SIP and VOIP over T-Mobile's 4G report. Not good.

[wirednuts]

i need to try it more, but i was just out and about and set my winmo phone to wifi tether. my droid found it and logged into grooveip. i made and took a few texts, made 2 calls and it all worked great.

then i drove around and it seemed to drop out a couple times. texts wouldnt send, and i wasnt getting calls. sprints service is terrible around here though.. and i know tmo is a lot better. but knowing at worst i just have to pull over to make a call... thats fine because thats what you should do anyway.

 

[Muyoso]

i need to try it more, but i was just out and about and set my winmo phone to wifi tether. my droid found it and logged into grooveip. i made and took a few texts, made 2 calls and it all worked great.

then i drove around and it seemed to drop out a couple times. texts wouldnt send, and i wasnt getting calls. sprints service is terrible around here though.. and i know tmo is a lot better. but knowing at worst i just have to pull over to make a call... thats fine because thats what you should do anyway.

Depending on how much you call, there is no need to use a data connection to take calls while driving. If you normally use around 400ish minutes, most likely 60-70% of those are when at home or work. So you'd connect to wifi and take calls over wifi when at home or work. Then when out you can use the 100 Tmobile minutes.

 

[wirednuts]

Depending on how much you call, there is no need to use a data connection to take calls while driving. If you normally use around 400ish minutes, most likely 60-70% of those are when at home or work. So you'd connect to wifi and take calls over wifi when at home or work. Then when out you can use the 100 Tmobile minutes.

yep i was just thinking worst case. but i suppose real worst case is to just go over the min and pay 10 cents a min.

 

[lothar]

lol at the kind of stuff people will do and put up with to save a buck. if you wanna talk on yur phone gist go git varizyn

Hell to the no.

 

[lothar]

I never talk to anyone. I think most people don't either. We're all too busy, do texting instead, so the unlimited texting makes it worth it.
For the few times you do need the minutes, you can either pay $0.10/minute past the first 100 or do it at home on wifi.

I didn't know that one could do that.
If so, that makes the plan more bearable then.

300 minutes + 5GB of high-speed 4G data for $50 isn't too bad a price.
My main problem with the $30 T-Mobile plan is that the 100 minutes offered for it are too low. I need ~400-450 minutes/month. If they offer that same plan except increasing the number of minutes being offered from 100 to 400/450 minutes at a very reasonable price like $45, it would be a keeper.

Lot of people don't need unlimited voice, we aren't teenage girls.

I rarely used more than 100 minutes a month when I was on Verizon, so t-mobile's deal is perfect. Straight talk is a nice alternative in case something happens to t-mobile, but i'm not going to pay an extra $15/month without a good reason.

What I said doesn't apply to you then.
While you were on Verizon, you rarely used more than 100 minutes a month and didn't need to resort to using GrooveIP and other VOIP services and I doubt that will change for you.
You don't seem to be one of those $30 Smartphone plan users that skimp by using GrooveIP and other VOIP/SIP services on AT&T/T-Mobile HSPA data network for 400+ minutes once the 100 minutes T-Mobile allotment passes.

I tried using GrooveIP on AT&T HSPA+ and it was a very horrible experience. I can only imagine it would be the same with using it on T-Mobile's HSPA network.
The only experience that was worse than that was using it with McDonald's and Starbuck's free wifi. Man...Don't even make me talk about that.

If you have fast internet at home like Verizon FiOS, etc...It's manageable, but I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone try using GrooveIP at the "free" wifi hotspot places like McDonalds or Starbucks.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I didn't know that one could do that.
If so, that makes the plan more bearable then.

300 minutes + 5GB of high-speed 4G data for $50 isn't too bad a price.


What I said doesn't apply to you then.
While you were on Verizon, you rarely used more than 100 minutes a month and didn't need to resort to using GrooveIP and other VOIP services and I doubt that will change for you.
You don't seem to be one of those $30 Smartphone plan users that skimp by using GrooveIP and other VOIP/SIP services on AT&T/T-Mobile HSPA data network for 400+ minutes once the 100 minutes T-Mobile allotment passes.

I tried using GrooveIP on AT&T HSPA+ and it was a very horrible experience. I can only imagine it would be the same with using it on T-Mobile's HSPA network.
The only experience that was worse than that was using it with McDonald's and Starbuck's free wifi. Man...Don't even make me talk about that.

If you have fast internet at home like Verizon FiOS, etc...It's manageable, but I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone try using GrooveIP at the "free" wifi hotspot places like McDonalds or Starbucks.

