[Ben]

Mhm as you can probably tell, i'm in a fiddling mood.

Just done a few voice call tests and it was pretty obvious that on Three there was an increased delay in sending and receiving voice.

Orange to Vodafone/Vodafone to Orange gave completely instant voice communication - banging on one phone was heard through the speaker of the other phone instantly with no delay. It was much more instantaneous than I thought possible!

Orange or Vodafone to/from Three, however, had a noticable delay. I could bang the phone on my leg and hold it up again before I'd hear it through the handset on Three.

Has anyone else carried out similar tests or noticed the lag? In a voice call its actually very hard to tell because we adapt quite well to short delays, so I doubt it'd cause anyone a problem, but it did strike me as somewhat interesting. Any ideas what would cause the added latency?

I'm aware that I'm using the Threepay USIM in an e606, but it'd be the network causing voice latency. Surely! :S Give it a go on your various handsets and lmk!

[bsrjl1]

I'd guess it's a speed-of-light issue. Orange & Voda have network equipment close to you, so the delay (from handset - Node B - RNC - MGW - MSC - MGW - RNC - Node B - Handset) shouldn't be that great. RNC, MGW & MSC will usually be in the same room.

3 don't have as many switch sites, so I'd guess your call will be travelling past the north of London, so the call has further to travel & this introduces a greater delay to the call.

[3g-g]

I very much doubt the distance is anything to do with the delay in the speech. I'd suggest poor compression or cheap equipment. There is no way that 3 don't have one switch site within London, in fact they have a main hub in Reading, so for talkings sake, there's 1 site just outside the M25, so lets say 100 miles (as the crow flys) from Ben, that's 160km. (There's no way the 3 switch site is as far away). Also, a MSC is a 2G piece of equipment, the other 4 networks have made use of their existing ones to save money before they move to a purely 3G based core network, I'd be very surprised if Three had gone and purchased a 2G MSC for a 3G network, however, it's effect on traffic switching and routing are negligible. So, even considering distance and the speed of light that would make the delay between: handset->RNC->RNC->handset 0.001072 of a second. I don't think you'd notice time lag as a result of distance on and X network call to the extent that you actually had a period of time to raise the handset from your leg to your ear, I'd put money on cheap transcoders/ATM routers/interconnects. Interconnects are one thing Three are notorious for taking the cheap of the cheap.

[bsrjl1]

There is no way that 3 don't have one switch site within London, in fact they have a main hub in Reading

They don't have a switch site within London. And the Reading office is an office, not a switch site.

You still need an MSC to run a 3G network (until it all goes IP in R04) as the RNC doesn't perform any of the switching functions.

[3GScottishUser]

Latency has long been a problem on 3. Why this is still an issue is a mystery. After 2 years one would have thought that they should be able to manage to provide basic services like voice calling.

[3g-g]

They don't have a switch site within London.

I really, really find this hard to believe. However, I know 5 people that are switch engineers, that have just moved to Reading, to work as Three switch engineers. It would seem very strange again to send them there if it was just an office? :rolleyes: When I talk to them next I'll ask if Three have a switch within the London area.


You still need an MSC to run a 3G network (until it all goes IP in R04) as the RNC doesn't perform any of the switching functions

I wasn't suggesting that you didn't need a MSC server for a 3G network, just that its overall effect on delay is near enough negligable.


however, it's effect on traffic switching and routing are negligible.

[Ben]

Latency has long been a problem on 3. Why this is still an issue is a mystery. After 2 years one would have thought that they should be able to manage to provide basic services like voice calling.
I have to say, and myself and 3GSU have experienced this first-hand, the delay/echo can be incredibly irritating. There's clearly something very wrong here. Living in the South East of England I am particularly surprised at the quality on offer!

Edit: Still just the same now I'm using my Z1010 on Three - there's a noticable lag compared to all the other networks.