Sure Signal V3 - Poor sound quality for the receiving caller

[Chippy2000]

Hi, I have recent bought a VSS version 3 and the indications are that it is working, ie the lights are as they should be. 

The problem is when I make calls, the receiving individuals are complaining about the quality of the call and common comments are that the sound is muffled. The quality at my end is absolutely fine and I can hear the other person very clearly.

I have spoken to a lady at Vodafone who has advised me to ensure certain ports are open on my router. I have spoken to Sky,who are my ISP and their policy is not to assist with Port Forwarding requests. Subsequently,I have been left to try and work this out on my own but having spent many hours trawling through forums, looking at www.portforward.com, I am no closer to resolving this. Although portforward.com,looks useful,I cannot find my router in their list. For reference the router is a Sky SR101.

Speed test results: 

Ping test results: 

External IP address: 176.254.144.158

Sure Signal serial number: 40134610399

The results of a traceroute on 212.183.133.177;

1 1 ms 1 ms 2 ms SkyRouter.Home [192.168.0.1]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 805 ms 470 ms 31 ms ip-89-200-131-244.ov.easynet.net [89.200.131.244
]
4 401 ms 380 ms 391 ms ae99.edge3.London2.Level3.net [212.187.201.57]
5 451 ms * 296 ms ae-0-11.edge4.London2.Level3.net [4.69.200.126]

6 600 ms 616 ms 563 ms ae-3-3.ebr1.London15.Level3.net [4.69.141.189]
7 339 ms 384 ms 703 ms ae-41-41.ebr1.London1.Level3.net [4.69.167.18]
8 511 ms 394 ms 374 ms ae-58-113.csw1.London1.Level3.net [4.69.153.122]

9 778 ms 782 ms 727 ms ae-119-3505.edge4.London1.Level3.net [4.69.166.1
]
10 495 ms 44 ms 46 ms 195.50.122.66
11 540 ms 553 ms 571 ms 85.205.116.6
12 * * * Request timed out.
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.

I hope this is enough for someone to be able to help me. If I can't get VSS working properly it is of absolutely no use to me.

[Retired-Kay]

Hi Chippy2000, 

The hops on your traceroute are far too high, they should all be under 200ms.

This means there is latency on your line which is why you're experiencing the poor sound quality. Have a word with your Internet service provider as they should be able to help with this. 

Thanks, 

Kay

[Chippy2000]

Hi Kay,

Thank you for your response.

I have spoken to my ISP and they have advised me that they have changed my profile to reduce the latency of my broadband. However, the problem does not appear to have been solved as several callers that I have spoken to throughout the day have complained about the call quality. The callers have made comments like;

1) my voice drops every other word making the conversation impossible

2) it sounds like I'm holding the phone along way from me

But, I have also had calls today where people have said the call quality was excellent and my voice was very clear on the line!

I subsequently undertook several traceroutes during the day and although generally the hops are well below 200ms (they have mainly been between 30ms-50ms) there are still occaisons when the hops are similar to the profile in the original post (albeit slightly less,but still considerbaly above the suggested 200ms). This might account for the variation in call quality, but what is the solution to this?

Any assistance is greatfully received.

[eosman]

been reading your post with interest. Firstly, within the home make sure you dont have any other electrical equipment near  - within a metre if possible. As for the up and down performance - this is as suggested to you by Vodafone Staff an issue, Which unfortunately, is strictly in the hands of continuity of service -  from your Internet Service Provider.

[Chippy2000]

Thanks Eosman,

I can confirm that the VSS is more than a metre from any other technology. 

The inconsistency of the latency is something that is out of my personal control,but fully recognise that this is something that has to be addressed by my ISP. However before I look at solutions like upgrading the broadband to fibre, which will incur additional costs I want to be sure there is nothing more that can be done. 

What has been a little dissapointing with this whole process is that I reviewed the VSS3 specifications before buying it and noted that the router required a minimum broadband speed of 4.13Mbps (as per Vodafone's website). According to my ISP I exceed this minimum (current tests show the speed as 4.6Mbps) therfore I never expected these issues when I bought the VSS3. 

If there are any further suggestions, they would be welcome. Thanks.

[Sukhi]

Hi Chippy2000

The only other thing I can think of is to test the Sure Signal at a different location (such as a friend/family members) so that we can rule out a fault with the device itself? 

Thanks

Sukhi

[eosman]

Goodness Chippy2000 - that's a poor tracert report - I'm curious as to the time of day this was done. In terms of approaching your ISP; this is always difficult when considering prioritising your routing, or ramping you up on the list, for the kit that looks after your line. Unfortunately, unless you get a really nice technician you can speak to - it can often involve a higher package, which in turn may offer a solution. Personally, when i dealt with my SP - i recorded the times of day that affected me, and the reports - explained that i was using a piece of kit that required a minimum level of peformance, (in my case it was 240ms), which is the bare bones of femtocell performance as I was only using 1 number -and they sorted it out after raising an escalation with them. I'm afraid it can sometimes require a degree of resilience and determination to get them to help. Like anything - give them data/evidence to work with. All the best.  

[Chippy2000]

Eosman,

The first tracert was undertake at around 1pm (as it was done just prior to the original post on the forum). The only reason that I provided the information in the first instance was because, when researching the problem, I'd seen other posts with Vodafone Tech Team members requesting this data . At the time I had absolutely no idea what the information meant!

Since my original post I have checked the tracert occasionally and on the whole these tend to look a lot better with speeds typically ranging from between 1ms to 50ms. That said,and as previously mentioned, I am still seeing the occaision figures which are similar to those in the original post. Consequently slow-downs are clearly occuring but I don't possess the technical knowledge to know what is causing the latency. Are the slow downs a result of my internet set-up or is this an issue with the ISP.

I will take your advice and keep a note of the timings of future tracerts so that I can forward these onto my ISP and to see if any clear patterns emerge.

I have also been checking other broadband speeds in my locality (a suburban town) and it appears that my speed is fairly average when compared with other broadband users (excluding fibre optic broadband - of course). This makes me question whether this is an issue with my broadband and whether the VSS3 has a specification that is not designed for your average broadband? If this is the case,it should certainly be made much clearer in Vodafone's marketing material.

In respect of Sukhi's suggestion to try the VSS at another location, I do intend to do this, but as the evidence appears to be pointing towards the broadband speed, I don't beleive that there is anything wrong with the SS.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions, they are very much appreciated.