Crap. This was what I was intending to do. How is Starbucks wifi still too slow for even VoIP? You seriously need fast residential cable just to transfer audio data?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[Bateluer]

Crap. This was what I was intending to do. How is Starbucks wifi still too slow for even VoIP? You seriously need fast residential cable just to transfer audio data?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Doesn't the GrooveIP site say you need a 1.2MB per minute speed to have a solid audio call? Thats pathetic if some public hotspots can't maintain that.

In my case, I make 99% of my calls at home. Any long call would definitely be made at home.

 

[kaerflog]

Well, I used my wifi at work and grooveip was terrible.
I wouldn't want to talk regularly like that.
The funny thing is I use yahoo messenger through wifi for calls and they were perfect.

 

[jersiq]

Doesn't the GrooveIP site say you need a 1.2MB per minute speed to have a solid audio call? Thats pathetic if some public hotspots can't maintain that.

In my case, I make 99% of my calls at home. Any long call would definitely be made at home.

The thing you have to remember about Wifi is that it's half duplex. It uses CSMA/CA (CA for collision avoidance) You "probe" the access channel and if it's busy you have a random backdown timer. This can cause a variation in latency. Now for a public hotspot, imagine all those different devices probing/sending/receiving at different times.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

I didn't know that one could do that.
If so, that makes the plan more bearable then.

300 minutes + 5GB of high-speed 4G data for $50 isn't too bad a price.
My main problem with the $30 T-Mobile plan is that the 100 minutes offered for it are too low. I need ~400-450 minutes/month. If they offer that same plan except increasing the number of minutes being offered from 100 to 400/450 minutes at a very reasonable price like $45, it would be a keeper.

That's probably how many minutes I use monthly. The only time I use any of my 100 minutes is when I'm not at home or at work. Otherwise I'm on wifi and using Sipdroid.

 

[pm]

I would say that the latency numbers look too high for VOIP to me. But beyond just bandwidth (you have more than enough for VOIP) and latency (200ms or less is usually good enougH)), there's also packet loss. For me, when I've done VOIP in the past, a percent or two of dropped packets totally ruins VOIP. You can have 70ms of latency on a 12Mb connection and if you are dropping even 1% of the packets, the conversation will be a garbled mess.

But I'd say your latency numbers are your problem. And as others have said, I'm not sure what you can do about that...

For what it's worth, I've done VOIP a fair bit on AT&T's 3G network in northern Colorado (if I need to make an international call on my cell phone, I just switch to our VOIP provider, Callcentric, and use their app), and it usually works well. It's not perfect - sometimes it will blank out one of us briefly, and the calls often seems to drop around 15 minutes. But for a ~$0.02/min international call on my cell phone, I can deal with a bit of flakiness.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I'm doing my best. So far short phone calls with the below config is ok, but the volume is too low!

I'm currently using SIPDroid, PBXes, and Jelly Bean. I use SIPDroid because unlike GrooveIP it can use the much better Speex codec for 3G networks. The problem with SIPDroid is that the phone volume is SO low even with gain set to highest. And no bluetooth support.

I haven't tried CSimple because I hard there's limited integration with the stock dialer.

Any help on this? I'd like to be able to place VOIP calls over 3G, on a Bluetooth headset, and with good volume, both headset and microphone for the other end.

 

[ponyo]

I would say that the latency numbers look too high for VOIP to me. But beyond just bandwidth (you have more than enough for VOIP) and latency (200ms or less is usually good enougH)), there's also packet loss. For me, when I've done VOIP in the past, a percent or two of dropped packets totally ruins VOIP. You can have 70ms of latency on a 12Mb connection and if you are dropping even 1% of the packets, the conversation will be a garbled mess.

But I'd say your latency numbers are your problem. And as others have said, I'm not sure what you can do about that...

For what it's worth, I've done VOIP a fair bit on AT&T's 3G network in northern Colorado (if I need to make an international call on my cell phone, I just switch to our VOIP provider, Callcentric, and use their app), and it usually works well. It's not perfect - sometimes it will blank out one of us briefly, and the calls often seems to drop around 15 minutes. But for a ~$0.02/min international call on my cell phone, I can deal with a bit of flakiness.

Why not use Google Voice on your cellphone for international calls? How much is Google Voice for the same international call? Google Voice has really cheap international call rates and call quality is great.

