Audio Intermittent (every other word) For Other party?...

sirBB · Post by **sirBB** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:39 pm

Alright, so we acknowledge this gizmo is about 40 bucks pls tax and a buck and a quarter a month so what the H do I expect?...
And that the people who created this hoax should be restricted from advertising/marketing anywhere, or if they are allowed to adv on late night TV there should be a big fat red asterisk on the middle of the screen and a scrolling message in red at the bottom of the screen that says "Warning: this may not work with your computer, this may not work with your OS. this may not work with your ISP, this may not work period." and that these guys should be reduced to hawking this piece of gargage at the cheapest of cheapo flea markets in So. Fla. on weekends...

All that said: Any of you experienced guys can help me help a family member make this thing work?
This is a less-than 3 yr old Dell Vostro desktop mini-tower, 1.6 Ghz dual-core, 2 Gb ram, XP Home(sp3), IE8, cable connection thru BH. They can make and receive calls with MJ no probs. No lock-ups of OS.
Problem is : after a certain period of time into some calls the other party is only able to hear every other word spoken (by the persons in the home where the MJ is). The MJ user continues to hear just fine.
Speed testing using the cable co's site (and 3rd party) shows Down speeds ranging from 24 Mbps to as much as 33 Mbsp (depending upon time of day), and UP speeds from as little as 900 Kbps to as much as 1,870 Kbps. From what i've been reading everywhere I gotta believe they have enough speed here from the cable provider( even if their UP speed is a constant 900 Kbps, and never higher). This Dell Vostro machine has 4 USB ports in front, four in the back, I expect theres one Hub controlling each. There was a Linksys wired router being used, I took that out. We have the MJ now connected directly into one of the 4 USB ports at the rear (without that 4" wire), alone by itself, and the USB mouse and kb and printer are connected at the front connectors. I've gone into DeviceMgr and for all USB ports UNchecked the box "allow the computer to turn off power..." I've gone into Performance and checked "Background Services." I've gone into AdminTools, Services, Enabled and set to Auto BITS, Telephony, any other net-related services which were not already Enabled or set to Auto. The machine has an updated NIC driver. Still the issue persists, not during all calls at all times of day, but during peak-usage times, the Up/out signal traffic is being degraded, the people they're talking with hears only a steady every-other-word.
Those of you who have been reading and answering these posts for a couple years... have you noticed the USB ports not getting sufficient juice issue (a steady 500 mA) common among the newer Dell machines? I've read where we can get a powered USB hub (I can visualize an internal fan coming on and sapping just enough juice to hurt the MJ performance, and that would of course be noticeable by reduction of Up/out signal which is already a lot lower than down speed).
The Linksys router I can put back in the system, and i've read and learned how I can QoS with it.
I've also read about people getting the Hawking Bandwidth Booster...(but since the Linksys router is already bought and paid for, QoS-ing with that is something i'd prefer to do first, before having them spend more $ for the HBB1....specially if i'm going to tell them to spend $ for a powered USB Hub if that's what's needed!) (anyone agree if these guys are allowed to advertise on late-night tv they should be required to scroll "This 39.99 is only the FIRST 39.99 -- you'll be purchasing more equipment to make this think work....")
I gotta believe they've got enough signal from their cable company... but... any ideas?
Thanks a lot...

sabresfan · Post by **sabresfan** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:52 pm

You have a lot of the basics covered. A good place to start is with the MJ wiki http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/MagicJack here you can get the best fixes available for call quality and more. A powered usb hub can also make a big difference and is one of the most common things recommended for people to try first. Good Luck

sirBB · Post by **sirBB** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:59 pm

Thanks Sabresfan:
I've been all over the Wikipages already....(and more)
Hoping to hear from the guys who have been here for a couple yrs, and the Dell machine owners, and the Brighthouse susbcribers....

sirBB · Post by **sirBB** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:38 pm

Anyone have any idea why this happens only with calls received (inbound calls) only....
Yes i've read thru and considered all the possible fixes:...
A A/C powered USB hub is being shipped....
I'm reinstalling the (wired) Linksys BEFSR41 router and will set up QoS....
Getting a Hawking Broadband Booster is another possiblility...
None of these solutions -- and all the rest -- address the question of why the up/out signal gets degraded and the other party hears only about every-other-word during peak traffic times but only on the inbound / received calls only..?...
There's a reasonable limit to how much $ one ought to be spending to make this thing workable....
Are there any reports of MagicJack chopping signal for inbound calls only to limit talk-time... or of Brighthouse doing that?... (it would be unethical and unconscionable for a company to limit outbound calls--some of those could be emergency calls... but how about inbound calls?...
thanks

synchron · Post by **synchron** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:52 pm

Since MJ/Ymax use their own CLEC, they make money on every incoming call so I doubt that they would want those calls to be crappy quality.

