What is happening with 3G?
carlwain74's profile

Teacher

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19 Messages

Friday, November 22nd, 2013 4:28 PM

Audio cut off for short random bursts

Hello,

 

I have started to experience moments on voice calls where the audio from others on the call (1-2-1 or WebEx) go silent for a short period of time (between 10 and 20 seconds). 99% of the time the audio comes back, 1% of the time the call drops. They can continue to hear me, but I cannot hear anything, not even a hum or buzz...just like a dead line.

 

It is happening on both my iPhone 5 and my Blackberry Bold.

 

I know it is Microcell causing this as when I power off the Microcell and make calls on the Macro network I don't experience this issue.

 

I checked the connection that the Microcell is using and there is no known delay and bandwidth is more than enough (~20M up and ~3M down).

 

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

Note that the Microcell was one of the first ever releases so is about four years old, not that should really matter.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

10 years ago

Is this for con calls (WebEx, etc) only? Are your "normal" voice calls ok? If your "normal" calls are ok, it could be the way the MicroCell traffic is handled by the WebEx servers. I haven't encountered this before. Usually audio problems are caused by the way the ISP is handling the VOIP traffic (but not always).

Professor

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2.2K Messages

10 years ago

I've never dealt with WebEx...perhaps it doesn't play well with the Mcell VPN?  Short dropouts and audio distortion can be caused by packet loss and jitter but the duration of the voice outage and the fact that the OP can still be heard but doesn't hear anything makes me suspect a WebEx/Mcell issue.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

10 years ago

We use WebEx for con calls here and it can have issues at times with audio so it doesn't surprise me that attempting it over the MicroCell might not work well.

Teacher

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19 Messages

10 years ago

It happens on normal voice calls as well. We have a Microcell in our office as well and I have been seeing the same issue there too... Thus is it not just a WebEx issue.

 

Both Microcells are the same hardware and are running the same latest software load (according to AT&T).

 

It's almost like the downlink bandwidth is being congested and audio is being interrupted. However, I checked and nothing is running in my network at home to impede my downlink (In the office it is a different story).

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

10 years ago

I'm surprised you got AT&T to confirm the firmware version. Usually they are very tight-lipped about that because not all updates are pushed out at the same time and some are region-specific.

 

Audio drop-outs are quite often due to network issues (network congection as you suggested, latency issues, etc.). Is your office MicroCell and home MicroCell using the same ISP by any chance?

Professor

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2.2K Messages

10 years ago

I would call your ISP and have them send a tech out to test your line.  They can check the quality of your connection for packet loss, jitter and other metrics to see if there are any faulty splitters, connectors, amplifiers or other equipment on your node that could be the cause of your problem. 

 

I've had my ISP do that when I was experiencing excessive packet loss and they found some water-filled connectors on my cable line up on the pole next to my house and a bad amplifier further down the line on my node.  They fixed all that and my packet loss went away. 

Teacher

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19 Messages

10 years ago

The only thing I can think of is that I have a network switch between the microcell and my wireless router.. I wonder if this is causing any kind of bottleneck... I can try to eliminate that and see if the problem persists... In the meantime I'll give Comcast a call and see if they can come and test the line..

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

10 years ago

That could very well be. Let us know what Comcast has to say because they've been less than helpful in the past when there has been MicroCell (VOIP) issues.

Professor

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2.2K Messages

10 years ago

Don't tell them you are having Mcell problems, just tell them you're experiencing possible line quality issues.

 

Definitely test your system without the network switch to see if there is any difference. 

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

I have a iPhone 5s and my husband has an LG we are both expierencing cut out when using our phones with our AT&T microcell. The phones are new, the microcell is 3 years old.  During a conversation we will not hear the person on the other line for a varied amount of time.  They can however hear us, and we are not disconnected

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