Help Call quality and volume analysis

When I switch to a new phone, there is usually the typical adjustment period where I get used to the new "sound" of the phone. Coming directly from the 4G, for me, the 3D may take more "getting used to" than usual.

I am having a hard time finding a sweet spot with the volume. If I turn it up, the audio blasts and is just uncomfortably loud. I turn it down, and it becomes acceptable until the other party talks more softly or trails off. That portion of the discussion becomes inaudible / unintelligible. The intensity of the caller's voice (volume) seems to fade up and down.

My landline (Charter VoIP) test, also my mom, once crystal clear now sounds muddy, with inconsistent volume, but more importantly, she has a harder time hearing me. I noticed a major uptick in the amount of times she asked me to repeat myself, from nearly none on the 4G to 5-6 times in one conversation on the 3D. Her difficulty to discern my consonants was a big factor.

Other tests, mostly with other Sprint customers, yielded similar results. Inconsistent volume, fading, and a lot of "huh?"s and "what's that?"s from both parties.

As someone else described, the ringback definitely sounds choppy, and fades in and out. Each time I call out I find myself checking my signal because I associate choppy ringback with poor signal strength. Makes me also wonder, if the ringback is this choppy, maybe this translates in the inconsistent voice quality I'm noticing?

I just called my voicemail and *2 in testing. A "control" because I know what the Sprint ladies always sound like. They were garbled and inconsistent as if the phone was struggling with signal, though signal strength is perfectly fine.

**Yet another update, calling my co-worker (albeit on AT&T), had to repeat myself several times "I'm having a hard time hearing you." This sucks.

For my tests, I had full, non-airave signal.

novox77 said:

Updated my OP with more info, including audio clips. It appears that E3D does suffer from bad call quality when the call is outputted through the headphone jack. But it's fine through the earpiece speaker and the back speaker.

Will test BT output of both E4G and E3D shortly.

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I think you'll find the load impedance of headsets varies wildly. And a "good" headset might not match a host of other phones, leading to the idea that the headset jack has low quality. I tend to test mine with several units I've collected over the years and I think if you try that, you'll find interesting results.

I'm getting tip-top call quality through my favorite Sprint monobud, the one with the soft nylon jacketing on the wire, so I wouldn't make a blanket that the headset port suffers bad quality.

I'd suggest that you have either an impedance mismatch in your headset to your phone, or your phone has a bad headset circuit - the former being far, far more likely.

Have you tried plugging in some desk speakers into your phone? Mine sounds great when I do that - if yours doesn't and you can't find headsets that match up, then I'd suspect your copy of the phone.

As the model, the 3vo has no issues with its headphone circuit, going by my opposing results. No doubt at all in my mind that it's actually better than the Evo in this regard.

wega1985 - bars don't show fluctuations or tower handoffs that can happen quickly with a defective headset. I'd suggest getting an RF test on that pup at your nearest Sprint center - you might be a candidate for a replacement, your results are too far out there.

EarlyMon said:

wega1985 - bars don't show fluctuations or tower handoffs that can happen quickly with a defective headset. I'd suggest getting an RF test on that pup at your nearest Sprint center - you might be a candidate for a replacement, your results are too far out there.

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I have line of sight to the tower. I'm really not concerned with the signal strength at this point. I downloaded that OpenSignal app listed in your signal strength comparison thread and this corroborates my signal meter. I can get it tested to rule that out, but my concerns seem to be likely more of an annoyance/preference than an actual defect in the handset.

A friend of mine who is on the same upgrade schedule as me, (Pre, 4G, 3D) almost identically matches my experiences regarding call quality. He complains of "fading" in the voice and choppiness. But contrary to my complaints, he is also having signal strength issues (compared to his 4G, all else equal/controlled). We did several more tests on my lunchbreak, 3D to 3D, 3D to Thunderbolt on VZW, and 3D to POTS. POTS obviously sounded the best on my end, but our concerns persisted.

It could be related to our market, though. I know there have been some network capacity issues in our area since the 4G was released last year, and major upgrades were underway since the ground thawed. Wouldn't explain our entire lack of complaints and crystal clear calls on the 4G, though, unless the 3D employs updated vocoders or something?

