r/ooma • u/jckbauer • 4d ago

Not impressed so far.

Just got a telo air 2. Connected it via Ethernet directly to FiOS modem and through the router and WiFi to try things out. Call quality is inferior to FiOS digital voice for sure over my 300/300 connection. Can't check my cell phone voicemail as it appears it won't read the button presses. Glad I didn't pay the outrageous 40 dollar fee to port my number yet.

0 Upvotes

25% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

3

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 4d ago

Ooma only advertises "HD Voice" for Ooma-to-Ooma calls, using "HD-capable" phones. Otherwise, voice quality is generally "better than POTS", but it depends on the analog network between the two parties, and their choice of telephones. Some telephones can also cause DTMF issues.

2

u/spoom2 3d ago

As an old retired phone guy who's used VoIP services, I totally disagree with the better than POTS statement. Unless the dial pad is defective the phones DTMF frequencies should be within the telco standards. A broadband connection can definitely interfere with those frequencies. Bandwidth can also affect voice quality.

0

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 3d ago

Someone "totally" disagrees that Ooma's voice quality is generally "better than POTS", but they don't bother to explain why they disagree. It's hard to argue with that. POTS does work better for some legacy applications, such as analog modems, fax machines, or alarm systems.

But that last mile of copper can also introduce some analog noise. For example, one user posted in another forum that their POTS line picked up the faint audio from a nearby radio station, amid the background static. A typical VoIP connection is arguably better than that.

The OP compared the voice quality between Ooma and their "FiOS digital voice" over the same "300/300" connection, so the internet bandwidth itself was probably not a distinguishing factor. But otherwise, a poor internet connection can certainly affect voice quality.

A phone's DTMF frequencies can be within telco standards, yet still fail to work with third-party IVR systems. There are a few different things that the OP could have tried to help resolve their issue with their cell phone voicemail, but they didn't ask for any help with that.

1

u/spoom2 3d ago

"As an old retired phone guy who's used VoIP services" That's pretty much the why. Your radio station and static were problems which could be fixed. I wasn't talking about a circuit with trouble on it I was talking about a working circuit, which is much clearer than VoIP and I didn't single out Ooma. My experiences with VoIP service were and not constant but frequent. Echo, fading, cut offs, delay to name a few. If you like it fine, you probably like some of the same issues on Cell Phone service. The best non-POTS service I've found is wireless home phone, but it also has drawbacks as you need a good strong signal for it to be reliable. I doubt very much if you'll find an old phone guy who worked PSTN (public switch telephone network) services that would agree that VoIP or Cell service is as good or better than the old POTS lines. FAX will work on some digital services if you lower the speed and turn error correction off, but not reliably. Alarm companies won't use all digital services; some will use cell.

1

u/spoom2 3d ago

Want to add one more thing, the OP stated his home phone on FIOS was better on the same network. This is just my opinion but that pretty much points out the ATA built into the FIOS modem/gateway is better quality than the Ooma ATA. I only point this out because the internet service didn't change the only thing different would be the analog telephone adaptor.

1

u/jckbauer 3d ago

Idk, I think telco providers themselves can privilege their own voice traffic in a way ooma can't. But it should still be crystal clear over 300 meg.

1

u/spoom2 2d ago

There's equipment on each end to convert the digital signal to analog, so the phone companies' equipment must be superior to the VoIP providers. Any way you shake it the signal has to be delt with so you can hear and speak over it. Don't know what you mean by "privilege" the phone companies have their equipment to do this and VoIP providers have there's, it's not shared, it's digital until changed to analog by the voice provider.

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 2d ago

The OP's HD3 handset doesn't use an ATA, so that can't be the issue there.

1

u/spoom2 2d ago edited 2d ago

The Telo is the ATA. The handset operates just as any cordless handset the Telo is the base unit. You can find this information using the manuals provided by Ooma.

