. |
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gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs: | MyDogs and Fisamo,
Really good info. I can see why the TA in front makes a difference. Why I was confused since I am on U-Verse no real choice on router since that's the modem as well. |
|
MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| Yes, it's not a standalone DSL modem. However, if you choose to go RG - TA - Switch - PCs, then you effectively have the TA "in front" because it's the only thing talking to the RG router. However, if you hook the PCs directly (or via switch) to the RG, you stack the TA in parallel with the PCs. See what I mean? |
|
gdm
Premium,MVM
join:2001-06-15
Mchenry, IL
clubs: | Ah yup I do. So far I haven't had any issues at all. My RG is in the basement so from that it's going cat5 to the switch then switch to the TA and my 1 desktop. All else is wireless. |
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babylon5
join:2008-01-15
| reply to babylon5
To all,
Attached are the results from the following:
1) »www.testyourvoip.com
2) »help.sbcglobal.net/dsl/speedtest
3) ping -n 100 dslreports.com
4) tracert dslreports.com
The CV representative did a circuit test and noticed that the latency round-trip was over 160 mms. She said that is the problem with the ATT DSL but when I mentioned to the CV representative that ATT DSL Maintenance said everything is okay, the CV representative said that ATT DSL Maintenance always said that everything is okay.
Furthermore, when I asked to change from Bucket 4 to Bucket 3; the CV representative said who told you about this and refused to change it.
I am going to try calling their tech support line and see if I can get someone else. If anyone knows of a way to get me in touch with eslcation dept, please send me a PM.
Thanks
Babylon5 |
|
Fisamo
Premium
join:2004-02-20
Apex, NC
·VOIPo
·AT&T CallVantage
| reply to MyDogHsFleas
One watch-out: When I had the Linksys ATA, it seemed that it could tell whether it was connected directly to the modem or behind a home router. I'm not sure if it was because of upload speed detected or by the IP address it was assigned (private vs public). In any case, when behind the home router, it appeared to me that the QoS settings (ie. bucket)were disabled.
If my observation was correct (it was based on getting access to hidden status pages in the ATA that are under better password protection and may not be available on the DLink 5102S), just running all traffic through the ATA might not cut it. Do you know if there's a way to get the U-verse RG set to bridge mode, and give your ATA a public IP address? (Big dislaimer: I don't know if this is necessary or not; just reporting on my earlier observations.) |
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