Slow connections

[leo]

Hi,

I have recently started experiencing some issues with my vonage service. Within the last 2-3 mth i have been facing problems with my service. During calls the other party complains about the call being extremely choppy and breaking of, also during this time my internet connection speed will drop down drastically. I usually have to reboot my router, modem and computer for things to get back to normal. This will last for a few minutes to several hrs before i have to reboot everything again.
I tried calling Vonage customer care but the agent was unable to resolve my problem.

I will appreciate any suggestions as to what others have experienced

Regards,
Leo

[admin]

Leo.

If you do a speed test:
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

what do you get when you are not using your VoIP ATA? What do you get when you are? Is it DSL or cable modem you have?

Now remove the ATA and just have a direct connection between your PC and broadband modem. What speed to you get?

Concerned that your uplink bandwidth is perhaps not large enough.

Do you get the choppyness even when nobody in your household is accessing the internet (i.e. only your voip call using the bandwidth?).

Often the provider can change the codec setting inside the ATA to improve the call quality (or reduce bandwidth needs for your call if you have a poor uplink connection). Surprised Vonage did not at least try!

Also, do you have a data router in your connections and if so is it before or after the VoIP box (i.e. closer to the data modem or further away).

I'm the question man tonight, sorry about that, just trying to narrow it down a bit :-)

Thanks.
Andy

[Calum]

Leo,

One other thing to try is to type the following command in at the DOS command prompt "ping -n 100 yahoo.com" don't type the quotes. The result of this will be the percentage of packets lost. Try without the ATA in the path and then try it with the ATA. Do this a few times to get some reasonable results. If the packet loss is more with the ATA in place then it's probably the ATA, if it's about the same with or without your ATA then it's probably your internet provder. This won't solve your problem but at least it will let you know who to call.

Calum

[leo]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, i dont have a router but i have a DSL modem, the internet works fine, only when i make calls it becomes slow, i tried the direct connection and it works absolutely fine, i am not sure about the speed though i tried it out with the speed test link which you have sent.

Thanks,
Leo

[andyf]

Can you tell us the speed before and during the call? That would help indicate if there is some serious bandwidth hogging by the ATA.

Thanks.
Andy

[leo]

Hi Andy,

Before i make a call Download speed is 1493kbps and Upload speed is 290kbps but when i connect the ATA and make a call the Download speed decreases to 900kbps and Upload speed decreases to 100kbps.

Regards,
Leo

[andyf]

Leo.

That's a little more than I would have expected but not too drastic, are you really noticing the speed reduction, doesn't seem too bad. Was the call choppy when you were doing this test?

May be worth doing Calum's ping test above too - he's been in the trenches with this kind of problem in the past.

I would call Vonage and ask for a manager. I am sure if they take the time they will be able to adjust some of the settings in the ATA.

Do you have any friends who have DSL in your neighborhood? Bring your ATA over to their house and try it out. Try it with someone who has a cable modem too and if you can borrow an ATA from somebody who has Vonage that would help narrow the problem down too.

Please keep us posted.

Andy

[leo]

Hi Andy,

Let me try the calum's ping test and i wil get back to you soon

Thanks & Regards,
Leo

[leo]

Hi Andy,

I tried out all possible ways to get my service work,but nothing worked out so i left Vonage. i have signed up with a new company named Allo.com, as they claim to have their own network. so far, so good.


Regards,
Leo

[admin]

Glad you are having better luck now Leo and have your phone service up and running again. Keep us posted on Allo.com and if you get a chance please post a review for them:
http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/voip_reviews.htm

Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Andy