That's due to the distance thing. If you were able to pick and choose where you test to/from, and you chose Orlando or Tampa and then Atlanta, then Chicago, then Seattle or Anchorage, you'd see what I mean. latency is primarily distance (technically, how long the wire/fiber is).

Yeah, I thought that was BS about the latency thing myself. But since I'm not an 'expert' in this stuff - plus there had to be an explanation for my issue, I decided to pursue it as a legit possibility.

I'll figure something out. There has to be something obvious I am not seeing. :rolleyes:

That only reinforces that latency isn't the issue.

Thanks for chiming in, Steve - really appreciate it.

Steve is right that latency is fine, jitter is a big factor. Your bandwidth is fine, and so is packet loss. We do VoIP all over the world and even have some over 200 ms latency.

Are you trying to find cheap or replace traditional phone lines? Or both?

We resell RingCentral and cannot say enough good things about their offering and services.

Yeah, I didn't want to muddy the waters, but I've done VoIP over Satellite connections for oil rigs and ships in the Gulf of Mexico and all over the world at a previous company. That's latency in the 600-800 ms range. It's something that you have to get used to, because you have to pause for the 1/2 - 3/4 sec to give the other end a chance to talk. You could almost say "over" each time you were done talking. That's a fringe case and certainly not the norm.

My story on VOIP-

tried it at my office on the insistence of my network guy that it would make us more efficient and save money. well we had all manner of issues with it. at one point while diagnosing issues a third party says to my network guy 'we played back one of his conversations from the day in question and it sounded fine'.

yep.

they played back a conversation.

my network guys had no idea that could be done. no more VOIP here.

Latency could also be due to acks at the TCP or IP layers within the TCP stack itself OR on Baz's end exclusively and intermittent....unseen in "speed tests".... packet sizes, etc..

I am a systems/bit level guy....listen to SM....change course ;)

A "ping" test does NOT test TCP....a different protocol and handled totally different behind the curtain...not a test at all in many cases....experience....btdt.

Another idea popped in mehead....check any settings you "might" have control over....TTL and memory, packet sizes, etc. at the TCP layer....it just might "matter" for VOIP....never noticed on PPOT :)

...or reread SM's first post ;)

You might want better network guys.

Were you having other issues recently, dns maybe? You said hardwired, no wireless right? Are you sure you have good connections? Try a fresh cable on a different port of your router/gateway. Might not be the issue but physical layer stuff gets overlooked a lot. Same goes for the connection into the house to the router/gateway. Cheap/simple troubleshooting step.

I thought everyone was a network guy ;)

A few of the "best" I worked with...were gir.....err..ladi...errr....just damn good :).

Yes, DNS messed up. Got that resolved. Phone problems preceded that though, I think.

Agree with you VV - I'm going to pull everything and start from scratch to double-check all lines and connections.

Apparently my problem is solved.

Let me start by saying I was testing the audio output all this time by calling my cell phone to leave a voice mail. The cell phone was not "taking" a message - and that's why I thought I had no audio output.

Compounding things was I was having trouble with my audio output back before when my DNS specs were out of whack. So in my mind - this was just a continuation of the same problem.

Where I went wrong with my trouble shooting was assuming my cell phone not "taking" a voice mail was absolute proof of the malfunction.

So I decided before trying anything else, to call my oldest brother in Virginia this afternoon as a test and get feedback from an actual human being. To my surprise (and delight) he heard everything I said perfectly and we ended up having a 30 minute conversation.

I should have done this a long time ago - but just assumed my cell phone should take a voice mail if the audio output was working - and I still don't understand that part of it - but overall - it doesn't really matter.

Of course I feel stupid for all the time I wasted on trying to resolve a problem that was not really there - plus tying up others with a problem that was not really there.

I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger? <shrug>

So thanks to all who responded - it's greatly appreciated, as always! :)