Echo with VOIP Gateways is killing me!

[bryanyoung95]

I have tried 2 different gateways and it has been impossible to get rid of echo.
A Mediatrix 1204, which ironically got great reviews on echo, can't get rid of it. I even bought some Echo Stoppers from Mike Sandman to try to match the impedence better and that helped some, but still couldn't get rid of it.

To test, I ordered a Cisco SPA8800 and have tried it on two different lines (different telcos) and can't get rid of it. This is on a network with PIAF, an Aastra 57i and the SPA8800... that's the only traffic so I don't think I'm facing a jitter problem.

I'm almost at the end of my rope with VOIP gateways (I saw a Patton highly recommended, so I might try it). Any other thoughts?

My other thought is to get a Rhino or Digium PCI card. Thoughts on that?

 

[atsak]

The only card I have never had an echo problem on is the Sangoma. The Rhino's are OK as well though I had more hassle with it.

Some people (not me) have problems with echo on the Aastra's only. Have you tried a softphone just to check?

 

[drmurdoch]

My Sangoma had echo problems as well.
And I bought the expensive one with Echo Cancellation.

 

[jmullinix]

You might try turning the microphone volume down a notch or two on the Aastra phones. Out of the box, the mic volume on those is hot.

 

[bryanyoung95]

I turned the gain and sidetone down to -10 (the lowest documented value) and still got it. I'll double-check that though.

 

[wardmundy]

What type of firewall/router do you have??

 

[bryanyoung95]

Don't have a firewall or router in my test rig... it's not connected to the internet or a WAN.

 

[Tekmon]

Echo is signal reflexed back toward the sender. Mainly caused by defect in lines, copper, even fiber. Sounds like it's not your hardware problem. Do you have a pstn account? Call them and say you got bad echo. They can use a tool (forgot name) to check the line to discover the area reflexing back. Got any neighbor buds using VOiP? They got problem? Maybe some use magic jack or voyage. Don't be surprised they say "I used to, sound was terrible" .

 

[galaxy60]

Have you tried a gateway from Patton just installed one yesterday can't fault the audio, the units are a bit on the expensive side and was fairly easy to setup.
Smartnode 4112 supports two analogue FXO lines.

also some config help files for the device are found here http://www.patton.com/voip/appnotes.asp

 

[briankelly63]

Been through a similiar route when trying to get rid of echo on analog lines. I also have 57i's. Solution was Digium AEX800 type card WITHOUT hardware echo board, recent version of DAHDI and PIAF that doesn't use ZAP emulation but supports DAHDI trunks directly and the normal MG2 echo reduction. Older versions of Freepbx and Dahdi don't use the MG2 echo reduction properly.

It can take several fxotune iterations and reboots to get everything working properly. The DAHDI Freepbx module also worked very well for me.

The suggestion to adjust Aastra 57i trans and rec gain is also good for a final tweak plus the trans and receive gain adjustment thats available in the Dahdi trunk config files.

When all working properly the difference is amazing!

I don't find the various SPA type solutions to work properly in terms of echo reduction.

The system I'm referring to is PIAF ver. 1.7.5.5 Freepbx 2.8.1.0 Asterisk Source 1.4.39.1 Dahdi 2.4.0 according to the Status screen Centos 5.5.

My AEX800 PCI card is set up for 4 FXS and 4 FXO.

Good Luck.

Brian

 

[powerontech]

Perhaps it might be prudent to understand your setup better. If you can give more details from end to end it would be helpful. After that we should try establish if the echo is being introduced acoustically or electronically or both.

I would be curious why you have your Aastra gains turned all the way down. That makes me wonder if you do not have gains cranked up somewhere else. You should check that everything is zero across the board from end to end to start with.

Echo IS a solvable problem. Don't get discouraged.