question

Liz McGill avatar image
Liz McGill asked mark-231744 commented

Mobile App - Lag on calls | RingCentral

We have a US account with 3 users. One of our users uses the ringcentral app on her android and one client is complaining that there is a lag in conversation transmittal (he'll say something and our user doesn't hear it for a few seconds). He is the only person who has said this, and when I call the user from my Polycom phone to her ringcentral cellphone app, there is no lag. Has anyone experienced this or know how to fix it, or if it's even a problem on our end?

phonemobile
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kim avatar image
kim answered
Liz, 

First, have the user try over WiFi, instead of 3G/4G. Second, make sure they have the most current updated version of the app.  Lastly, have them do a hard reboot of the cell phone. 
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kipp932 avatar image
kipp932 answered mark-231744 commented
I have had huge problems from day one. It's so bad that when taking calls I have to make an excuse to just take their phone number and call them back from my personal cell blocking my personal cell number. It is so unprofessional. I get this while on wifi at home as well. I also have my options set so two other employees get the calls at the same time as it gets sent to their cell phones. They too complain about horrible lag which makes it so had to communicate. What I want to know is that when my employees get a call to their cell does it not just use their normal cell phone package? We never have issues when making a regular call but if I use the app or they answer from my ring central settings it's horrible. How can I set it so the calls go to my cell but just as a normal call which never lags? Please help. Kipp
4 comments
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jeffrey-newton803 avatar image jeffrey-newton803 commented ·
We have the same problem. It is very unprofessional and makes conversations awkwards with everyone interrupting everyone or thinking there are long pauses when there isnt one

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kim avatar image kim commented ·
Kipp, go ahead an open a web case for further troubleshooting. 
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mike avatar image mike commented ·
Hi Jeffrey,  If you are getting lag when using the mobile app, then just like the desktop app, it's due to something in the network. It will depend on if you are you are connected to the internet via a wifi network or using the cell phones  3G or 4G connection. In either case the normal network troubleshooting steps apply.  Try to collect as much information as you can and include it in a help ticket.  Your cell carrier, is it 3g/4g,  or wifi giving the problem, etc.    Open a Case
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mark-231744 avatar image mark-231744 commented ·
Our office has had this same problem for years, and RingCentral has refused to solve it (bandwidth on our end is MORE than ample). At wits end, so we are now researching alternatives to switch to another provider. Mobile app also flaky/inconsistent with bluetooth devices. Not reasonable in this day and age.
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barry-elk7363 avatar image
barry-elk7363 answered ringcentral35 commented
VOIP over cell data or WIFI is a band-aid at best - but I knew that going in.  Yes - I have very noticeable latency using VOIP on a cell phone.   For outbound calls on my cell phone I always use RingOut and place the call over the cellular carrier voice stream.  I still sense this creates additional latency over a call straight through the cellular number (I suspect that the additional routing of the call CELL PROVIDER -> RC Server -> Endpoint adds another 50ms of latency to the marginal voice latency inherent in the cellular network) - but it is way better than VOIP over mobile/wifi and my caller ID still shows up as my RC number.

RC calls on a mobile phone should be considered a backup if it is business-critical.  Why?  Everything is stacked against you.  Mobile phones today are not designed for audio quality to start with - they are designed to be "fit-in-your-hand" computers that happen to have a speaker and microphone.  They do all sorts of electronic wizardry to try to enhance voice and suppress noise but the arrangement is a challenge.  Then throw 4G or WiFi latency in which can be all over the map (as compared to a nice stable hard-wired data backhaul) and you quickly can reach the 125millisec latency threshold that most people can detect.  Congested 4G at rush hour or marginal/dirty WiFi environment?  185 milliseconds can quickly be exceeded which is a rough threshold for "unacceptable delay".  TAANSTAFL - if you want better latency, you get dropouts.  Want less dropouts - need more buffering and higher latency.

Remember the old movies where a radio operator would end every transmission with "OVER".  We have come back to that in a lot of ways with these "layer upon layer" technologies.  

Throw in some peoples tendency to think they actually have true duplex voice conversations over the phone (like we have face-to-face) which can't happen much anymore (even with HD audio and high end speaker phones) and its time to break out the "Talking Stick".   I talk, now here is the talking stick, so you get to talk and I'll shut up.

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ringcentral35 avatar image ringcentral35 commented ·
Thanks for this great brief of the state of the art with our VoIP! It happens a lot with our cellphone users... today I noticed in a very important call. I can't be opening a case for every single event... I know this does not resolve the issue because the reason is bigger! exactly how you already explained! (feeling hopeless)
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william716 avatar image
william716 answered
With cell phone latency, one look at your software, is your cell phone software updated.  They do make improvements on the wifi software from version to version.  If the issue is really bad through WIFI, consider putting in a wireless booster, increasing the signal, or move closer, also try to avoid 2.4 ghz bandwidth.  I run all 5.2, 5.4 ghz wireless no lag since 90% of America is on the 2.4 bandwidth.  This leads to a lot of signal loss and lag.
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Brooke Harper avatar image
Brooke Harper answered
Had the same problem before but it's all good now ever since I've updated the software.
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