very poor sound quality - help please

[jamaicajack]

OK - I have tried a few things but am not able to get the sound quality to improve... sound quality on my end.

The sound is horribly scratchy.

I am running:

Windows XP Pro 2002 SP 2
AMD sempron 3000+
1.8 GHz, 1 GB of RAM

My network is a Linksys WRT150N connected -

Phone is a RCA corded 2 line business phone.

The people I call tell me the voice quality from my end is great - crystal clear.

I have switched USB ports, rummaged around in my router's settings (tried enabling QoS - not quite sure what the heck I was doing there, tbh)

ANY help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance -


edit - this fixed the "choppy" / "scratchy" audio for only about 5 calls... it then went back to the same problem... gawd it is frustrating


You are now chatting with 'Geatano'

jack: hello

Geatano: Hello, how may I help you?

jack: my audio quality is horrible

jack: and i need help

Geatano: Are you using cordless phone?

jack: no it is an RCA two line business corded phone

Geatano: OK, Wait a moment please.

jack: ok, thanks

Geatano: 1. Click Start

Geatano: 2. Click Control Panel

Geatano: 3. If your Control Panel is in Category View, double-click Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices

Geatano: If not, go directly to the step 4

Geatano: 4. Double Click on Sounds and Audio Devices

Geatano: 5. Click the Audio tab (the middle one)

Geatano: 6. Under both Sound Playback and Sound Recording, select your default audio device (the one you want to use) from the drop down menu

Geatano: * Never select Tigerjet as your default device

Geatano: 7. Click the box labeled Use Only Default Device" (located in the bottom left corner of the window)

Geatano: 8. Click Apply and OK

jack: one sec, i will give it a try

Geatano: OK

jack: they were already selected

Geatano: Click the link below for magicFix:

Geatano: http://www.magicjack.com/site/magicfix.html

Geatano: If that does not work:

Geatano: Please try connecting your magicJack to a different USB port and try again

Geatano: If that does not work:

Geatano: Please try using a different phone with your magicJack

Geatano: If that does not work:

Geatano: Please reboot your modem and router (if you are using one) for 3 minutes

jack: just tried making another call it is is still very very scratchy - like i cannot even understand what people are saying

jack: i have already done this - switched phones, rebooted my modem and router

Geatano: Make sure that you have enough bandwidth for MJ atleast 128 kbps

jack: I have more than that - 2Mb up and 11 Mb down

Geatano: OK

Geatano: Please unplug your magicJack. Now go to "Start" in Windows and click on "run". In there write regedit and press enter.

Geatano: Now click on + sign next to HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE.

Geatano: Click on + sign next to SYSTEM

Geatano: Click on + sign next to CurrentControlSet

Geatano: Click on + sign next to Enum

Geatano: Now find folder called USB. Right click on that and click on "Permissions". In permissions click on the check mark called "Allow" to the right of "Full Control".

Geatano: Click Ok.

Geatano: Now click on + sign next to USB and then find the two folders called "Vid1307", right click on one at a time and select delete.

Geatano: Now click on - Sign next to USB.

Geatano: Right click on Folder called USBSTOR and allow permissions.

Geatano: Now click on + sign next to USBSTOR.

Geatano: Find the folders called "CdRom&Ven_YMAX&Prod_MagicJack&Rev"

Geatano: and "Disk&Ven_YMAX&Prod_MagicJack&Rev"

Geatano: Right click on those one at a time and delete them.

Geatano: Now exit Regedit and then plug your magicJack in.

jack: ok - just plugged MJ back in

jack: looks like it is reinstalling

jack: i think it is working now - thanks!

Geatano: Is there anything else I may help you with today?

jack: yes - do you know when you will be adding Omaha, NE (area code 402)?

jack: i am stuck with a Colorado areacode

Geatano: Sorry we dont know this but

Geatano: Available Area Codes

Geatano: http://help.magicjack.com/SupportFaq/Se ... ea%20codes

Geatano: you can use this link to know about newly added and available are codes.

Geatano: HOpe you one will be added soon.

jack: i understand i will be able to switch for free once it is added?

Geatano: Yes

Geatano: Is there anything else I may help you with today?

jack: thanks good bye

[testing123]

jamaicajack: Try your QoS again. Look here to see if you find your router.

Do ONE of the following in this preferred order:

1) Prioritize UDP ports 5060 and 5070 (I say both because there has always been conflicting info)
2) Prioritize the IP that your MJ PC has (example: 192.168.1.102 on your private network if that is what it is). Use Start / Run / CMD / ipconfig to see your IP

Also, see if it may be anything outside your network (or the particular MJ Proxy that you are connecting through). See this post.

