[Packet8] New Packet8 user with fuzzy reception

Author	All Replies
awaresoft join:2004-03-11 Annandale, NJ	[Packet8] New Packet8 user with fuzzy reception Just got my Packet8 DTA today. Plugged it and everything works ... but, to be honest, I was expecting a higher quality phone connection. I've made several local and long distance calls and there's hissing and crackling in the background and the calls have a very celluar phone call type of feel. When I speak the other caller's voice is cut off as if I am using a walkie talkie. The audio volume is very loud - not a complaint - just an observation. My tests were performed with no other network activity. Packet8 DTA info - Model Number: AudacityT2U DTA310 - Shipped with 12.32 firmware, I upgraded to 12.33 I'm on a Patriot cable 1.5M down/512K up internet connection. My router is a Linksys BEFW1154 802.11b ver 4 router. I'm using a 908-752-xxxx number. I am located in Clinton, NJ where the local POTS phone vendor is Sprint. Are my expectations of a crisp/clear connection unrealistic for VoIP? Could my problems be due to my cable connection and/or latency or confined to my local phone company's POTS connections? Any suggestions or feedback? Malcolm
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-22 17:09:39 ·
muttdog join:2003-11-04 USA	static noise? that is strange... I have never had static on the line, it is either working or not working... I know this sounds stupid, but do you have another phone that you can test with? give that a try... Generally i would rate the sound quality very high. It isn't CD quality, but basically the same as the best POTS line i;ve ever used...
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-22 17:18:15 ·
Sly Premium join:2004-02-20 Johnson City, TN clubs:	reply to awaresoft I have to agree. I've never had static on my packet8 line. I had a standard line that had a real bad AC hum but my VoIP line is flawless. Check wiring, swap phones and If nothing works, exchange for a new DTA.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-22 18:06:50 ·
CTiffany join:2001-05-16 San Diego, CA clubs:	reply to awaresoft I would definitely try another phone...mine was fuzzy with one of my older phones, but with a new phone the line was as good or better than any POTS phone. -- Something has to change. Undeniable dilemma. Boredom's not a burden anyone should bear. (MJK - 1996)
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-22 19:05:20 ·
kinkygal join:2004-02-22 White Rock, BC	reply to awaresoft Are you using a cordless phone near the computer/router/dta? I have to keep my cordless phones on the other side of the desk or I get static. Also make sure the phone line from the dta to the phone isn't loose or old?
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-23 00:54:15 ·
scottkeen join:2001-06-05 Kailua Kona, HI	reply to awaresoft Having used both Packet8 and Vonage with my cable connection and the same Panasonic cordless telephone, I can say without hesitation that Packet8 is vastly inferior in sound quality to Vonage. I have 2 friends on Packet8, and 1 other friend on Vonage. We talk all the time. Packet8 sounds like a cell phone call, or as one of the other guys said, "tinny, like you're talking through aluminum foil". I also got annoying clicks, beeps, and half-second dead-silence pauses with Packet8. I completely agree. Of course, Packet8 is almost half the price, so you get what you pay for. Again, I've used both on the same line, same phone. I've had a Packet8 device hooked up, and decided to stick with Vonage. Vonage is vastly superior, and it's worth the extra cost for me. I've used my Vonage device in DC and Hawaii, and it sounds crystal clear, better than landline, no matter where I am.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-23 01:11:46 ·
Sly Premium join:2004-02-20 Johnson City, TN clubs: ·Packet8 ·Callcentric ·Comcast Formerly ..	It tends to go either way most of the time. Some people who have both say Packet8 is better, some say otherwise. It all has to do with your latency to the servers and how your router handels Qos. Your Vonage may be placed in priority over packet8. Whatever the reason, be it even RF interference or microwave scrambling, Packet8 does not sound tinny. It has much more clarity than POTS for me. Scroll though the posts and you will see people having problems with Packet8 and problems with Vonage. The real differences are that with Vonage you get to pay for their massive advertising campaign and with Packet8 you get to pay for the phone.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-23 02:18:04 ·
scottkeen join:2001-06-05 Kailua Kona, HI	I have a pretty unbiased setup. I had both Packet8 and Vonage hooked up to the SAME ZyWALL firewall connected to the SAME Toshiba PCX2500 cable modem on the SAME Time Warner cable connection. I also used the SAME Panasonic _cordless_ telephone. Packet8 sounded like something between a landline and a cell phone. The dead-silence dropouts were annoying. However, Vonage sounded great -- better than landline. Calling from Hawaii on a landline often produces echo and some other line noise. However, on Vonage it was crystal clear in both directions. I was evaluating both Packet8 and Vonage, deciding which one to go with. In the end, I chose Vonage because of superior voice quality on both my DC and my Hawaii cable modem connections. I would have liked to picked Packet8 and saved a lot of money, but the voice quality was unacceptable for me. I chose Vonage because of the superior voice quality over Packet8 on my setup and connection. It had nothing to do with Vonage's big budget ad campaign. I had both devices hooked up and was evaluating both of them. Vonage sound quality was far superior. I think many of the people (and I was one of them) who have problems with Vonage, actually have cable modem problems. There are problems with certain cable modems and Vonage. The Motorola SB5100 is a problematic cable modem for Vonage, and I had terrible problems with it. Switching to an older Motorola SB4200 or using a Toshiba PCX2500 or PCX2600 cable modem solved all my Vonage problems. That said, YMMV.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-23 02:38:50 ·
