SmartBro ShareIt VOIP Issues
As I’ve reported on numerous articles, I recently started using the SmartBro ShareIt Internet Service. This offers a 2 Mbps connection to the Internet. In addition, I am also a customer of Vonage VOIP telephone service, and have been for years.
The Vonage telephone service gives me a US telephone number, and for $25 per month, I can make calls to the USA and much of Europe for no additional charge. I use Vonage for my personal use, and also for my business. I consider Vonage a vital thing to have here in the Philippines.
My old Internet service was also SmartBro, but it was the Canopy system, which offered only 384Kbps connection speed. When I upgraded to the 2Mbps system, I expected that my Vonage would be way better. Funny thing was… it was actually way worse! I used it for nearly a month, and continued to get reports from people on the other end of the call that they could barely understand what I was saying. Hmm.. not so good.
Well, I believe part of the problem was the huge difference on the ShareIt between download bandwidth and upload bandwidth. You see, my download speeds are consistently 1.5 to 2.0 Mbps, but my upstream bandwidth ranges from only 150Kbps to 300Kbps or so, roughly only 1/10th the speed of the downstream bandwidth. I suspect this is why my voice (since that would be upstream) is not passing through the VOIP system well.
Let me say, I am very happy with ShareIt, though. For regular internet surfing, for downloading files and such, it is great. But, for some specific uses, it needs improvement.
I have solved my VOIP problem, though, by making a shift. You see, when I got the ShareIt service, I still kept my old SmartBro Canopy system as well. So, I just moved my VOIP service back over to the old system, and it works fine. But, if you are going with ShareIt as your sole connection, you should probably reconsider if you are a VOIP user like I am.
Just my thoughts.
Hi Bob,
We looked into getting what you have here in CDO, but found it was not available. Only in Tagaloan and Gingoog! We went with DCTech, a company that does a lot of internet cafes on Mindanao and has 24/7 tech service, kono. So far we have been happy and can use our Vonage phone without a problem. We could pay more for more speed, but we think what we’ve goot is good for us.
Hi AmericanLola – Nice to hear from you, I hope you and Ed are doing well. I have to say, I am quite happy with what I have. Between the two systems I have everything I want or need. I suspect that upstream bandwidth will improve on the ShareIt system too.
Likely that your fix is the right thing, Bob. It us also likely that bandwidth, per se, is not the issue, rather the compression and ’shaping; of the signal differs between the services. 150 kbps is way more than enough raw speed, but the service must recognize and give priority to VOIP packets in order to work well.
The whole VOIP deal is actually pretty comical, the way some companies either ignore it, or else act as if it is some kind of special service. “Real” telephone companies have used digital compressed packets for many years now … 32 kbbs is pretty much the standard here in the Pacific region … the only difference between VOIP over your home ISP connection and “real” service, like PLDT long distance, is the copper between your house and the local DCO (Dial Central Office) and the fact that your ‘real’ voice packets run on a dedicated high speed channel to the DCO at the distant end.
Today, PLDT is actively selling ‘wireless landline’ service here in Luzon, the idea of actual wires between your house and the phone company is fading fast.
Hi Dave – Absolutely, 150kbps should be plenty of bandwidth, so perhaps the packets are not being properly prioritized, as you suggest. Vonage, I believe, says that if you have 100Kbps that is adequate, and my upstream never goes that low.
but are you paying for 2 services now? anyway, i’m a regular smartbro user just like you and is planning to get shareit for the better speed. Im not using vonage, although i hope that it wouldnt be that bad with skype. have you tried?
Hello gretchen – Actually, I am paying for 3 services. I have Smartbro ShareIt, Smartbro Canopy and PLDT DSL. My business is on the net, though, and I need good service all the time.
As I said in the article, ShareIt does not work well for VOIP. Skype is VOIP. Yes, I’ve tried it, and the results are not good.
I think this is a problem with shareit. I have been stressing this to smart hotline that in my previous canopy account, my magicjack is perfect. but with shareit, i got a crappy quality. and to think that I am using shareit solely for magicjack at that time.
Hi Biggie9385 – Yeah, you are right. Also, in the past 2 or 3 days, my ShareIt has gotten really, really slow.
AmericanLola, I am from Cagayan de Oro City. I just wanna know what steps you took to have your Vonage connected. I have this Vonage unit and I don’t know a single thing about what to do with it. I hear the service is limited to the Manila region only.
Perhaps you can enlighten me about this or perhaps direct me to some links or who to contact in Cagayan de Oro City for information about Vonage.
Bob, thanks for this article. My ignorance about this VOIP and Vonage thingies have somewhat been addressed.
Hi James – While I am not in CdO, I am in Davao, and I’ve been using Vonage for more than 7 years now. Vonage service is certainly not limited to Manila, it is available to any place where you can get a broadband internet connection.
Can you tell me who your internet provider is? Perhaps I can help you in getting your Vonage service working.
Hi Bob, thanks for responding to my query. Presently, my internet provider is Philcom. What steps do I need to take to have my Vonage connected? If not, can you recommend a provider?
Thanks Bob.
Hi James – Your Philcom, is that DSL?
For me, I have always found that the easiest way to get the Vonage working is to use a router (I personally use a Linksys WRT54G wireless router). Once you can get your Internet Connection working using the WAN connection on the router, then all you should need to do is plug the network cable from the Vonage box into one of the LAN ports on the router. I can’t say exactly how you will configure it, because it is different with every setup. It depends on the modem that Philcom has provided you, and the ATA router that Vonage sent you.
Hey Bob, I already got an Allied Telesyn router which is connected and working. The Philcom line is one that was arranged to have 1MB download and 1 MB upload.
Thanks for giving me the general directions. I guess I’ll try connecting the vonage ata and configure it. I just might make it work.
Thanks again.
Good luck, James! I hope it works for you!
Hi Everyone!
Is this forum still open? I have a very big problem. I hope everyone will be able to help. My ISP is smartbro and I am trying to use xlite softphone but soft far, I can call but I can’t accept calls. Does anyone know how to configure this? This is urgent and I would really appreciate it if someone could help me with this. Thanks!
Good Day!!! i hope this blog still up. i hav some problem about my shareit router i dont know what exactly mean but t it’s kinda weird my DownLoadSpeed are 1mb range to 2mb sounds great but my latency goes high every time Ive played GG game it’s game “Console” the host keep kicking me out because of high ping problem this actually happen to me when i played online games
anyone suffer like this? does anyone know about this problem?PLs Help me..
Greatly appreciated
Hi jepongzkie – Indeed, latency is also a big problem for ShareIt. Frankly, ShareIt is really a waste of money because it does not work well, and the customer service is not willing to assist with it. I will be writing soon about my terrible experiences with Smart on the ShareIt service.
Yo Bob– ..yeah that`s only my problem the latency i think smartbro will take this part and try to fix this horrible problem…seriously they have to work on it i hope they will! and i also hope that your letter will gonna work for us. they really know how to advertise their product and collect the money.. when the problem occur u need to call to CSR then you always hear this part ok mam sir i’m gonna make you a report about your problem. the question is how long it takes fucking retard that what you called service..lol