I'm not just making this up. I think it really is very subjective at this point. i.e. What device you spent the last year talking on, and how picky you are when it comes to call quality.

I wouldn't think you're making anything up.

I'm very picky about call quality.

When I got the right headset combo with my Evo, people I'd talked to regularly for work for a decade were all amazed - in each case, they insisted that I sounded like I was there, rather than on a phone (and they've heard me on three carriers, plenty of phones, VoIP and my landline). And I was insufferably pleased with how well they sounded.

That's my standard for performance - nothing succeeds in business like a phone call where the other party hears just you, not phone.

I'm reserving comment until I've had several days to talk to a cross section of people (and lend out my phone to a few people so I can hear for myself how it sounds to a caller), but so far, it's all very positive for me.

I've noticed, on occasion, volume fluctuations. For example, I'll hear the ringing on the other end at some volume, and suddenly the volume will jump up or down quite a few dB and stay there for a little while. I haven't made enough calls with the thing to hear this happen during a call nor could I tell if anything changed in the sound other than volume. If this happened while speaking with someone, I could see it causing some complaints about sound quality. To me, it seemed like some sort of background-noise compensation going overboard.

cobalt said:

I've noticed, on occasion, volume fluctuations. For example, I'll hear the ringing on the other end at some volume, and suddenly the volume will jump up or down quite a few dB and stay there for a little while. I haven't made enough calls with the thing to hear this happen during a call nor could I tell if anything changed in the sound other than volume. If this happened while speaking with someone, I could see it causing some complaints about sound quality. To me, it seemed like some sort of background-noise compensation going overboard.

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I agree with this. Some sort of software compensation, noise reduction, normalization, etc. that is causing noticeable fluctuations.

wega1985 said:

I agree with this. Some sort of software compensation, noise reduction, normalization, etc. that is causing noticeable fluctuations.

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Interesting, this could help explain the sort of thing I've noticed when on calls. Having the volume jump up or down for a brief moment during the call can make it sound "choppy" or almost like the call is cutting in and out briefly. This may very likely explain what I've noticed sporatically thus far, and if so, there is hope that a future software update may help fix/mitigate this from occuring or at least to the extent it's noticeable.

novox77 said:

Here's a little explanation to clear things up:

4G = wimax (data only)
3G = CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (data only)
2G = CDMA2000 1xRTT (voice only)

The 2G/3G is actually one radio, and it can only be in one mode at a time. So if you're on a phone call, the 2G/3G radio is in 1xRTT mode, which only does voice/sms. If you're in 3G and you get a call, the phone shuts down 1xEV-DO and goes into 1xRTT mode. Calls take precedence over data.

4G is a separate radio, so it can be on simultaneously with the 2G/3G radio. That is how you get simultaneous data and voice if you're on 4G. Same with wifi; that's a separate radio as well. Our phones programatically shut off 3G when the 4G radio is on. So if you have 4G, you're using wimax and 1xRTT. If you are connected to a wifi hotspot, you are using 802.11b/g/n and 1xRTT.

We can toggle 4G and wifi. We can also toggle the 1xEV-DO (HTC calls this "mobile network" in the settings). But there's no toggle for 1xRTT unless you use airplane mode, which shuts off all radios and remembers their last state.

So for call quality tests, it doesn't matter what radios are on. The only one that matters is the 1xRTT, which is represented by the 6 vertical bars near the battery indicator in the status bar. If you use the app I mentioned in this thread during your call, you will see that the signal type will be 1xRTT.

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It's a common misconception that we do voice on 4G and 3G. When I was reading Bobby's post I was like say what! But you explained things perfectly.

wega1985 said:

I agree with this. Some sort of software compensation, noise reduction, normalization, etc. that is causing noticeable fluctuations.

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This is also how it sounded to me; though it sounded like when the processor is pre-empted with another task more than anything else; it did not sound like static or data loss; but rather unevenness of data delivery.
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Oh well regardless on the unit I tested call quality was rather poor (this is using the built in speaker; not a head phone or similar). Volume was fine; though a tad louder on max would not hurt.

novox77 said:

I'm not trying to discount anyone's observations here, but everything you guys are describing about the poor quality is something I've experienced with every single cell phone I've ever owned. As I stated before, I also experienced the same volume fluctuation, and I had it recorded and posted in the OP. Except it's for the Evo 4G. So already we can conclude it's not a unique problem to the E3D.