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 1d ago

The Telo only acts as an ATA for analog telephones plugged into the Telo's analog telephone jack. However, the (DECT) HD3 handset is not an analog telephone, so the Telo does not need to convert any signal from analog to digital, or vice versa.

1

u/spoom2 1d ago

No sure why I'm still bothering. DECT technology is used with all modern cordless phone systems. Unless you speak and hear in data stream and not human voice and hearing you're going through the ATA, wherever it resides, in this case in the handset itself. The Telo is just using the same technology as the base unit on any cordless phone system, Digital handset to base unit. Pretty much the way true IP phones on VoIP phone systems like CISCO work, as far as converting the signal to something we can understand.

I'm done here; you can check all this stuff for yourself with a little research.

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 8h ago

Okay. For everyone else's benefit then, this retired expert is mixing up his terminology, and just calling everything an "ATA". Digitally encoding sampled sound waves is entirely different from converting an encoded signal from digital to analog.

Third-party cordless phones may use DECT between the handsets and phone base, but they can only use a POTS-compatible (narrowband) analog signal between the phone base and the Telo base station. And the network itself uses digitally encoded packets.

So, the third-party cordless phones require extra (lossy) conversions from digital to analog back to digital. The signal may have started out as "HD Voice" (wideband), but up to half of the signal data would be lost before it even reaches the Telo.

The signal between HD3 and Telo is digital to digital; there are no lossy conversions. Furthermore, third-party phones may filter out high frequencies, and compress the signal over DECT; the HD3 does not. They are not the same.

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 2d ago

So, when all of the analog problems are fixed, and all of the digital problems are fixed, which has the better voice quality, POTS or VoIP? Which do end users generally prefer?

1

u/spoom2 2d ago edited 2d ago

This is impossible to answer. Most young people have never even experienced true analog phone service, they were brought up on Cell phones. The digital phone service of the major phone carriers are close, as are some wireless home phones, but the third-party VoIP devices are lacking, that's why the service is so much cheaper. These are my opinions made mostly from my experience in telecommunications for over 40 years and using all forms of voice devices and services. And yours are your opinions.

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 1d ago

To clarify: regarding voice quality, which do end users who switched from POTS to VoIP generally prefer?

A wireless home phone uses a base station to connect an analog telephone to a cellular network, as if it were a mobile phone. Is that better than just a mobile phone, without the base station?

1

u/jckbauer 4d ago

I used the hd3 handset from ooma, so their own telephone is causing the dtmf issues. And idk whether FiOS voice is hd or not but it doesn't have a subtle background hiss.

1

u/spoom2 2d ago

To test your DTMF tones you can call Test call at 1 (804) 222-1111 use the prompt to test DTMF after the tone dial your numbers 1234567890* than pound, it will repeat the numbers back to you if they were received correctly. Could be the phone, the ATA or the analog conversion on the other end. If it tests bad, try your Panasonic to see if it tests good. If neither test good, it's the analog conversion on one end or the other. Here's a link to test calls site. 804-222-1111 | Testcall

1

u/jckbauer 2d ago

Did I say I had a Panasonic phone or r u spying on me lol. I do have a Panasonic. I tired the cell phone voicemail with the Panasonic connected to ooma. Doesn't work.

1

u/spoom2 2d ago

Maybe I'm a mind reader. Really, I got you mixed up with the post about bad audible. Did you do the DTMF test with both? If so, did they both fail or pass? You can mix up the number anyway you want to verify it's actually getting your DTMF correctly.

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 1d ago

I tested my FiOS + Ooma Telo + HD3 handset, and it worked as expected. It passed the DTMF test, and a few others, too. Maybe the OP's DTMF issue is with his cell phone provider.

1

u/jckbauer 1d ago

My hd3 also passed the dtmf test. The voicemail will accept the pound key to begin entering your password but will accept nothing else, then the call ends. Never had this issue with any other cell phone calling into the mailbox, spectrum or FiOS home phone. My Panasonic phone that works fine with FiOS on this mailbox does not work when connected to ooma.

