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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I need some guidance, and this may be a long winded
email, so apologies in advance.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I do have a TAC case, but it's thru a Gold Partner,
so I'm not allowed to talk to TAC, or know the case #<SPAN
class=172134003-09032009> </SPAN> :-)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>We have 400+ users, all on Cisco Unified
Presence Client (CUPC v 1.2.(221100)) and we're having some voice quality
issues.<BR>Call Manager 6.01<BR>Presence ver 6<BR>Network - All Cisco -
2950switches, 3560s, 4506s, and some 6509s.<BR>Routers/voice gateways: 2801,
2811, two gateways per centre (<SPAN class=172134003-09032009>3</SPAN> centres),
with one Voice GW per site<SPAN class=172134003-09032009>, one </SPAN>dedicated
to the lo<SPAN class=172134003-09032009>c</SPAN>al Telco<SPAN
class=172134003-09032009> PRI</SPAN>, and one dedicated to our mobile
provider<SPAN class=172134003-09032009> PRI.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In December (when I started at this employer), we
trawled through every single switch and router config and fixed many many config
errors, all to do with QoS. (mostly changing 'mls qos trust cos' to 'mls qos
trust dscp', or 'mls qos trust cisco-softphone', or the equivalent.)<BR>The
network was set up as best practice, but for hard phones, not
softphones.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>Anyway, there were also some issues with our
WAN provider, who was remarking DSP values<SPAN class=172134003-09032009> back
to 0</SPAN>, which didn't help.<SPAN class=172134003-09032009> But is fixed
now.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So, now we have a really really good network
infrastructure, but we are having massive problems with Voice Quality. And it's
the Laptop, the build, <SPAN class=172134003-09032009>and/or </SPAN>some
interaction between all the apps that are loaded up. <BR>And, <SPAN
class=172134003-09032009>though </SPAN>I've been doing networking/data coms etc
for many years, troubleshooting something like this on WinXP has me a bit lost,
and I'm after any assistance/tools/advice that you might have. (apart from
'Install 400+ Hard Phones!' )</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Laptops are HP6910p, Dual Core, 2Gig RAM, WindowsXP
(with customer's standard build).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>CUPC versions are 1.2 (and I can also reproduce the
problem on latest v7)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Symptoms: <BR>- 'Crackly' voice (sounds like
Clipping)<BR>- 'Underwater' Voice - exact same symptoms as dropped packets, BUT,
a packet capture of some dud calls show a min/max/average Jitter of 1.2mSec
throughout the whole call.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>- 1-2 Second delay between speaking and the voice
arriving in the other callers ear.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The 1-2 sec delay one is the most interesting; If I
start opening and closing windows (or even minimizing and maximizing windows),
the audio I hear gets further and further out of step with the actual person on
the end of the phone.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I was able to reproduce this by calling between two
laptops, ON THE SAME LAN SWITCH, taking all the (unknown) network components out
of the equation.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>During the whole time I was experiencing the 1-2
second delay in voice, my laptop CPU never went about 19% (and mostly stayed on
9-11% CPU).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We also recently (Jan) deployed McAfee SafeBoot,
which replaces the Windows Login and BIOS power on password with a little GUI,
AND also encrypts the entire HDD.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It's very very difficult to really tie the voice
issues to this Safeboot deployment, Christmas is our major holiday, so most
people were on <SPAN class=172134003-09032009>away </SPAN>during
January, <SPAN class=172134003-09032009>and </SPAN>user complaints would
have been low then anyway. Current<SPAN class=172134003-09032009>l</SPAN>y we
have 60+ individual tickets open against 'Poor Voice Quality' on
softphones.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=172134003-09032009>On few test
laptops (mine and a 'test pod' that I am experimenting on) I
have</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=172134003-09032009> updated the following drivers to the latest
available on the Interweb;</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=172134003-09032009>- Intel Video
drivers</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=172134003-09032009>- HD SoundMAX audio
drivers</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=172134003-09032009>- GN Netcom 8110
(and 2000) USB Audio drivers (and headset firmware) - issue happens no matter
which headset is in use.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=172134003-09032009>- CUPC client
(v7)</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=172134003-09032009>- LAN
Drivers</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>So, Summary;<BR>- I can reproduce the problem
at will<BR>- CPU doesn't appear to be the problem<BR>- Network is NOT the
problem (at least for this specific issue)<BR>- I can also reproduce the same
symptoms when calling from my softphone, out to a local number, via a locally
connected Voice GW (C2811 with an E1 PRI)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Question:<BR>What on earth do I do now to
narrow down the issue? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks in advance!<BR>Regards,<BR>Mike
Taylor<BR>Network Engineer<BR>ABB TIMS Team<BR>c/- Meridian Energy<BR>322
Manchester St<BR>Christchurch</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ph: x8146<BR>Ph: +64 3 374
8146<BR>Mob: +64 21 2421369</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><BR> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Verdana>Attention:</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>This email together with any attachments is
confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please delete the message
and notify the sender. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the
author and will not necessarily reflect the views of Meridian Energy.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV><FONT face=Verdana>**************
PLEASE CONSIDER THE ENVIRONMENT BEFORE PRINTING ************* </FONT>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
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