Poor Call Quality - but 5 bars signal and 3G

[tyzer007]

ISSUE:

Full signal including 3G - all normal lights - plenty of bandwidth but the call quality is terrible after 1-3 minutes.  Voice becomes garbled - more often we can hear the other party (download) but they cannot hear us (upload) - sometimes both are garbled.

I've been reading this forum for the past few days and I'm impressed that there are people who actually read the forum comments and make an effort to find solutions - I hope that I'm as lucky as so many others.

I have the original SureSignal and have had the device for over 2 years now - and frankly it has never worked well for me.  I always blamed the problem on BT (my Internet provider) and some crazy load-balancing/throttling they were doing.

My SureSignal S/N:  VSS:  21196937060

NETWORK CONNECTIVITY

Recently I moved home and I'm now on BT Infinity with the latest BT Home Hub.  When I run a SpeedTest I get plenty of speed (http://www.speedtest.net/result/2006854273.png) and a reasonable ping test time.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\>tracert 212.183.133.181

Tracing route to 212.183.133.181 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 15 ms 3 ms 3 ms BTHomeHub.home [192.168.1.254]
2 11 ms 10 ms 10 ms 217.32.146.161
3 10 ms 11 ms 13 ms 217.32.146.206
4 11 ms 10 ms 15 ms 213.120.156.146
5 13 ms 11 ms 11 ms 217.41.168.239
6 11 ms 13 ms 11 ms 217.41.168.109
7 11 ms 13 ms 11 ms 109.159.249.192
8 17 ms 13 ms 21 ms core1-te0-7-0-16.faraday.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.
249.137]
9 16 ms 13 ms 16 ms 213.131.193.22
10 13 ms 21 ms 42 ms peer1-xe1-0-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.2
54.98]
11 16 ms 16 ms 13 ms LNDGW2.arcor-ip.net [195.66.224.124]
12 13 ms 14 ms 16 ms 85.205.116.2
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

C:\Users\>

PHYSICAL LOCATION

I have positioned the SureSignal 1.5M away from the BT Home Hub and the BT Infinity box to minimize interference.

ween...)

DEVICES

We have 2 iPhone 4 devices and a Nokia C7 - and the experience is the same on all of the devices:  1-3 minutes of a good call and then one or both sides of the conversation become completely garbled.  i.e.; the voice compression just falls to pieces.

When we look at our phones we always see a full 5 bars of signal - so the phone sees the SureSignal well enough.  

SURE SIGNAL DIAGNOSTIC LIGHTS

And as for lights - I see lights 1, 2 and 4 on solid - and light 3 flashes.  This is the normal configuration I understand.

My partner was on the phone just now and as he entered the house the phone obviously shifted to the SureSignal and immediately the call quality became so poor that he had to drop the call and use the landline (there was a lot of swearing inbet

I've read through troubleshooting and checked for all of the obvious things - but we are having no joy.  And in this house there is only partial regular signal due to being on the ground floor and having very thick wallls.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Troy

[Retired-Simon]

Hi tyzer007

Thanks for your post with the requested information. In relation to call quality being garbled there is currently an ongoing investigation into the audio quality on some devices. Your traceroute is fine and your speedtest and pingtest are more than sufficient.

With regards to your husbands call dropping off when he entered the house, handover from network to femtocell (Sure Signal) whilst on a call is not supported so this will explain why the call dropped at this point.

I've forced a resync of your Sure Signal device to see if this improves the call quality. To complete the process please perform a factory reset as follows:

• Hold down the reset button until all the lights show (about 30 seconds)
• Keeping the reset button held down, remove then re-insert the power lead.
• Once all lights display release the reset button.
• The Sure Signal will come online in around 1 hour.

If you still encounter difficulties with using your device please let me know.

Thanks

Simon

[tyzer007]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for your reply.

I have performed the system reset and will let you know if the situation is improved.

In the meantime I had turned the SureSignal off and was relying on regular signal strength and - for the most part - getting by.

Is it possible that the iPhone was getting confused and switching between the external cell tower and the SureSignal and this was causing the problem?

[tyzer007]

Hi Simon,

Ok - The SureSignal came back on - Lights 1,2 and 4 and I have exactly the same problem.  Terrible (unusable) call quality.  

I have unplugged the SureSignal again and I'm back to using the regular cell tower.

Any next suggestions?

Thank you for your help,

Troy

[Retired-Lee · Accepted solution]

Hi there tyzer007,

Thanks for the updates.

Just a few questions, if you don't mind.

The next time the calls becomes unusable could you run a speedtest again for me and let me know the results?

Out of interest, are any other devices connected to the router competing for bandwidth?

Can you set the devices to use 3G only, rather than 3G preferred?

Hey nsimmo,

Could I also pose the same questions to you?

Also, are you using the BT supplied equipment?

Cheers,

Lee

[nsimmo]

Yes I am using the BT suppled equipment - Homehub 3

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2021388339.png

[tyzer007]

Hi Lee,

Thanks for your questions.

First - 100% of my calls are unusable.  If the SureSignal is on - then the call quality is garbled.  I have run speed tests immediately following a lost call and they always come back with plenty of bandwidth.

There are several computers and mobile devices connected via the same Wifi hub - but when I've made calls there are no other major uploads or downloads happening (i.e.; no one is streaming music or video, no online games, no massive file downloads...)

I have an iPhone 4 and I am not sure how to specify "only 3G" vs. "3G preferred" - A quick check on the forums tells me I would need to jailbreak my iPhone to do this.  Also - I'm not sure why changing the data setting would have any bearing on the voice quality.  3G vs. Edge is data only (I thought).

Thanks for your continued help in troubleshooting this service.

Troy

[Retired-Lee]

Hey guys,

So I can pass your experience to our support teams I've sent you both a PM which can be accessed here. If you could follow the instructions in the PM and send us your details one of the team will be with you as soon as they can.

Cheers,

Lee

[nsimmo]

Done

[nsimmo]

Hi, I provided the information request 2 days ago and so far I have had no acknowledgement or contact?