POOR CALL QUALITY

[kraza01]

I am having very poor / choppy call quality from the last 2 days, nothing changed from my side, call customer support and from there end i come to know , "every thing is ok", i am with rogers 10MBPS, Dlink 655 router and Using Grandstream HT 502. (same set up worked excellent from the last 3 months). Please by joining this thread let me as well as FPL Team know as if i am the only one having problem others too.
Thanks

[magicray]

As FPL would say there are only maybe a "handfull of people having this problem". BULL tons of people are having this problem, I actually did a test today.

Bought a new PAP2T (needed one anyway) and took it to work and at the end of the day tried out the system and no surprise the same call quality, choppy and packets dropping. This is with a Fiber connection with Bell, and I have my whole work system running with Polycom phones with another provider and everything always runs smooth, you can't even feel your on a voip. But with FPL too many things change without notice and no support.

I hope someone here can figure out what the real problem is.

BTW i ran my account with their software and everything works fine no problem, I even used x-lite with my sip settings and no problem. I think something has changed in the past month and we need to change a setting in our ATA's.

[amitmeh]

I agree. FPL has really bad call quality in the last month or so to the point that I cannot even understand what is being said. I am using codec G729a and I don't think it has anything to do with my settings. It was working fine before. Please admins we need suppport for this.

[magicray]

I mean you can't get more detialed than this thread by slvrsi - http://forum.freephoneline.ca/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=180

[volenin]

Same problem here - nothing to do with the outage on Sept 17. The quality got worse starting late aug. Just called tech support and the guy said that no one experiencing these problems and that I should upgrade the firmware.

The most frustrating part though is the tech support on the phone is of VERY inconsistent quality. Some people are extremely knowledgeable, others feel like the fresh graduates of some sociological studies - have very basic understanding of technology and their recommendations stretch to blaming everyone else (firmware, internet provider, etc). Some of them actually contradict what is being posted on this board by other Freephoneline support ppl (eg, Kris, who seems to be extremely helpful and knows what he's talking about). Eg, I asked today whether I can port _my number _ out of Freephoneline (the number that I owned before and ported to Freephone some time ago), the guy says 'no, you can't do that'. After I insisted and he actually checked it, he says 'yes, it's possible'... Quite frustrating...

If someone from Freephoneline can post an HONEST feedback about what's going on with the quality these days and when these issues will be resolved (unless they are systematic), that would be REALLY good. Otherwise I think people will start to port out, as having a free service that you can't really use is of not much help, especially when you are talking about such basic thing as phone...

[FONGO_steve]

Same problem here - nothing to do with the outage on Sept 17. The quality got worse starting late aug. Just called tech support and the guy said that no one experiencing these problems and that I should upgrade the firmware.

The most frustrating part though is the tech support on the phone is of VERY inconsistent quality. Some people are extremely knowledgeable, others feel like the fresh graduates of some sociological studies - have very basic understanding of technology and their recommendations stretch to blaming everyone else (firmware, internet provider, etc). Some of them actually contradict what is being posted on this board by other Freephoneline support ppl (eg, Kris, who seems to be extremely helpful and knows what he's talking about). Eg, I asked today whether I can port _my number _ out of Freephoneline (the number that I owned before and ported to Freephone some time ago), the guy says 'no, you can't do that'. After I insisted and he actually checked it, he says 'yes, it's possible'... Quite frustrating...

If someone from Freephoneline can post an HONEST feedback about what's going on with the quality these days and when these issues will be resolved (unless they are systematic), that would be REALLY good. Otherwise I think people will start to port out, as having a free service that you can't really use is of not much help, especially when you are talking about such basic thing as phone...

