I just wondered if anyone else here had been getting the problem I have been having lately with repeated echoing of my own voice a quarter of a second later or whatever on 1899 calls.

This hasn't been a problem very often in the past with either 18866 or 1899 (although it did happen very occasionally) but lately I am getting it very often (like 1 time in 2) when calling a relative on a particular uk geographic phone number.  But if I call the relative straight back routing the call over BT the problem goes away.  If I call again using 1899 I still get the echo.

I have logged a fault on the 1899 website but of course there has been no reply. >:(

1899 clear up here for all this morning's calls.

Tanllan wrote on Jan 9^th, 2006 at 1:33pm:

1899 clear up here for all this morning's calls.

It seems to be on 75% of my recent calls to one relative's number in the last 10 days that have been the problem.  But if I call them using BT I don't then experience the echoing problem.

So it appears there is currently a faulty satellite link (sounds like classic satellite echoing) used by 1899 for any call routings from my number to this number.  I suppose I should try 18185 to see if I get the same problem with that service (even though its the same underlying call company).

By the way Tanllan aren't you like me on the verge of acquiring an ATA device such as the Sipura SPA-3000 so as to be able to make free calls and re-route calls cheaply to your mobile etc?  Of course we all know that Voipcheap won't stay free forever which does rather reduce the incentive.  However the SPA 3000's price is falling and I am attracted by its ability to do things such as redirecting my call to my Riiing mobile using the cheapest available call carrier.  The Linkysys PAP-2NA or the Sipura SPA-2000 do not seem very interesting since they cannot redirect calls and/or do so via either PSTN or Voip.

wrote on Jan 9^th, 2006 at 4:00pm:

By the way Tanllan aren't you like me on the verge of acquiring an ATA device such as the Sipura SPA-3000 so as to be able to make free calls and re-route calls cheaply to your mobile etc?  Of course we all know that Voipcheap won't stay free forever which does rather reduce the incentive.  However the SPA 3000's price is falling and I am attracted by its ability to do things such as redirecting my call to my Riiing mobile using the cheapest available call carrier.  The Linkysys PAP-2NA or the Sipura SPA-2000 do not seem very interesting since they cannot redirect calls and/or do so via either PSTN or Voip.

Office PC overheated owing to fan failure and so anything quite as smart as this (an excellent prompt, thank you, NGM) must wait. Any ideas of cost (please)?

Tanllan wrote on Jan 9^th, 2006 at 11:01pm:

Office PC overheated owing to fan failure and so anything quite as smart as this (an excellent prompt, thank you, NGM) must wait. Any ideas of cost (please)?

Price £77.54 plus whatever they charge for carriage:-

www.broadbandstuff.co.uk/index.php?cPath=157_165&osCsid=01034147929bb5ea82ef363134b82357

Current PSTN phone call costs here about £4 with 1899 for 01/02 calls so would take a while to get back.  The call redirection possibilities to elsewhere over free or cheap Voip calls are the main attraction.

Of course if anyone rolls out a WiMax service down here south of Dorking I would probably dump BT and go with that.  Oh well I suppose I could always sell the Sipura on Ebay if that happened.............

I have has the 'echo' during the week on a local call using 1899. I had no idea it was a possible 1899 fault and put it down to a general BT line fault. Interesting.

Barry Doe

barrydoe wrote on Jan 21^st, 2006 at 11:49pm:

I have has the 'echo' during the week on a local call using 1899. I had no idea it was a possible 1899 fault and put it down to a general BT line fault. Interesting.

Call right back using BT or even TalkTalk and I am not getting the echo problem but it is only one number on an exchange about 50 miles away I am repeatedly getting the problem with.  It stopped for a couple of days and now it has started up again on the same number.

I don't mind calling back with BT Off Peak when we are talking 6p an hour against 3p but clearly don't want to do that during the Mon to Fri peak.

I logged a fault with 1899 and just got a stupid auto responder saying such faults are usually intermittent and clear up on their own.  I alsi didn't get a refund on the 20 or so calls I have had to hang up on due to echoing.

wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2006 at 4:29pm:

it is only one number on an exchange about 50 miles away I am repeatedly getting the problem with.

Altho' I have had the problem only occassionally, I had always assumed that it was to do with whatever tortuous route they happened to be routing that particular call by and that it was really a 'one-off' - but that doesn't seem consistent with it repeatedly happening on one particular called number?

trevord wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2006 at 4:55pm:

Altho' I have had the problem only occassionally, I had always assumed that it was to do with whatever tortuous route they happened to be routing that particular call by and that it was really a 'one-off' - but that doesn't seem consistent with it repeatedly happening on one particular called number?

It seems to me entirely consistent that one number is mainly involved as it is likely to be taking one particular call path between the two exchanges involved and there is likely to be a defective echo cancelling circuit somewhere in the loop.

wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2006 at 4:59pm:

a defective echo cancelling circuit

Didn't even know such things existed - too technical for me!  I had just put it down to sattelite echoing - or mat be I'm confusing that with sattelite delay?

trevord wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2006 at 5:24pm:

Didn't even know such things existed - too technical for me!  I had just put it down to sattelite echoing - or mat be I'm confusing that with sattelite delay?

Seems to be more on this topic here.  A full paper to download if you want:-

http://whitepapers.silicon.com/0,39024759,60025951p-39000460q,00.htm