Dear lazyweb,
I’m using VoIP stuff of different kinds already and I actually enjoy it. Thing is, a friend of mine always complained about the quality of sound when speaking with me. He said I should switch the software but I never believed it would make a difference. Well, now I tried and it did. I used ekiga before and now switched to twinkle (which looks uuugly in Gnome at least). What can I say? It really is better. But why?
I tried to get more output from twinkle but didn’t quite manage. So what is so different? And don’t you dare answer “codecs” or something! I actually don’t need details. I just want ekiga to be as good as twinkle sound quality-wise. If you know a solution, tell me! :)
bastian says:
Skype. Nothing beats their quality right now.
April 20, 2010, 22:01jhr says:
While that might be true (and I don’t really believe it :)), I’m using a 64bit Debian and AFAICS they still fail at providing a properly working binary. Anyways, you’re missing the point (which I maybe didn’t make clear enough): I’m connecting to an existing (private) VoIP server here using SIP. There is no way I can use skype for that.
And… skype is not open source!
April 20, 2010, 22:11Matías says:
Unfortunately, if the issue is quality of calls – over the same connections – then the answer is always “codecs”. Thing is that codecs are a multi-faced monster, specially when you add all of RTP’s details (for example, jitter threshold).
Then again, codec implementation may make a difference there too. So the questions to answer would be:
1- Have calls always connected using the same codecs?
2- Using the same bitrates/ptime/variants?
3- Are the device’s jitter configurations the same?
4- Were all calls made on the same connections and on the same load?
5- Were all calls made on the same devices (PC or SIP phones)?
6- If using softphones, were the libraries used the same?
I think that those questions would cover most of it.
April 20, 2010, 22:34jhr says:
1- I don’t know. From the preferences in twinkle and ekiga I guessed so but I don’t really have a clue.
2- That I know even less.
3- jitter who?
4- Yes
5- Yes
6- I don’t think twinkle and ekiga use the same libs
From my answers you see, I don’t have a clue about this stuff. My problem is, I actually don’t want to have a clue about it. This is one of the things I’d just like to see working. :)
April 21, 2010, 08:25rozie says:
Details matter, so probably codecs will be the answer. And there’s no the best codec – some will be better at low bandwidth avaliable, some at high. Check, what is default codec in twinkle and try to set it as default in ekiga. Usually 711 (a or u version make no difference, just use one which works) provides best quality (if you have 128 kbps for VoIP avaliable).
April 21, 2010, 11:05Onkar says:
Ekiga supports lot of codecs and it picks the first code as per the order of preference. It is possible that the codec ekiga is picking doesn’t work well with your service provider. And twinkle does not support that codec and hence uses one that happens to be best thing with your provider.
Try disabling first few codecs in Ekiga preferences (or reordering) until the quality improves.
By the way I use Ekiga with diamondcard.us (the default PC-Phone service provider in Ekiga). I never faced any quality problems to either PSTN or Mobile (GSM). I have mainly called to US and Australia.
April 23, 2010, 16:12Lisandro Damián Nicanor Pérez Meyer says:
In Twinkle, check:
Edit → User profile → RTP audio and check the codecs you have enabled and also the order.
Also, call your friend and twinkle will show you which codec it’s using.
Then, set up Ekiga to use the same codec.
The most probable thing happening to your ekiga setup is that you are using a specific codec and the server has to reencode the data.
April 26, 2010, 18:12Sid Stefanescu says:
Have you considered ASTERIX?
January 23, 2011, 09:36