 

[wirednuts]

groove ip has been working fine for me at home, and even in a pinch it works off my sprint phones wifi tether mode (3g)

it does not work very well out of the box. first, you need to make sure your router's ports are open to the specified range in grooveip.

second, there is audio enhancements inside groove ip and they work well. adaptive echo cancellation, audio processing and even buffer sizes. if you set it all up right, it sounds better then any voice call on a cell network, that is for sure.

when its working off my sprint phone's internet, i cant rely on it to receive calls. sometimes it wont ring. but texts usually work well both ways. and surprisingly the voip calls are fine too as long as youre not driving. it really makes me think ill be using voip over tmo's network more then whats perceived in this thread. im in the midwest and our cell service is usually strong on all carriers- i think its because were just not densely populated.

 

[lothar]

Why not use Google Voice on your cellphone for international calls? How much is Google Voice for the same international call? Google Voice has really cheap international call rates and call quality is great.

What he said.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

I'm doing my best. So far short phone calls with the below config is ok, but the volume is too low!

I'm currently using SIPDroid, PBXes, and Jelly Bean. I use SIPDroid because unlike GrooveIP it can use the much better Speex codec for 3G networks. The problem with SIPDroid is that the phone volume is SO low even with gain set to highest. And no bluetooth support.

I haven't tried CSimple because I hard there's limited integration with the stock dialer.

Any help on this? I'd like to be able to place VOIP calls over 3G, on a Bluetooth headset, and with good volume, both headset and microphone for the other end.

I had this same issue with the low volume. Download a program called Volume+. It allows you to adjust loads of volume settings individually. You'll have to play around with the settings to find one that's acceptably loud enough for you to hear but not loud enough to cause echo on the other end.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I had this same issue with the low volume. Download a program called Volume+. It allows you to adjust loads of volume settings individually. You'll have to play around with the settings to find one that's acceptably loud enough for you to hear but not loud enough to cause echo on the other end.

This one?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.TEST.android.lvh&hl=en

Apparently it's incompatible with Jelly Bean

 

[abaez]

lol at the kind of stuff people will do and put up with to save a buck. if you wanna talk on yur phone gist go git varizyn

A buck? More like hundreds of dollars a year.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

A buck? More like hundreds of dollars a year.

$30 a month for T-Mobile with a $350 Nexus. Sprint 2-year contract is $80 a month. Cost of a $350 phone would likely be subsidized down to $100.

T-Mobile over 2 years:

( $30 x 24 ) + $350 = $1,070

Sprint over 2 years:

( $80 x 24 ) + $100 = $2,020

Only thing with T-Mobile is you want to place most of your calls over WiFi or good 3G/4G.

 

[wirednuts]

if i can save a grand a year by just using wifi to make most of my calls, great. i already use wifi for most of my calls as it is because cell reception is terrible at my house.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

$30 a month for T-Mobile with a $350 Nexus. Sprint 2-year contract is $80 a month. Cost of a $350 phone would likely be subsidized down to $100.

T-Mobile over 2 years:

( $30 x 24 ) + $350 = $1,070

Sprint over 2 years:

( $80 x 24 ) + $100 = $2,020

Only thing with T-Mobile is you want to place most of your calls over WiFi or good 3G/4G.

How'd you manage to get Sprint for $80 a month? When I was with them as recently as a few months ago my bill was just over $100 every month. And that was with minimum minutes of voice.

 

[SilthDraeth]

I only use Grooveip on my non activated android phones. Also used it on my nexus 7. It works fine on my wifi.

But if I am calling, say Canada, I just have my phone set to use Google Voice on international calls, since it doesn't support calling Canada on my straight talk plan. This is using a lowly LGL55c android phone. I have no issues calling Canada and having call quality be terrible this way.

 

[Bateluer]

How'd you manage to get Sprint for $80 a month? When I was with them as recently as a few months ago my bill was just over $100 every month. And that was with minimum minutes of voice.

Older plan or corporate discount, I imagine. Still, that just reenforces his point though. You save major dollars with this TMO plan.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

Older plan or corporate discount, I imagine. Still, that just reenforces his point though. You save major dollars with this TMO plan.

Yup. I made the switch a few months back. Sipdroid has been something of a headache (I suspect it's more PBXes.org) but every time I'm having a problem with it I just repeat to myself "$70 a month."

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

How'd you manage to get Sprint for $80 a month? When I was with them as recently as a few months ago my bill was just over $100 every month. And that was with minimum minutes of voice.

Price of $80 is before any taxes and fees. It's the 450 minute plan:

http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/plan/plan_wall.jsp

When I was on the plan I was doing $100 a month after taxes and fees and accidental damage coverage.