Ikarasu join:2004-01-09 Port Coquitlam, BC ·ITalkBB	reply to awaresoft I've been using packet8 for months... and it sounds great. This is what I noticed... everytime I make a call... no echoing, no static... nothing. If someone calls... usually the same thing.. however, SOMETIMES, I hear a faint echo.... IF you start a call with net activity, using it all... eve if you stop it, you're not going to get the quality better... unless you call back (Sounds stupid... but... thats how it is for me, tested many times) I rarelly get static... if I do, I hang up and call back... then it works great. IT all depends on location.. .type of ISP... ect. If you're on east coast... of course vonage is going to sound better... if you're using the 50 Kb/s codec on vonage, instead of the 5 KB/s on packet8... yeah... that will be better also.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-23 03:50:33 ·
NoVaVoiper join:2003-10-21 Arlington, VA	reply to scottkeen Bigtuna is right based on a bad period for Packet8. They have since gone through and fixed a switch problem what was causing unnecessary audio drops. Since then, quality has been great (combined with the new firmware). For the price, you can't do much better. As for the static, I'd try a corded phone to see if you're facing interference. said by scottkeen : I have a pretty unbiased setup. I had both Packet8 and Vonage hooked up to the SAME ZyWALL firewall connected to the SAME Toshiba PCX2500 cable modem on the SAME Time Warner cable connection. I also used the SAME Panasonic _cordless_ telephone. Packet8 sounded like something between a landline and a cell phone. The dead-silence dropouts were annoying. However, Vonage sounded great -- better than landline. Calling from Hawaii on a landline often produces echo and some other line noise. However, on Vonage it was crystal clear in both directions. I was evaluating both Packet8 and Vonage, deciding which one to go with. In the end, I chose Vonage because of superior voice quality on both my DC and my Hawaii cable modem connections. I would have liked to picked Packet8 and saved a lot of money, but the voice quality was unacceptable for me. I chose Vonage because of the superior voice quality over Packet8 on my setup and connection. It had nothing to do with Vonage's big budget ad campaign. I had both devices hooked up and was evaluating both of them. Vonage sound quality was far superior. I think many of the people (and I was one of them) who have problems with Vonage, actually have cable modem problems. There are problems with certain cable modems and Vonage. The Motorola SB5100 is a problematic cable modem for Vonage, and I had terrible problems with it. Switching to an older Motorola SB4200 or using a Toshiba PCX2500 or PCX2600 cable modem solved all my Vonage problems. That said, YMMV.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-23 07:42:31 ·
muttdog join:2003-11-04 USA	reply to Ikarasu "If you're on east coast... of course vonage is going to sound better..." I'm on the east coast, calling Los Angeles, CA all the time... Maybe I am confused and crazy, but I never really had super high expectations for sound quality of a telephone in general. It could be that I have a crap arse phone, or that i cannot seem to pinpoint freq changes in the compressed wavelength field of telephone conversations... I have tried a vonage phone. I have tried POTS. I have tried SprintPCS. I have tried Verizon Wireless. I guess in my opinion, they are all pretty damn close to the same. i dont think I ever have said to myself "Holy Cannondale! Your voice sounds is coming through in DTS ES 7.1 Surround sound!"
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-23 19:20:02 ·
SSurfer Premium join:2002-03-24 New Jersey	reply to awaresoft Just set up mine dta last night. Same here with the static. I tried a corded line directly into the back of the DTA to eliminate the issue of a cordless phone or the wiring thru the house to the room of the cordless. I can hear the static sound still. I usually would test by just pressing a few digit of the number I want to dial and then just listen as the line is not ringing yet. My wife just called and complained that the inbound audio was staticy, while on the other end, her fried has no problem with the audio.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-30 11:49:16 ·
digiblur Got Sipura? Premium join:2002-06-03 Louisiana ·Cox HSI	Re: [Packet8] New Packet8 user with fuzzy receptio said by SSurfer : Just set up mine dta last night. Same here with the static. I tried a corded line directly into the back of the DTA to eliminate the issue of a cordless phone or the wiring thru the house to the room of the cordless. I can hear the static sound still. I usually would test by just pressing a few digit of the number I want to dial and then just listen as the line is not ringing yet. My wife just called and complained that the inbound audio was staticy, while on the other end, her fried has no problem with the audio. If you are pushing a few buttons and the dialtone goes away and you hear static, its not a problem out on the Packet8 network. The dialtone is actually generated from the DTA itself, the call is not "connected" until after you finish dialing the number. Watch the LINK led on the DTA after you dial, when it starts blinking like crazy that is when the unit starts "talking" out on the internet. The static problem you have is in your house somewhere. It could be a bad phone, bad cable, bad/dirty power, bad DTA, or a combination of these items.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-30 12:09:07 ·
