Very pronounced "speakerphone" effect to calls?

**LoadStar** · 10-02-2010 12:47 PM

I've noticed this since I switched to Voipo, but it seems to be worse recently, or possibly I've just noticed it more.

Calls (either inbound or outbound) have a very pronounced "speakerphone" or possibly a walkie-talkie effect to them. In other words, calls are "half-duplex," where only one party can talk at any particular time. If I start talking, the audio from the caller cuts off completely.

Has anyone else noticed the same thing? Is this something that can be corrected by VOIPo support, or just something I have to deal with until my contract runs out? I know that my previous VOIP service (V****e) did not have this issue, and I haven't changed anything else about my setup here.

**MisterEd** · 10-02-2010 09:30 PM

Yea, I have always noticed that. Even when I had Vonage. When the other party is talking and you try talking "over" them they can't hear you .... actually they can but the other persons voice is so low it can barely be heard while they are talking. I tried jacking up the audio levels in v-Panel but it didn't help.

**stevech** · 10-03-2010 12:40 PM

In the last year, I'm seeing a much, much higher instance of bad echos on non-VoIP- on POTS. I don't know why. So bad that we hang up and re-dial. Like no echo suppression at all.

**LoadStar** · 10-03-2010 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by MisterEd

Yea, I have always noticed that. Even when I had Vonage. When the other party is talking and you try talking "over" them they can't hear you .... actually they can but the other persons voice is so low it can barely be heard while they are talking. I tried jacking up the audio levels in v-Panel but it didn't help.

Yeah, that's exactly it. Except for me, Vonage definitely did not have the same issue... Vonage sounded more like a traditional phone call, where it was full duplex, and you could hear the caller no matter what. Whatever algorithm VOIPo is using is frankly not good at all, and unless I can get this fixed, I'm unlikely to stay with VOIPo after this contract year.

I had a phone call where I had to actually stop in the middle yesterday and ask if the person was on a speakerphone, because it was so disorienting to hear the audio from the other end cut (almost) completely off when I made even a noise. They didn't notice anything - in fact, they said that our phone calls were some of the clearest they get.

**holmes4** · 10-05-2010 11:32 AM

Experiences vary. My call quality on Vonage was horrible, despite nearly a year of working with Vonage tech support to fix it. I do not get any sort of half-duplex effect with Voipo that I have been able to detect.

**MisterEd** · 10-05-2010 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by holmes4

Experiences vary. My call quality on Vonage was horrible, despite nearly a year of working with Vonage tech support to fix it. I do not get any sort of half-duplex effect with Voipo that I have been able to detect.

So when someone else is talking TO you if you say "hello" they can immediately hear you even though they are still talking.

Try having someone count to 10 and while they are still counting you start counting to 10 and see if they can hear you at the same time they are counting.

**tritch** · 10-06-2010 05:57 PM

Full duplex here with no speakerphone effect whatsoever. I've called cell phones, POTS and other Voipo users. Voipo to Voipo calls are exceptionally good and clear (reminds me of the Vonage commercial with the guy hanging upside down). It must be some other hardware/network problem in the mix causing the problem for some users....handsets, etc.

**Russell** · 10-06-2010 06:48 PM

Same here - full duplex afaik. Faint echo at times but often goes away.

**sr98user** · 10-06-2010 07:42 PM

Here is a thread regarding this problem.

http://forums.voipo.com/showthread.php?t=2140

It could also be your phone that's doing it. I had a Panasonic phone that had this problem.

I don't have half duplex issues with my current phones. My current phones are also Panasonic but different model.

**MisterEd** · 10-07-2010 07:53 PM

I use an RCA "commercial" 2-Line Dect 6 and it "sounds like" half-duplex. There aren't that many 2-Line cordless phones out there (especially Dect 6) to choose from.

Also, this is the only one I have found that has a bright blue message waiting indicator that sits on top of a tiny lighthouse on top of the phone.

Most other phones I have seen have easy to miss MWI indicators that require you to actually look at the LCD screen on the handset to check for messages. This MWI lights up the room and you can't miss a waiting message.