VoIP and connection problems

Question

Hey everyone, I have some problems with my (relative) new EE broadband connection (~6 weeks old). Although the BT speed test shows good results (10 up, 1 down, only ping seems a bit high, about 50ms) all voice services (like VoIP, Skype, Google Hangout) are completely unusable as I can't understand my my counterpart. I tried many factory resets on my BrightBox and tried to turn off the firewall but it didn't helped. Another problem (that may be related?) is that from time to time (sometimes once per day, sometimes twice) I can't reach any websites from my devices (can't even ping them), but the BrightBox says it is still connected. When I restart the BrightBox everyhting works again. Any ideas what could be the problem? Thank you! Time Connected:  15:42:46 (manual restart), nothing unusual in the logs, my ADSL Status: ADSL STATUS
This page shows information about your ADSL connection if applicable.
Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Fast Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)
Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream 1187 (Kbps.)
Downstream 11863 (Kbps.)
Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 6.1 dB 6.5 dB
Line Attenuation 16.8 dB 31.0 dB
Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 12.8 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction 0 0
Interleaved Path FEC Correction NA NA
Fast Path CRC Error 5032 42
Interleaved Path CRC Error NA NA
Loss of Signal Defect 0 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR 11420 80
Interleaved Path HEC Error NA NA
Error Seconds 2058 21
Statistics
Received Cells 26366448
Transmitted Cells 2181922   

Answer 1

My ADSL2 broadband used to be 8Mbps down/1Mbps up (yours is 11Mbps down), and I didn't have too many problems with VoIP. I wonder if the backhaul from your exchange is overloaded (ie there is high contention)? I would expect quite stable pings from a site like the BBC. What is your speedtest like (try going to http://www.speedtest.net or http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/ from a PC preferably connected via a wire to your router rather than WiFi). Your line should be capable of roughly 10 to 11 Meg down and 1 Meg up. If you see much less than this then you may have contention problems. RegardsPeter PS: Your router shows "Fast path" but I know that the Brightbox 2 sometimes tells lies. Mine was showing that recently when it very definitely had been interleaved due to a line fault. This will add maybe 10ms to pings but should not affect transfer speed too much.