| General Problems / Issues: |
| |
|
| |
We’re constantly making improvements to the quality of Tpad calls and we highly recommend you use the latest version of Tpad.
There are a few other things you can do to improve the quality of your Tpad calls. |
|
| |
| Avoiding call echo |
| |
Tpad has a built-in echo canceller which detects and reduces echo during calls. If echo is not completely eliminated by the canceller it may be caused by: |
| |
| Echo occurring from the audio device used by the person you are calling. To improve call quality they should use a headset rather than loudspeakers. A headset reduces the level of acoustic echo that reaches the microphone. |
| Use of loudspeakers. We recommend adjusting the volume to a low level to reduce the chance of the microphone picking up any noise from loudspeakers and therefore creating echo. About halfway along the volume slider is usually OK. |
|
| |
| The performance of echo cancellation is affected by the level of background noise. Echo cancellation works better in low background noise setups. |
| |
|
| Avoiding background noise |
| |
Tpad has a built-in noise canceller which helps reduce the level of background noise. To avoid background noise you can: |
| |
| Try to find a quiet location to make Tpad calls from. |
| |
| Move your microphone closer to your mouth and away from noise sources such as your computer’s fan / radios / TV. |
| |
| Built-in microphones in computers and webcams are more prone to picking up background noise. We recommend you use a stand alone microphone instead. |
|
| |
|
| One way sound |
| |
One way sound occurs when one party in a call cannot hear the other. |
| |
| This may occur for a number of reasons: |
| Bad sound device settings: |
| |
| If the person you are calling can not hear your voice or vice versa your sound device settings may be configured incorrectly. |
| |
| Check your microphone is not muted. Some microphones have buttons to mute/unmute. |
| |
| Alternatively, the speaker volume of the person you are calling may be off or set too low. Both parties in the call need to check their device settings and verify they can hear other sounds made by their computers. |
| |
| You may have incorrect sound mixer settings. Consult your soundcard manual or get more advice at Tpad Sound Setup Guide. |
| |
| Also, check that your country allows VoIP / SIP Voice Packets. As some block / tamper with these voice packets to produce low quality / silent calls. Current countries blocked are UAE. |
|
| |
|
| Low bandwidth internet: |
| |
| One way sound can be caused by the caller having low internet bandwidth to outgoing destinations. For example, when using dial-up connections, satellite connections (that use dial-up or GPRS for pload) or low-priced ADSL packages. We recommend that they use our Break IN Service so they can use their normal phone instead of PC. |
| |
| Tpad recommends an internet speed of 256KB and above for a good quality call. If you have a lower speed then contact customer support. To contact customer support please Click here and they can help you configure the audio codecs. |
|
| |
| Personal firewalls (software): |
| |
| Some personal firewalls may block Tpad’s access to the internet. Due to the way such firewalls are designed, blocking usually occurs after you have upgraded Tpad. This may result in you being unable to connect, worse call quality or one way sound. Please check your personal firewall settings and allow Tpad to make outgoing connections and accept incoming connections. See the Tpad Firewall Guide. |
|
| |
| File sharing / P2P / Bit Torrent Use: |
| |
| The user should always check that they are not uploading / downloading something or installing automatic updates to their O.S while using Tpad as this can sometimes affect the quality of the call. It is advised to close all file sharing applications before calling. |
| |
| Check that no Spyware / Adware is installed as this will may your PC run slow and may even use your internet bandwidth without you knowing. Use a Spyware program to check and remove any unwanted files. |
| |
| Also don’t have multiple softphones open at the same time, close them before using Tpad. |
|
| |
| Other users affecting the network: |
| |
| If the user is in a corporate network, one way sound may be caused because someone else in the network is affecting internet connectivity. It is quite hard to determine this and in most of cases there is nothing the user can do. However you can contact your system administrator for further assistance. |
| |
| If you use in an office environment then make sure the ports 5060 – 6030 are open and that Tpad has full access to the internet. Ask your network administrator to implement these changes. |
|
| |
| Robotic sound / Words cut off / Delay |
| |
The main reason for robotic sound, dropouts in sentences and delay is bad network performance. This may be caused by either you or the person you are calling. Tpad is built to be adaptive and to provide the best call quality in all network conditions. |
| For firewall settings please see our Tpad Firewall Guide. |
|
