Best Server for China? (Voxalot)

[vk4akp]

Hi, Yea no my SIP works fine with everything and everyone else.

I doubt the problem is anything to do with my router. It is a Billion 6404VGP, top of the line best money can buy for home use. It has QOS also and works well.

If I ring her land line phone or mobile. The audio is fine. No breaking up.

Its only between her X-Lite soft phone via the net to me.

For some reason she can hear me fine, but her audio breaks up bad to me.

I am guessing the path from her to me is bad somewhere. THe question is where? And how do we make the connection go via a different route?

I think we need a SIP GURU of the 19th level to solve this enchanted mystery. (Where's Martin?) LOL

.-.-.

[juancarlos]

From you above post I can see that she has a 381ms

Minimum = 374ms, Maximum = 390ms, Average = 381ms

If i change my server from eu.voxalot.com to au.voxalot.com I experience breakup similar to what you mention and I get

Minimum = 402ms, Maksimum = 422ms, Gennemsnitlig = 416ms

Could be perhaps the distance to the server ? but again i am no sip guru.

[martin]

If you are talking Voxalot to Voxalot then the audio stream will be direct and the Voxalot server becomes irrelevant.

Audio breaking up is usually an indication that the upstream speed is insufficient (which you have already tested is ok).

Someone else posted the question about QOS possibly affecting things. That is where I would be looking.

[vk4akp]

OK. Some more info.

The call is from VoXaLot to VoXaLot. So yes server should not be an issue. I understand this now. So we can forget about the server.

I also added a provider to her VoXaLot account. (www.voipcheap.com).

When she makes calls through it to normal land lines her audio is once again broken up. She tried a call to the USA and also to me here in Australia.

She is running Windows XP on a fairly new Centrino laptop so should be plenty fast enough.

The Software is X-Lite.

The fact that the problem happens to other places and that I am not involved in the call shows that the problem is related to her end I believe.

She has plenty of bandwidth. And is not running any other applications or software. She would also not have any QOS as she is using softphone (X-Lite).

Some other interesting points.

- When she does the *600 echotest, she reports that it is perfect audio?

- Some times when I use Skype with her we experience the same problem of only her audio breaking up. But 99% of the time it is fine.

I am at a loss as to where to search further.

.-.-.

[juancarlos]

Originally Posted by vk4akp

OK. Some more info.

- Some times when I use Skype with her we experience the same problem of only her audio breaking up. But 99% of the time it is fine.

I am at a loss as to where to search further.

.-.-.

This is interesting.

1.- Try to ask her to use a Codec that uses less bandwith. I think in Xlite it is GSM the only option and try again. I am not sure if you can force xlite to use GSM only, but it should be possible. You need to make sure it is set to GSM only, other wise Xlite may pick up 711 by default. you also need to make sure that your device can decode GSM

2.- If it does not work she will need to take the computer to another place where she can connect without a router or firewall and try again. just to make sure it is not her actual internet connection.

But I think that if she does 1 and 2 the probability is that the problem will be solved is more than 50%. and you cna go back until you find the trouble spot. If it is not solved even by changing the computer from location and using the GSM codec (mobile phone quality), then you are looking at something that we in this forum may not help you. If she travels out of China she could try outside china.

As I mentioned earlier ir took me 6 months to solve my problem, and it was the QoS in the router. I hope you can solve it in less time.

[vk4akp]

Hi again.

Thanks for the help.

I think if I can not solve the problem, she will just not worry about using the SIP phone idea. This would be a shame as I would like to help her with this for a number of reasons.

GSM is not available in my router currently with this revision firmware.

G.729 or G.711 are my only options.

I have also looked into the X-Lite software that she is using and it does not look like you can pick or lock the codec used. There are no codec options at all that I can find.

I think they offer more codecs from memory in a later revision, but it's not worth the pain involved going to a later revision as it has all sorts of bugs and issues. (I have been there before. LOL).

I will try to find out how her laptop is connected to the ADSL, as in what brand / model device is used.

I have a funny feelling this could be related to the X-Lite software.

I wonder if there is something better she could try?

But yes, as you say, it's an interesting puzzle.

.-.-.

[mgoebel]

If you want to go on making your calls on a soft phone you should also try Gizmo Project at Gizmo – A free phone for your computer

It's fairly easy to use. If you both get a Gizmo account and call each other directly you can eliminate sources of errors. If the sound is still bad you know at least that it is not Voxalot's fault. I used Gizmo already for worldwide calls without major problems.

[juancarlos]

Originally Posted by vk4akp

I wonder if there is something better she could try?

But yes, as you say, it's an interesting puzzle.

.-.-.

Xlite does not support G729 as it is a royalty pay codec and if your Router does not support GSM then you are in a cath 22 case code wise

There are many out there like Softphone customization
but also only Free narrow band codecs supported {G.711, GSM, iLBC} just like xlite. There are others out there but freee you are likely to get {G.711, GSM, iLBC} only

You may look at : My VoIP Provider - VoIP Services - - 60 Free VoIP services, Free Softphones and Free DID Numbers from around the world

[juancarlos]

Originally Posted by El_Condor

If you want to go on making your calls on a soft phone you should also try Gizmo Project at Gizmo – A free phone for your computer

It's fairly easy to use. If you both get a Gizmo account and call each other directly you can eliminate sources of errors. If the sound is still bad you know at least that it is not Voxalot's fault. I used Gizmo already for worldwide calls without major problems.

Not sure if Gizmo can be connected to voxalot. I have never used it, but it looks as version 2 is possible: Gizmo – A free phone for your computer -Advanced Features - Dual Login

but he mentioned that with skype the connection works most of the time. which leads to believe codec or QoS may be playing a role. gizmo connected to voxalot (if possible) could be a good try

[vk4akp]

All fixed.

I don't know what was causing th eproblem. But I got her a copy of EyeBeam, and most of the time her ausio is very good.

But sometimes it still breaks up.

So stream problems somewhere. I guess the better codec has helped.

TNX all!
.-.-.