In my case the calls are crappy both inbound and outbound (which is why I treat MJ as a backup in case my primary voip of decent quality should ever go down).

Synchron

magicFox · Post by **magicFox** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:36 pm

Handset=Speaker 40%, Mic=35%

MJ to me is just as good as the best cell provider or better !

sirBB · Post by **sirBB** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 6:35 pm

Synchron:
And which steps have you taken to attempt to remedy?: Powered USB Hub?... Hawking Broadband Booster?... Using a router to set up QoS?....
mkke

hsweiss · Post by **hsweiss** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:01 pm

A few things come to mind to try to figure out what your problem is.

First issue might be the proxy that you are connecting through. I had lots of problems with the NYC proxy (echo, dropped calls, stuttered sound, etc). I blocked access to the NYC proxy (see the Wiki on how to do this or use WireShark to watch your packets and find out which proxy MJ is connecting to) and most of my problems went away.

Another problem might be with the priority the magicJack process is running at on your machine. You can manually increase its priority in the task manager. You can permanently increase its priority using a task manager add-on called Prio.

Another issue might be your ISP. While you might have plenty of bandwidth (my favorite speed test web site is speedtest.qwest.net), you might have too much jitter - which means that the ISP is not delivering (or sending) the packets in a timely manner. Some ISPs simply say that they don't guarantee VOIP so you might be SOL. You can test your jitter by running the jitter test at http://www.whichvoip.com/voip/speed_test/ppspeed.html and see what it says. For example, I just ran a jitter test on my FIOS connection and I got jitter measured at 4.2ms with a MOSS score of 3.8 which is in the good range to support VOIP.

sirBB · Post by **sirBB** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 5:26 pm

Thanks HS:
I've got a list of possibles to look at, and the "which proxy" question was not something i had considered...
mike

MJ Problem Solver · Post by **MJ Problem Solver** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:05 am

I have a 3 year old Dell XPS
Cable internet...no router
I have my Magic Jack plugged into one of the front USB ports, but this should not make a difference.
I've had my Magic Jack for over two years now.
I had real problems when I first received.
I had a 5.8 GHz Radio Shack telephone hooked up and there were numerous problems with the sound quality.
I switched to an old G.E. 2.4 GHz cordless phone and everything was fine.
This year I purchased a 6.0 GHz cordless phone and the call quality suffered.
I switched back to my G.E. 2.4 GHz cordless phone and Magic Jack works fine.
You might try switching telephones to see if your problems persist.
Good Luck !

sirBB · Post by **sirBB** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 6:50 pm

Thanks 'Problem Solver'...
I know they went through the switching/swapping of phones when they first got MJ and that's what CS told them to do....
Don't know what Ghz phone(s) they're using now...

devinmccloud · Post by **devinmccloud** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 6:45 pm

I wouldn't use a 2.4 GHZ phone considering all wireless networks use the same frequency(use 5.8 GHZ). Your bound to get interference, again it depends on your personal area(Wifi traffic). Magicjack is hit and miss with the choppy calls. For $20 bucks/year I don't complain. Personally I would not run magicjack on anything other then a dedicated pc with all services shutdown and magicjack getting full priority. With that said you still get choppy calls, echo calls, and warble sounds. It is what it is.

sirBB · Post by **sirBB** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:50 pm

Thanks Devin:
this issue only occurs with their incoming calls--never on outgoing calls that they make. So in theory it sounds like it could be a internet related Windows Service which is set for 'Manual' that should be set for 'Automatic.' (thereby when they make an outgoing call MagicJack starts that service, but when an incoming call comes in, because it's set to "Manual' it doesn't get initiated). That's theory--but i've been in Services, and i've changed everything internet related (like BITS) to 'Automatic' and it still persists.
For youself--the choppy and warbling that you mention--is it something you or the other party or both hear, and is it on all calls, both outgoing and incoming? Did you set up QoS like with a router?...
mike in fla

Tigerllc74 · Post by **Tigerllc74** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 6:00 pm

I can hear fine on my end. It's the receiver end that caused breakups and fading. Since I cannot hear what they hear from me, I am trusting their words.

One solution was Control Panel/Sound, choose handset ad default, then set level at 68. This seem to get rid of any noise problem on receiver end.

To be honest, there are so many suggestions for this noise issue, it's very confusing. I know people in Asia who use MJs with old computer and very slow internet (400 kbs up and 150 kbs download). They talk a lot on MJ, yet hardly anyone ever complaint of noise on the line ???

AC power USB hub makes sense for handset since it needs little more power than from USB port.

Hope this helps...