question about call quality with ATA

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philh77
Just Passing Thru
Posts: 11
Joined: 01/13/2010
SIP Device Name: laptop
Computer OS: VISTA

question about call quality with ATA

Post by philh77 »

I called customer support to ask about price of ATA.
I was using the softphone on my new laptop.
the call quality was poor, and I even lost the call half way through a question.
my question is, is the call quality better with the ATA?
is it better than the soft phone?
I don't want to pay all that money for poor call quality
if you are a customer and have ATA from freephone I would like to hear from you.
thanks

FYI as of the time of this post
the ATA is $79 plus $50 config file plus $20 shipping
total $149
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Jake
Technical Support
Posts: 2837
Joined: 10/18/2009

Re: question about call quality with ATA

Post by Jake »

philh77 wrote:I called customer support to ask about price of ATA.
I was using the softphone on my new laptop.
the call quality was poor, and I even lost the call half way through a question.
my question is, is the call quality better with the ATA?
is it better than the soft phone?
I don't want to pay all that money for poor call quality
if you are a customer and have ATA from freephone I would like to hear from you.
thanks

FYI as of the time of this post
the ATA is $79 plus $50 config file plus $20 shipping
total $149
I bought my own PAP2T ATA, which I believe is the same as the ones that they sell, when I bought the config file. I can honestly say that the call quality I get through FPL is very good.

Having said that, I would be a little concerned about your call quality that you mentioned. I played around a bit with softphones and found that I had to use a headset to get any chance of a decent call. I was also a bit worried about spending the money on a config file and ATA in case things were not very good, but in my case everything worked out perfectly. I was pretty unsure about VOIP when I first started to look into it all, but I now use it to call back home (UK) and the call quality is as good as if I were just down the road from them. I have even managed to get a local UK number for them to call.

Your internet connection will have a lot to do with it as well as your computer possibly, but as long as you are not on dial up it should all be OK. There was a big difference between using the softphone with a mic/speakers and a headset with mic. If you have a headset handy try some calls with that to test. Even using headphones may help. A normal telephone attached to the ATA is a lot more 'natural' though, and I prefer to use it rather than the headset.

On a side note, I have found that some of the support people's headsets are not as clear as they could be, and have struggled hearing them a few times when I have called in.
philh77
Just Passing Thru
Posts: 11
Joined: 01/13/2010
SIP Device Name: laptop
Computer OS: VISTA

Re: question about call quality with ATA

Post by philh77 »

thanks for your reply, I was using a headset with built in mic.
how did you get a UK number?, that is where I am from.
would be nice to have
TreeHugginHippy
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Computer OS: Windows XP Pro

Re: question about call quality with ATA

Post by TreeHugginHippy »

Great question.
My suggestion would be to post this question in the "Q&A" section of this forum instead of the "Feedback" section.
That way you don't clutter the forum with unorganized, irrelevant topics and you stand a much better chance of getting your problem resolved
since generally the people who are knowledgeable in solving problems often are reading and replying to posts in that section and not the Feedback section.
philh77
Just Passing Thru
Posts: 11
Joined: 01/13/2010
SIP Device Name: laptop
Computer OS: VISTA

Re: question about call quality with ATA

Post by philh77 »

took your advice and posted on FAQ