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Problems With Sound

I cannot hear the person I'm calling
The person I'm calling cannot hear me
How do I improve the sound quality?
I hear an interrupted voice

I cannot hear the person I'm calling

Problems with hearing the person you are calling can be due to various reasons. However, the most likely are issues with your firewall and soundcard. Follow the below instructions and try your phone again.

1. Please check your firewall configuration by clicking here. The Internet Telephone uses a number of ports to send data to our servers, and if these ports are blocked by a firewall the phone will not work correctly (you will only get one-way audio or the phone cannot get connected).

2. You may need to check your soundcard settings:

Click on 'Start', 'Settings', 'Control Panel', and select 'Sounds/Multimedia' (or 'Multimedia')

Then select 'Audio',

In 'Sound Playback' check that the soundcard (or USB device) you are using is selected.

Then click on 'Volume'

If your microphone is listed, please make sure that it is set to mute or NOT selected (depending on the version of your operating system it may not be listed).

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The person I'm calling cannot hear me

If the other person cannot hear you, this can be due to various reasons. However, the most likely are issues with your firewall and headset/handset settings. Follow the below instructions and try your phone again.

1. Please check your firewall configuration by clicking here. The Internet Telephone uses a number of ports to send data to our servers, and if these ports are blocked by a firewall the phone will not work correctly (you will only get one-way audio or the phone cannot get connected).

2. You may need to check the following:

Make sure that the headset, USB handset or the microphone and speakers are plugged in correctly at the back of your computer. In case you are using microphone and speakers please ensure that the microphone is switched on.

If this does not fix the problem, then you should test the quality of your headset or handset by performing a sound recording test.

Sound Recording Test:

There is a little test that you can perform on your PC to make sure your Windows audio settings are working correctly. Just click on 'Start', 'Programs', 'Accessories', 'Entertainment' and open 'Sound Recorder'.

Click on the red button to record your voice, then play it back. Can you hear your recording? If you can, your Windows audio configuration is working correctly.

If you cannot hear your voice clearly enough or cannot hear it at all, click on 'Edit' and 'Audio Properties' on the same program, Windows Sound Recorder, to open general sound properties in Windows.

On the Audio Properties windows you will see 'Audio Devices'.

Ensure that you select the soundcard you are using on both boxes for 'Preferred Devices'. For instance, if your soundcard is a 'SoundMAX Digital Audio', you would have to select it on 'Sound Playback' and 'Sound Recording'.

Then click on 'Volume'.

In the new window make sure your microphone is selected or not set to mute and that the sound level is not too low.

Under the microphone column click on 'Advanced' and make sure that '1+20db Gain' is ticked. Please do this only if the person to whom you are talking is complaining that your voice is too low, as this will boost the sensitivity of your microphone.

We also advise you to tick the box for 'Use only preferred devices' (users of Windows 98, ME, 2000 and XP).

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How do I improve the sound quality?

1. You may need to adjust the settings in your PC Audio Mixer:

Click over the ''i'' button on your Internet Telephone

Click ''Audio Mixer''

Perform the following adjustments: ''Speakers'' around 50% ''Listen'' around 50% ''Mic'' around 40%

2. Please check your real-time Internet connexion speed by clicking here. The result will show you if your Internet connection speed is fast enough to use our service.

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I hear an interrupted voice

1. This may be due to your Internet connection speed. Click here to check if your Internet connection speed is fast enough to use our service.

2. This may be due to the QoS Packet Scheduler enabled by default on Windows XP Service Pack 2. QoS Packet Scheduler manages the network bandwidth by prioritising a data packet. This influences the way audio and video packets are sent.

To improve the sound quality of your phone calls, we recommend one of the following options:

Click here to download and install a patch (300kb) provided by Microsoft (Note: this patch is for the English version of Windows only, so if you are using a different language version then follow the instructions below).

Disable or uninstall manually the QoS Packet Scheduler according to the following instructions:

Step 1.

From the XP "Start menu" select "Connect To" and then "Show all connections". This will display a window showing all your network connections (if you are using the ‘classic’ set up, the steps are: “Start” select “Settings” then “Network Connections”).

Step 2.

Highlight the connection through which you connect to the Internet (if you are connected via a router or LAN, this will be the "Local Area Connection"). Right click on your mouse and select "Properties". This will display the "Properties" configuration for the connection.

Step 3.

For a "Local Area Connection" make sure you are on the "General" page of the "Properties" configuration. For all other connections click on the "Networking" tab.

Step 4.

In the window titled "This connection uses the following items:" highlight the QoS Packet Scheduler, then disable this item by unchecking the tick box.

If you are unable to uncheck the tick box (the QoS Packet Scheduler was greyed out before you highlighted it), click the uninstall button at the bottom of the window. Then click yes to confirm.

Step 5.

If you are not asked to do so, we recommend you now restart your computer.

Step 6.

Once you have restarted your computer, please try to make a call.

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