What we need to determine is whether this call quality 'problem' is systemic. In other words, does it always happen? Or more importantly, does the call sound like crap when you are in the best of situations? And once again I'll point out that your 3G, 4G, or Wifi signal strength has nothing to do with your call signal strength.

So rather than describing in detail how the poor call quality sounds, how about some signal strengths that correspond to that call?

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I look out a bedroom window on the West side of my house and I see my tower. Every cell phone that is brought in my house gets full signal. You can argue how the signal meter on the phone isn't a true representation of this, that or the other, but the situation I, and my friends have experienced, occur under the best of RF conditions. I notice no difference, whatsoever, in call quality at home with full signal strength, or at work with a couple bars less. It "always" happens.

You can run all the tests you want through the headphone jack, say every cell phone you ever owned has done it, etc., but that isn't going to change my experience or the amount of "say again?"s I receive from the other party. If it wasn't a problem or annoyance to me, I wouldn't have gotten online to see how other user's experiences compare to mine, in hope for an eventual software fix or adjustment.

So yeah, if no one else complains, as clearly not many people are, it's something that I'll just have to get used to.

Calls through the earpeice sound great to me, a big improvement IMO over the 4G.

Speakerphone could be louder, but does the job.

wega1985 said:

I look out a bedroom window on the West side of my house and I see my tower. Every cell phone that is brought in my house gets full signal. You can argue how the signal meter on the phone isn't a true representation of this, that or the other, but the situation I, and my friends have experienced, occur under the best of RF conditions. I notice no difference, whatsoever, in call quality at home with full signal strength, or at work with a couple bars less. It "always" happens.

You can run all the tests you want through the headphone jack, say every cell phone you ever owned has done it, etc., but that isn't going to change my experience or the amount of "say again?"s I receive from the other party. If it wasn't a problem or annoyance to me, I wouldn't have gotten online to see how other user's experiences compare to mine, in hope for an eventual software fix or adjustment.

So yeah, if no one else complains, as clearly not many people are, it's something that I'll just have to get used to.

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Have you seen the thread on 3G issues?

If all else fails, I'd consider getting a replacement.

Agreed, CDMA voice quality ought not be dependent on signal strength.

My experience is similar to wega's, but its very inconsistent. As is usual, when the other party complains we hang up and reconnect, and more often than not the same issues heard in previous call are not apparent. I believe my issues are related to network issues rather than the phone itself.

That said, the speaker, when using speakerphone, is very weak, muffled and noisy. In particular, voicemail and google voicemail are so faint that even with full volume I have to hold the phone near my ear.

My last issue, despite the excellent comparison done by gents here, is that my signal is not as strong as it was on the 4G.

I am having some problems with this phone, I think a swap is necessary to hopefully clear up some of them. I haven't given up yet!

you2 said:

This is also how it sounded to me; though it sounded like when the processor is pre-empted with another task more than anything else; it did not sound like static or data loss; but rather unevenness of data delivery.
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Oh well regardless on the unit I tested call quality was rather poor (this is using the built in speaker; not a head phone or similar). Volume was fine; though a tad louder on max would not hurt.

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That's a very interesting point compadre!

I think I am going to use Android System Info (Electric Sheep) and watch the process list sorted by cpu use on my calls.

novox77 said:

I'm not trying to discount anyone's observations here, but everything you guys are describing about the poor quality is something I've experienced with every single cell phone I've ever owned. As I stated before, I also experienced the same volume fluctuation, and I had it recorded and posted in the OP. Except it's for the Evo 4G. So already we can conclude it's not a unique problem to the E3D.

What we need to determine is whether this call quality 'problem' is systemic. In other words, does it always happen? Or more importantly, does the call sound like crap when you are in the best of situations? And once again I'll point out that your 3G, 4G, or Wifi signal strength has nothing to do with your call signal strength.

So rather than describing in detail how the poor call quality sounds, how about some signal strengths that correspond to that call?