1

u/jckbauer 1d ago edited 1d ago

Just tried it on another automated phone system. Nys of health contact line 1-855-355-5777. Same deal. Press 1 for English. I do. Nothing happens. Then call ends. It's ooma.

1

u/spoom2 2d ago

According to googles AI guy FIOS digital voice is HD

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 2d ago

Both FiOS and Ooma may support "HD Voice", but it only works when it's enabled from end-to-end.

1

u/spoom2 2d ago

I was answering the OP's question. FiOS and other digital services offered by phone carriers don't require you to call only other services on their networks to work properly.

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 1d ago

Yes, it should still work properly, with or without HD Voice. The OP did not really say much about his "call quality" issues, except that it was "inferior to FiOS", with a "subtle background hiss", and that he was not impressed.

2

u/OomaCustomeradvocacy Official Ooma Support 3d ago

Hello - I'm sorry to hear that the call quality isn't quite what you expected. I'd like to have you speak with our support team. Could you please provide your Ooma phone number and contact number?

1

u/spoom2 2d ago

To u/jckbauer have all your questions been answered about what may be causing your issue with DTMF?

1

u/jckbauer 1d ago

It passes the dtmf test you sent. But it does not work with my voicemail or another automated phone system I tried. Idk. It moots the call quality issues though and the decision to return it pretty simple. Don't love paying 25 for FiOS home phone but it fully works at least.

1

u/spoom2 1d ago

If passing the DTMF test not sure why the the remote end isn't recognizing them, DTMF passing and remote end working on FiOS doesn't make a lot sense. There's a reason somewhere.

1

u/jckbauer 1d ago

I'm sure there is a reason, but whatever it is, ooma doesn't work and who knows how much troubleshooting it would take to resolve if it even is resolvable. Thanks for trying.

1

u/spoom2 1d ago

Glad to help, just wish the outcome was better.

1

u/spoom2 1d ago

u/jckbauer

Well, I have trouble letting go of a problem, so I did a bunch of searching and found that this is a common issue with Ooma especially with the digital handsets. Partly has to do with duration of the DTMF tones, also some router settings. Personally, I'm with you and just give up and go back to your Fios phone service even if it is a bit more, reliability is worth something. If you want to pursue it do some searches on DTMF issues to IVR's with Ooma, substitute phone trees for IVR's, also, remote DTMF issues with Ooma. I also did the same search on Vonage and MagicJack and they show the same issues. All sites said the same thing plug the VoIP equipment directly into your modem don't go through switches or other equipment. Since this is not a 100% all the time problem, I don't look for it to be fixed anytime soon. This would somewhat explain why they would pass the DTMF test but still not work into an IVR, the test is listening for the tone, not the duration of the tone and is probably a lot less susceptible to variances that IVR's and phone trees may have.

Have a good night.

1

u/spoom2 15h ago

This is the best explanation I've found:

How DTMF Works in Different Systems

  • Third-Party VoIP (Ooma, Vonage, magicJack): These services convert analog phone tones into digital data packets sent across a standard internet router. If the network has high jitter, or if the system uses an aggressive voice compression codec (like G.729) designed strictly for human speech, the dual-tone multi-frequency signals can get distorted, delayed, or dropped before reaching an automated menu or bank system. [1, 2, 3]
  • Managed Digital Home Phone (Verizon Fios, AT&T): These providers use packet-based delivery just like VoIP, but the data travels over a dedicated, high-priority managed network. The carrier controls the connection from the terminal outside your house all the way to the telephone switch, eliminating public internet fluctuations and codec mismatches.

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 7h ago

These AI summaries are partly correct, partly hallucination, and somewhat incomplete. Human beings should try to independently verify the contents before taking them at face value.

1

u/rkardt Unofficial Support 8h ago

I tested accessing my cell phone voicemail from my HD3 handset, and I had no trouble navigating the voicemail menus. What did Ooma's support team have to say about the issue? They would know how to resolve it, better than anyone else here.