Question about microphone volume

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Question about microphone volume

Postby torontovoipnewuserx » 11/21/2020

Hi, I am using FreePhoneLine's desktop application, and I am using a headset connected to the PC's speaker and microphone ports.

I have a question about the microphone volume. I routinely called Fongo's echo-test phone number to check whether my microphone volume is OK or not.

I also use Windows 7's Sound-Recorder application to record my talk and play it back.

I found that the talk-back volume from Fongo's echo-test number is much higher than the play-back volume from the Sound-Recorder application.

I am confused. Isn't it that the volume from these two sources should be the same, since I am doing exactly the same talk in both tests? Does Fongo's echo-test number use software to artificially boost the play-back volume above its true value?
torontovoipnewuserx
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Re: Question about microphone volume

Postby Liptonbrisk » 12/17/2020

While I'm not going to test (I also don't use Windows 7), you could try calling these (416 and 250) test numbers as well: http://thetestcall.blogspot.com/.
If you experience the same thing across all test numbers, chances are the issue isn't with the testing services.
Please do not send me emails; I do not work for nor represent Freephoneline or Fongo. Post questions on the forums so that others may learn from responses or assist you. Thank you. If you have an issue with your account or have a billing issue, submit a ticket here: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. Visit http://status.fongo.com/ to check FPL/Fongo service status. Freephoneline setup guides can be found at viewforum.php?f=15.
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Re: Question about microphone volume

Postby torontovoipnewuserx » 12/17/2020

OK. Let's forget about Windows 7 & the Sound-Recorder stuff for a moment.

Let's say, I called this # from that TestCall page, (416) 342-9562, and listened to my own talk that it echoed back.

Then I did another test by calling my own phone # and left a voice-mail message there.

Afterwards, I listened to my voice-mail message. To my surprise, I found the volume of this message is noticeably lower than that of my echoed-back talk from (416) 342-9562.

So either (416) 342-9562 is artifically increasing the volume of my voice beyond its true value when echoing it back, or the FreePhoneLine voice-mail system is artifically decreasing the volume of my voice during recording, and/or during play-back.

So what exactly happened here?
torontovoipnewuserx
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Re: Question about microphone volume

Postby Liptonbrisk » 12/17/2020

torontovoipnewuserx wrote:
So either (416) 342-9562 is artifically increasing the volume of my voice beyond its true value when echoing it back


Based on my understanding of the host service being used for that number, I strongly doubt it. They don't do anything to the audio.

or the FreePhoneLine voice-mail system is artifically decreasing the volume


I believe the voicemail audio recording is transcoded and compressed, but as I am not privy to what's occurring on the backend, I have no way of verifying for sure.
But the audio sounds lossy to me. When Freephoneline's voicemail files are emailed to users, they're 56kbps, low-bitrate MP3s. I would be less inclined to use the voicemail system as
a test source.
Please do not send me emails; I do not work for nor represent Freephoneline or Fongo. Post questions on the forums so that others may learn from responses or assist you. Thank you. If you have an issue with your account or have a billing issue, submit a ticket here: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. Visit http://status.fongo.com/ to check FPL/Fongo service status. Freephoneline setup guides can be found at viewforum.php?f=15.
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Liptonbrisk
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SIP Device Name: Obihai 202/2182, Groundwire
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Computer OS: Windows 64 bit
Router: Asuswrt-Merlin & others


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