Click to expand...

This issue is very subjective, 2 different people can hear the same call and one person will say it's fine and clear, while another person will say they dislike the quality. It isn't a one-size fits all problem, and because of that it's difficult to trouble shoot or identify. It isn't something clearly measurable, like signal strength; it's something largely open to interpretation.

Some people have no complaints about the call quality, and that's fine. I'm not trying to change anyone else's mind. I'm just trying to state my perception on call quality since I've used the TP2, Evo4G and now the Evo3D and can compare my experiences. I'm also somewhat of an audiophile, so I think a 128kbps mp3 sounds like crap, which is why my entire library is ripped at 320kbps.

Some of this may be in my head too, since there were complaints about call quality perhaps I'm listening into it more because of that, where if no one reported any issues perhaps I wouldn't pay as close attention and not notice it as much.

My signal strength (voice network vertical bars, not 3G or 4G) is about 75%+ (using the app referenced in another thread), so it isn't a poor signal. I experience light distortions, such as when the phone is ringing and I'm waiting for the other to pick up I can hear the ringing seem like it's cutting out occasionally, again not due to sudden loss of signal strength. Also while on calls, I hear some volume fluctuations which may be the result of noise cancellation or other software, it isn't a major issue but is something I'd like to sound better if possible. These aren't things I recall hearing when I used the Evo4G, but perhaps they were there and I just didn't notice as much.

At the end of the road, it isn't 100% where I'd like it to be, but at this point isn't something I'd consider to be "poor call quality" and thus likely to force me to want to return it and get something else. I figured I'd report my experiences as obviously HTC or Sprint won't look into something unless it is reported as a concern by a large enough sample set to make it worth their while.

Has anyone here ever called Netgear customer support? THAT is how ALL of my phone calls sound through the EVO, regardless of location, or source of my speaker (in phone, bluetooth, speaker).

I have noticed it is worst with 3vo to 3vo calls--both me and my girlfriend picked up an 3vo on launch, and I would say, 75% of the time, I REALLY have to focus in order to make out what she is saying.

On top of that, all the calls are very "tinny". Thankfully, I don't use the phone feature too much, because it is a very painful listening experience. Worst I've had yet on any cell phone, any carrier. 3vo is still my favorite phone, by a great deal, but the call quality is absolutely atrocious.

I must have lucked out because my calls sound great!

Emblazon said:

Has anyone here ever called Netgear customer support? THAT is how ALL of my phone calls sound through the EVO, regardless of location, or source of my speaker (in phone, bluetooth, speaker).

I have noticed it is worst with 3vo to 3vo calls--both me and my girlfriend picked up an 3vo on launch, and I would say, 75% of the time, I REALLY have to focus in order to make out what she is saying.

On top of that, all the calls are very "tinny". Thankfully, I don't use the phone feature too much, because it is a very painful listening experience. Worst I've had yet on any cell phone, any carrier. 3vo is still my favorite phone, by a great deal, but the call quality is absolutely atrocious.

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Where are you located? I wonder if it's a regional or market-to-market issue. Pure speculation based on my experience with Nextel years ago, but I'm wondering if Sprint / HTC might have snuck in new compression/vocoder (i.e. EVRC-B) chipsets and software to increase network capacity in some markets, and this handset is one of the first to utilize it.

Just doing a Google search for "evo evrc-b" yields some hits on call quality.

I have been told that I sound incredibly/painfully loud to the person I am talking to. I cannot find any way to adjust the volume on my call out/voice volume. Adjusting the volume while I talk adjusts the receiving audio, but I cannot find anyway to adjust my voice volume ... any help? (I am kind of a technological idiot as an FYI ... but don't see any options under settings)

Thanks!

The phone is new from Virgin, it is actually my second because the 1st one had a mic that sounded muffled ... I am not using a headset and it does not have the same issue when I use the speaker phone. I have had this feedback from a couple of people but not continuously ... I need to ask more callers to make sure this is a consistent issue.
It did not happen after downloading any app and I am not rooted either (thanks for clarifying what that is ... so may be a defective mic ... again ... but I will certainly make sure that this is a consistent experience from the other end ...