At current time our support call overflow goes to a call center in the dominican when we are unavailable in Canada to take these calls. Since only a mere few months ago the service was still pretty small and evolving, it was always a second support work type of deal for us because the primary concentration is our business-end of things. Now that the service has grown overwhelmingly fast we are left with no formal training when it comes to Q&A/Technical issues of freephoneline.
I've already written a new FAQ page for the website that will be active next week - this will answer a lot of peoples questions before they call in with them. I will continue to keep that updated as frequent questions occur.
I'm also beginning work on formal training documentation for all of our support agents. This needs to be done to keep things consistent - something we can both admit doesn't happen right now. I see where you're coming from with what you say, I see it myself too and will work hard to make sure we get everyone on the same page in the coming while.
It is a free service, so while we struggle over some bumps in getting things going as we grow, it at least isn't costing you any subscription fees or anything

[magicray]

Steve thanks for your response but please have different levels of tech support. With the free service that you guys have I'm even surprised that you do HAVE TECH SUPPORT, but if you do have it let it work for your customers. I also think it would be wiser to have a higher level tech answer questions on the board than maybe on the phone, as many people will find it and read it.

As you can see the board is filling up with questions and answers and I believe it has helped many people.

But back to topic poor call quality - I read that some scripting has been disabled and it might be running smoother tonight.

[FONGO_kris]

Yepp I ran through our routing tables with our programmers in Bulgaria and disabled some redundant functions.

Right now all troubleshooting over the phone goes from Tier 1 > Steve (mindabsence) and Kris (admin) > Programmers in Bulgaria and one in Kitchener Waterloo.

[kraza01]

" paying less does not mean settling for less "
yes in our case we are not paying any thing for FPL service, but when it come to a concept of home phone , everybody want a reliable phone service, and that is what FPL advertise " FREE HOME PHONE LINE" so if by any reason (like no charge service) FPL is not able to maintain a reliable service , they should advertise their product as a " get free additional / secondary phone line service, so no one will blame their quality of service as its a 2nd line and all customers are responsible to maintain a good main back up phone line. Furthermore I have used FPL phone as my main Phone line from the last 3 months and it worked fine and hope that it will run smother in future too.

[magicray]

I brought the system back up and tested call quality and things seem to have gone back to normal - NO more choppy voice.

I hope everyone else's issues have also been resolved.

thanks guys.

[blairfleming]

Having terribly choppy connections. Even have my linksys pap in the dmz. Is their a tuning guide? Suggestions?

[FONGO_steve]

Having terribly choppy connections. Even have my linksys pap in the dmz. Is their a tuning guide? Suggestions?

send me a PM with your email address, I'll send you the configuration guide we use here for our devices

[volenin]

Steve/Kris, can you please let us know if the system maintenance has been completed now? I believe it was supposed to be done by 11am today. I'm still having occasional loss of quality...

Thanks,

Vlad

[volenin]

So, any status update? Is the service back to normal now?

[FONGO_kris]

Should be, my calls are going through fine here in the office as well as with my home.

[volenin]

This morning can't make or receive calls again..... Sometimes the calls get through, sometimes they are not......Very frustrating.

[tkd_gjp]

Over the last month, I've also been having issues. Sometimes it works, but often choppy/cutting off. Other times the service just dissappears and we can't make or receive any calls at all...

[FONGO_steve]

Over the last month, I've also been having issues. Sometimes it works, but often choppy/cutting off. Other times the service just dissappears and we can't make or receive any calls at all...

In regards to the choppy/cutting off - what ISP are you with and what is your connection speed?

[tkd_gjp]

In regards to the choppy/cutting off - what ISP are you with and what is your connection speed?

I'm with Bell performance (7Mbps) and speedtests show download speeds of around 5Mbps...

[FONGO_steve]

In regards to the choppy/cutting off - what ISP are you with and what is your connection speed?

I'm with Bell performance (7Mbps) and speedtests show download speeds of around 5Mbps...

What we do for our business PBX's that go through our parent company is make sure all DSL lines are only on the al1 - fast path profile. Bell will by default put all their new connections on interleaved which will give better error correction but higher ping. Fast path is fairly self explanitory, it gives your line more direct routing, less error correction and much lower pings. When it comes to business PBX orders handling 2+++ lines, it has to be fast path or pack loss, poor quality, etc will happen. We have no problems when the lines are kept on this profile. Give it another week or so, if you're still experiencing poor quality/dropped packets then you could call bell and have them switch your line profile and see if that makes any changes!

Up until now we haven't recommended that to freephoneline users, but after seeing the problem-free operation of our PBXs it might become suggested for users experiencing on-going quality and dropped packets.

