Is it possible to have reliable calls on Wifi?

[SimonLessard]

Anyone got good results in using 3CX mobile client (both IOS and Android) over Wifi?
We get fairly good results when the users are over the cellular network but on Wifi, call quality is horrible : sometime it is one way audio or robotic voice.
It is worse at the office but users at home are also complaining.
Is there any specific configuration to set and/or hardware to select to increase the quality/reliability?
At the office we have 5 wifi access points in mesh and a very high signal almost everywhere. Our problem is not related to moving from a zone to another.

Thanks for sharing your experience with 3CS over wifi!
Simon

 

[UKBTS Ltd]

We find this issue common. The 3cx softphone is not the best softphone out there for this particular reason.

Unfortunately we have still not found a fix for this as it seems to be hit and miss. Some struugle on WIFI and other Mobile Network.

 

[SimonLessard]

Mobile Network is, from what I've seen, much more reliable than wifi in our case.
Even when the user is not moving from the access point.

 

[AWS2P]

Hi Simon,
You are right, when a call is established in 4G that prevent to drop the calls when phone decide to switch alone to WIFI.
For now stay with Mobile network alone enabled, this is the best choice.
For poor audio quality, is it only with external callers? if so, which preferred codec do you use? on extensions and trunk?

 

[MohitK]

Yeah, it's possible if your wifi serves seamlessly. I have been using wifi connection sharing with my device. Going well so far.

 

[SimonLessard]

Can you share what equipment you are using as Wifi AP?

For poor audio quality, this is true for internal and external calls. We are using PCMU all the way.

 

[complex1]

Hi,

Try the following codecs in the order: iLBC, G.729 and GSM and try again

 

[SimonLessard]

Hi,

Try the following codecs in the order: iLBC, G.729 and GSM and try again

I am reading about the iLBC codec. This sounds appropriate for audio transmission indeed. With high tolerance on packet loss than G711.
My concern is that my SIP trunk provider supports only G711, so my server would be transcoding all the streams. Is it something I should avoid by all mean? We are a small company with about 30 phones and light traffic...
What about sound quality of iLBC vs G711?
I also tried OPUS but because of transcoding (I guess, there was a lot of audio drops). I would have thought that since it is variable in bitrate, it would have adapted to the bandwidth to minimize the audio drops...

Thanks
Simon

 

[SimonLessard]

I've seen the latest update of the PBX with improved SBC. I'm not sure what it is really but it looks like to have something to do with better handling the communication between two nodes.
Should I setup that? Would it be useful in any way? We have only one office with all local IPT. Some users work from home and they use the soft phone remotely. And some travelers that also use the soft phone.

Thanks for you advice

 

[MohitK]

If you have good internet connection you can do that. I'm a doing that. And talking long time with my friends using a wifi.

 

[StefanW]

I can tell from what we use at 3CX own HQ and that I make 99% of all my calls on my iPhone (some on a OnePlus 6T) and I not make just one call a day ;-)

No issues on WiFi at work, at home or on the road while using LTE.

The WiFi we use is not a mesh but with a zone controller to manage handovers from access points to the next so we have no ARP issues on the SwitchPorts. I think I made a write up on this: (wow 2014) https://www.3cx.com/blog/voip-howto/ruckus-wireless-infrastructure/ . We just renewed the system since to a bigger/newer version but still applies in its core.

I read a comment that handover from Wifi to LTE (or vice versa) is an issue and yes it is even for me. I have virtual red lines on the floor where I know I need to stop to finish my call. Good news, they will be gone soon...