awaresoft join:2004-03-11 Annandale, NJ	reply to awaresoft Re: [Packet8] New Packet8 user with fuzzy reception Original poster here. My Packet8 reception has been improving. This may be due to: 1. Changed my phone as suggested by an earlier poster. Yes - this did make a difference although I don't know why as my original Packet8 phone continues to work great with my standard POTS service. BTW: The phone I'm now using with Packet8 is a Uniden DCT 6465 portable - this is a great phone! 2. My cable service (Patriot) doubled its bandwidth for all its customers (at no additional cost). Even more importantly, my actual bandwidth (as reported by dslreports speed tests) is very close to Patriot's performance claims. This was not the case when I first posted - my download speeds were about 1/3 my supposed 1.5M speeds. My current Packet8 quality status: at times my calls are so clear I am truly in awe. At other times I still experience the old walkie talkie effect where only one person can talk at a time. I've also noticed (although not sure if its my imagination) that sometimes my phone quality improves the longer I'm on the line? I'm the only one on my internet connection (now a 3M down, 512K up) so it can't be my local network traffic. Perhaps there are cable/network issues outside my LAN? In any case, 3 weeks into my Packet8 trial, I'm pleased enough with the service to keep it and recommend it to others. Is it perfect? No. But I see the potential and I'm willing to hang in there while Packet8 continues to improve the product. Thanks for everyone's feedback on this thread! Malcolm
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-30 17:08:34 ·
KansasGuy @rr.com	Just activated P8 this afternoon, $15 D-link router old V-tech phone Roadrunner, No problems installing and it sounds good, absolutely better than my PCS, I'll have to evaluate for a longer time to have a definitive opinion but am initially pleased.
	to forum · permalink · 2004-03-30 18:26:38 ·
digiblur Got Sipura? Premium join:2002-06-03 Louisiana ·Cox HSI	reply to awaresoft Re: [Packet8] New Packet8 user with fuzzy receptio said by awaresoft : Original poster here. My Packet8 reception has been improving. This may be due to: I've also noticed (although not sure if its my imagination) that sometimes my phone quality improves the longer I'm on the line? I'm the only one on my internet connection (now a 3M down, 512K up) so it can't be my local network traffic. Perhaps there are cable/network issues outside my LAN? To do some packet loss testing try this post: »Re: [Packet 8] Annoyance......
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-30 18:33:45 ·
awaresoft join:2004-03-11 Annandale, NJ	Digiblur, Thanks for the tip regarding pingplotter. Cool utility - I'm running it now. A nice tool to add to my tool kit. Regards, Malcolm PS: So far so good - averaging 120 ms round trip.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-30 19:43:22 ·
TeleGirl join:2004-03-15 Olathe, KS 1 edit	reply to KansasGuy Re: [Packet8] New Packet8 user with fuzzy reception Hi KansasGuy, I'm in Kansas too, and I too just set my P8 up today. Only difference is I'm on SBC/Yahoo DSL. So far, clear as a bell on my corded phone using the handset and the headset. Also tried it on my crappy GE cordless which was staticy before P8 and of course, is still staticy now. So far I'm thrilled! I'll be adding a detailed review later, and update it accordingly over the weeks and months to come.
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-30 20:04:35 ·
csbadboyz Csbadboyz Premium join:2003-11-14 Sanford, FL	reply to awaresoft Re: [Packet8] New Packet8 user with fuzzy receptio I think digiblur has hit ssurfers problem right on the head. Now for ssurfer to located the faulty cables... been there see it done it -- VoIP on FWD & P8
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-30 20:08:08 ·
SSurfer Premium join:2002-03-24 New Jersey 1 edit	reply to digiblur Relocated the DTA to 2 other rooms for testing (Most of the rooms in the house was pre-wired with Cat5s and a 3 pair Cat3? phone when the house was build) just to eliminate the power issue. The outlets were on seperate circuits, and 2 of the room had APC UPS units available for the PCs there, so that is what I plugged into (with the PC off). Still picked up static on both a wired ATT 732 phone and a recently purchased Uniden DXI-986-2 directly plugged into the DTA to eliminate the house phone wiring as an issue. Both these phone worked with a existing POTS line tested right after without the static sounds. Ok, borrowed a VTech 900 Mhz analog phone from someone and the static was still there, but less noticable. That could be one way to go, but that particular Vtech does not have head phone jacks, so I may have to do some searching. I see awaresoft has good results with Uniden DCT 6465, but in my case it would not be fesable as I also have 802.11b\g running here so from past experance the 2.4Ghz phones and the wireless router usually steps on each other. Now why is the DTA more staticy compared to the POTS line? Is there a setting that could be set in the configuration. Is this common or do I have a bad ps or dta?
	to forum · permalink · · 2004-03-30 22:59:05 ·


Thursday, 09-Sep 08:03:42	Terms of Use \| Privacy Policy \| Hosting by www.nac.net - DSL,Hosting & Co-lo \| feedback \| contact over 11 years online! © 1999-2010 dslreports.com. republican-creole page compression OFF