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.

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


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.

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


Price £77.54 plus whatever they charge for carriage:-

www.broadbandstuff.co.uk/index.php?cPath=157_165&osCsid=01034147929bb5ea82ef3631...

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.............

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


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.

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


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.

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


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