PS, this may sound SO basic -- have you tried another phone (with a different phone cord as well)? (i.e., could it be the earpiece in the phone you have?)

OK - I have tried a few things but am not able to get the sound quality to improve... sound quality on my end.

The sound is horribly scratchy.

I am running:

Windows XP Pro 2002 SP 2
AMD sempron 3000+
1.8 GHz, 1 GB of RAM

My network is a Linksys WRT150N connected -

Phone is a RCA corded 2 line business phone.

The people I call tell me the voice quality from my end is great - crystal clear.

I have switched USB ports, rummaged around in my router's settings (tried enabling QoS - not quite sure what the heck I was doing there, tbh)

ANY help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance -

...

[jamaicajack]

every time i post i get a "not implemented error 501" error - i am about ready to give up.

Thanks for the quick reply - I appreciate your help!

i have prioritized udp ports 5060 and 5070 - not sure what you mean about prioritizing the MJ PC - could you elaborate?

conducted a trace/rt to talk4free.com and had 17 hps, 4 timeouts
pinged talk4free.com and got the “Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.” message

not sure what i can do

(the bbs does not like the word "t r a c e r t" for some reason! kept kicking me into a 501 error page "Not Implemented"

Thanks again for all of your help

[testing123]

every time i post i get a "not implemented error 501" error - i am about ready to give up.

Thanks for the quick reply - I appreciate your help!

i have prioritized udp ports 5060 and 5070 - not sure what you mean about prioritizing the MJ PC - could you elaborate?

conducted a trace/rt to talk4free.com and had 17 hps, 4 timeouts
pinged talk4free.com and got the “Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.” message

not sure what i can do

(the bbs does not like the word "t r a c e r t" for some reason! kept kicking me into a 501 error page "Not Implemented"

Thanks again for all of your help

Yes, that is correct, this Forum for some reason will not all you to post the word _traceroute or _tracert -- that is why I put it in as "_" in my post so it would get through.

Prioritizing the PC simply meant prioritizing the IP address of the PC running the MJ (in case your QoS was not sophisticated enough to just do the ports alone.) I put that as a "2nd" because then ANY traffic from that PC will get priority on your network -- not necessarily what you want; but admittedly not all QoS will have that level of control for ports alone.

The Packet Fragmentation is really only applicable if you are using DSL or (eek) Dialup. Let us know if you are running via DSL.

[jamaicajack]

I am using cable modem - my speeds are good.



Again - at a loss as to what to do next.

[testing123]

I am using cable modem - my speeds are good.



Again - at a loss as to what to do next.

Yes, but consider this:

1) Your bandwidth (w/o QoS) is limited by your UPLOAD speed ... because of framing packets etc. that have to go back up in the upstream data as you do downloads, for example
You will realize this very quickly if you participate in "P2P" filesharing to your full bandwidth w/o QoS

2) What is just as import as bandwidth is latency (i.e., ping times for each "hop" as shown by the _tracert to MJ servers)

3) And, very important for VOIP, is any dropped packets in the route (the "*"). VOIP really needs each packet sent/received to go/come in the order they were sent for the conversation to "make sense" ... whereas FTP or data download, does not because they can be reassembled in their proper order on the fly or after the fact

3) You COULD use this post to try all the MJ Proxies, see which has the best performance for you and then use the Host file technique mentioned elsewhere in the forum to use a specific Proxy. A bit like your own IP "Geolocation" to the best performing proxy for you. Of course you would THINK it would be the closest city to you ... but you may be surprised; it may not have to be.

[SpamBox]

3) You COULD use this post to try all the MJ Proxies, see which has the best performance for you and then use the Host file technique mentioned elsewhere in the forum to use a specific Proxy. A bit like your own IP "Geolocation" to the best performing proxy for you. Of course you would THINK it would be the closest city to you ... but you may be surprised; it may not have to be.

This is what I did, and was surprised that it's not the town I live in...go figure! I run through the list every once in a while and compare to the old results. Due to various network traffic the top three seem to rotate, but it's always the same top three. So I still pick the closest geolocation out of those top three.

[SpamBox]

I seem to recall, but can't remember the name of it - an app that you can plugin various addresses.
It would tracer them all, and sort them in order of "best" to "worst'.
Only wish i could remember the name of the app.

[testing123]

I seem to recall, but can't remember the name of it - an app that you can plugin various addresses.
It would tracer them all, and sort them in order of "best" to "worst'.
Only wish i could remember the name of the app.

Now THAT would be very cool ... do tell if you remember!