atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems ESI Telephones & Systems Echo on VoIP phone

Hey Gang-

I have a ESI 200, and have a couple of VoIP phones remotely connected. Main Site has a 20 mb optical pipe, and the remote site has a 15mb cable modem. User is complaining of echo- she does not hear it, the other party does- Her phone is connected directly to the modem- does not go through a router.

Thanks-

That is going to happen intermittently when using the internet as the transport medium.... no way around it.

Is it happening all the time or sporadically?

Thanks Upstate- It is happening more times than not.

I agree with upstateny, however, It shouldn't be consistent steady echo. I have clients with remote IP phones on ESI E-Class, ESI-100, ESI-200, ESI-600, ESI 1000 and the calls are compared to cell phone service here. In other words, wiht cell phones you know you are going to experience some voice quality issues from time to time, it's just the nature of the beast.
If it's very bad, Check with ESI tech support, upgrade the software, put a sniffer on the network at the pbx end, verify the network switches are set to give priority to VOIP traffic, there are lots more you could look at, but these are places I would go.

There are several different types of echo cancellers in the ESI Comm Server firmware and all can be adjusted by ESI tech support to compensate for various causes of echo. Echo isn't always a result of poor IP network conditions.

Mike Sandman has a great paper on echo at https://www.sandman.com/echobull.html

Sandman's article really does not pertain to the question asked, good info though.

"I have a ESI 200, and have a couple of VoIP phones remotely connected."

OK, lets start with the basic's:

You claim to have: "Main Site has a 20 mb optical pipe, and the remote site has a 15mb cable modem."

I am sure that is what you are paying for, but when was the last time you checked to see if these are the actual speeds being delivered?

I would start with the remote site (Cable Company).

Echo on VOIP phones is caused by lack of bandwidth, jitter and or latency problems. It is not that easy at times to figure out the problem but here is a starting point for you.

You need to send a link to your customer like this one: https://www.voipreview.org/voipspeedtester.aspx
While they are experiencing this "echo" problem have them click on this link and run a report. Have them print the report so you have proof you can supply the vendor providing the internet service.
There are many ways to diagnose this problem.The bottom line here is that 99.99% of the time it is not the phone equipment, it really does not matter who the manufacture is, although I will say some manufactures are more prone to this (less forgiving) than others, ESI is not one of those IMHO.

It would also be beneficial if you find out if this company is a bandwidth hog at certain times of the day, if that is the case,you may need to install QOS switches at each location.

Unfortunately, this type of diagnosing is more complex than standard TIP and RING trouble shooting, but it can be done.

Walter

It may also be something as simple as the Comm Server has been power cycled. If ESI had enabled the echo cancelling at some point during debug, it gets turned off during a power cycle. They have to go back in from their side and turn it back on.

Not entirely True, I spoke to ESI about this statement, IF their tech doesn't " force " it, then yes, it will drop on a power cycle, But, per ESI, They Always " force " it.

I don't doubt they told you that, and I don't doubt that is what they are supposed to do. All I can say is that I know with 100% certainty that they do not "always" force it.

I was simply trying to offer one more item to "check off" as a possible culprit. It wound up being the solution at one of our sites that kept having the issue pop up randomly.

When there is echo present on the line, have the person use this link to test. It will show jitter, ping, packet loss and MOS score. It should provide some insight.
Visualware VoIP test