However, your first problem of dropped server connections is being looked into first. They keep telling us support guys that this is fixed, but the real-world feedback from customers is that it's still not working for many users so I'm having them look into that further. Once we know the back-end is 100% operational, then users who experience ongoing quality problems will be recommended to have their line profile changed because poor routing or too much error correction from their ISP/Bell's lines could be causing this.

[burla]

Hi all:
I've also very poor quality, almost not useable these last days/weeks.
This long unstability helps new overseas players to win in market shares, quite disappointed.

[Mysterious]

In regards to the choppy/cutting off - what ISP are you with and what is your connection speed?

I'm with Bell performance (7Mbps) and speedtests show download speeds of around 5Mbps...

What we do for our business PBX's that go through our parent company is make sure all DSL lines are only on the al1 - fast path profile. Bell will by default put all their new connections on interleaved which will give better error correction but higher ping. Fast path is fairly self explanitory, it gives your line more direct routing, less error correction and much lower pings. When it comes to business PBX orders handling 2+++ lines, it has to be fast path or pack loss, poor quality, etc will happen. We have no problems when the lines are kept on this profile. Give it another week or so, if you're still experiencing poor quality/dropped packets then you could call bell and have them switch your line profile and see if that makes any changes!

Up until now we haven't recommended that to freephoneline users, but after seeing the problem-free operation of our PBXs it might become suggested for users experiencing on-going quality and dropped packets.

However, your first problem of dropped server connections is being looked into first. They keep telling us support guys that this is fixed, but the real-world feedback from customers is that it's still not working for many users so I'm having them look into that further. Once we know the back-end is 100% operational, then users who experience ongoing quality problems will be recommended to have their line profile changed because poor routing or too much error correction from their ISP/Bell's lines could be causing this.

Hi there, what about Rogers 10Mbps, is this ok for voip , as I am not only having choppy voice issue but connectivity problem too now, and when i called rogers and ask about it (as may be its an issue from their end) their rep said it is ok from their side further he laugh at me when i said to increase my speed only due to the reason i wish to use VOIP (he was a certified Tech guy, he said he love to increase my speed to a higher limit of 25 mbps but, he added for a VOIP even 1MBps is more than enough ) Please explain a bit about internet requirement, and is the service is up and running at its full swing now , or still work in progress causing all these issues.thanks in advance for any answer.

[FONGO_steve]

Hi there, what about Rogers 10Mbps, is this ok for voip , as I am not only having choppy voice issue but connectivity problem too now, and when i called rogers and ask about it (as may be its an issue from their end) their rep said it is ok from their side further he laugh at me when i said to increase my speed only due to the reason i wish to use VOIP (he was a certified Tech guy, he said he love to increase my speed to a higher limit of 25 mbps but, he added for a VOIP even 1MBps is more than enough ) Please explain a bit about internet requirement, and is the service is up and running at its full swing now , or still work in progress causing all these issues.thanks in advance for any answer.

Rogers 10mb is just fine! A few people here in the office have the same service.
When it comes to slower cable connections you need to keep in mind the fact that speeds will fluctuate based on usage on your cable trunk. If you pay for 1mbps cable - you will not always get 1mbps speeds, thus it is hard to keep a stable line for VOIP. When it comes to VOIP on cable, we always recommend a slightly higher speed because then at "peak hours" when things have slowed down a little bit you should still have a good safety margin. Rogers 3mb would probably be more than enough for most people, although we do have some customers who have intermittent problems in their area with the service and that speed - but it's generally fine

[regal]

I've got the same problem since I came back from vacation on Aug. 20th. For both the incoming and outgoing calls, I was able to hear the other side, while people on the other side couldn't hear me, my voice had been cutting left and right. I thought it would be ok in few days, but after a month, the problem is still there. Today I came to this forum and found not only me, many people are having the same issue. It's seems not the problem of small handful users. So please, FPL tech support, go for it and figure it out. We will appreciate for that.

[volenin]

Just wanted to put smth nice into this thread: as of last friday (Sept 25 or so) I'm having stable and perfect quality connection. So, 5 days and counting. Hopefully, it will last. Thanks for finally resolving the issues - it's been a rough month for FPL...