XLINK SOUND QUALITY

[dab43]

Hello,
I am new to the group.  I have several 1970's era western electrick rotary phones.  I would like to use them with an XLINK.  I have a phone plugged into the xlink and the xlink plugged into a phone jack with a splitter.  This enables me to utilize the wiring throughout the house and  enables me to use old phones that are on plugged into the wall jacks in other rooms.  The sound quality on my end is terrific, but most of the time the person on the other end is complaining about sound quality.  They use words such as tinny, echoey, or I sound like I'm talking into a fishbowl or tin can.  If I switch over to the cell phone, they always say how much better I sound.  This happens no matter which old phone I am using.  Also, I tried disconnecting the xlink from the phone jack and using just one phone, but the same thing happens.  Only my next door neighbor says the sound quality is acceptable.  I have my cell phone next to the xlink at all times.  Any idea what is going on? I would love to continue using my old phones and I have already gotten rid of my landline.  Thanks!!'
Dave

[unbeldi]

Welcome!

I had to read your post two or three times, because I was surprised when you reveal that you have ridded yourself of the landline.  How did you make the phone calls when not using the cell phone service?

I am also not clear about your connections.  Do you mean that you have a rotary phone plugged into a splitter that is plugged into phone port of the XLink. Another port on the splitter goes to your house wiring?

If so, you should make sure that the house wiring is disconnected from the old network interface that the phone company used to provide service.  If that is still connected it could act as a load on your signal.

[dab43]

Thanks for the reply!  Sorry for the confusing post.  I purchased the xlink so that I could get rid of my landline and still use my rotary phones, via my cell phone service.  Essentially, the xlink has allowed me to use my rotary phones as a bluetooth device with my cellular service.  I am pretty sure that the xlink is the only bluetooth device that supports pulse dialing.  In theory it is a terrific device.  The xlink is plugged into one of my phone jacks and I can use any rotary phone in the house with my cellular service.   I also have att uverse for my internet and have not had any problems.  At any rate, whether I have the xlink plugged into the house wiring or have just one phone plugged into it, the sound quality for the person on the other end of the line is apparently horrible, while I notice very good sound quality on my end.  If anybody has any advice on solving this problem I would love to hear it.  Thanks!!
PS.  I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with tmobile service.

[dab43]

If so, you should make sure that the house wiring is disconnected from the old network interface that the phone company used to provide service.  If that is still connected it could act as a load on your signal.

Could this be causing the problem even if I am not plugging the xlink into the phone lines?{I have tried it both ways, and it has the same problem whether the xlink is plugged into the home wiring or not).  Also, if I am using the phone lines for att uverse internet, I probably shouldn't disconnect the old lines, correct?

[unbeldi]

If so, you should make sure that the house wiring is disconnected from the old network interface that the phone company used to provide service.  If that is still connected it could act as a load on your signal.

Could this be causing the problem even if I am not plugging the xlink into the phone lines?{I have tried it both ways, and it has the same problem whether the xlink is plugged into the home wiring or not).  Also, if I am using the phone lines for att uverse internet, I probably shouldn't disconnect the old lines, correct?

Ah, details we didn't know.  Sure, if you are receiving some kind of data service via a landline, you shouldn't disconnect the line. But in that case you also shouldn't use your house wiring for distributing your XLink dial tone.  However, with the proper DSL or VDSL frequency splitter this might be achievable.  AFAIK, U-Verse installs a fiber OTN from which the services are split.

So, for debugging your issue you should first connect a telephone set directly to the XLink without any other wiring.

[dab43]

Thanks, I have tried that and have the same problem.  In essence, even when I plug a phone directly to the xlink and the xlink is not plugged into the homes wiring, it still has the same problem.

[G-Man]

My first thought was that these units are not unlike Plantronic headsets that need to be tweaked (adjusted) according to the type of instrument it is being used with. Primarily, the output is adjusted to work with an instrument with a condenser or carbon type transmitter.Assuming that you have already updated to the latest software (http://www.myxlink.com/software_updates.aspx) and are still having problems, you might want to Google the numerous reports of XLINK's poor sound quality. Since there are so many, I have pasted only a few of them below.

Posted on Mar 2, 2013 2:55:51 PM PST George Knighton says: I agree with you that volume can be a problem; however, the latest versions of the software allow you to adjust the volume up and down, for both receiver and transmitter. For some devices, the problem is what used to be called sidetone, and there is a tendency for the transmitter to provide an unpleasant amount of the speaker's voice back to the receiver. This *can* be adjusted, but they don't talk about it very much. I have to say, though, that having spent a little time on the adjusting, I get great good use from it and a variety of vintage phones including those made as far back as 1920. (I am using it to feed all the phone jacks in the house.)

Great Concept - Poor Execution - Non-existant Support By B. Berger This is such a great idea... too bad they were unable to create a quality product. For the cost this thing should really perform but is suffers from a couple of problems:

1. I've paired 2 cell phones with it. Both are kept within 2 feet of the unit. When calls are received through these phones, there is so much static that you miss half of the information. Both of the phones have been used with bluetooth remote devices (ear buds) with no static at all. One is a Blackberry Curve and the other an LG Chocolate. I do have wireless internet in my home but it is on the far side from this unit on a different floor

2. When you call one of the cell phones, the regular handset plugged into the unit sometimes doesn't ring until the caller has heard 4 rings. This results in a lot of missed calls on the cells as they think no one will pick up. Also, the cells often go to their voice mail before my regular handset has made any sound at all.

3. Calls out from my normal handset though the BTTN are extremely quite to the listener at the other end and the sound quality suffers. This should just be a pass-though... why is the quality so bad?

I've sent two emails to the company to get some kind of response on if this is to be expected or if I have a faulty unit. I've had no response in over 2 weeks. None at all. I'd expect a little better response from a company that produces this kind of a product. I really wanted to like this product but there are just too many big problems to make it worth while.

Edited to remove visible Font tags throughout the text...

[dsk]

Since the other end complains on the same sound problems independent  of using xlink or not, it will not be fair to blame xlink. On the other hand, they have never responded to my mail, and I have tried several times during the last years.
The sound quality of older phones are different from fully electronic phones. This may depend on the shape of the transmitter housing, the transmitter it-selves, and the more or less bad impedance-matching of the line.  Since you have a short line, it may be an idea of putting a resistor of  220 ohms in parallel with a 1-2 microfarad capacitor in one or both wires of the line, and try again. If its better keep it, if not .. go back to start.  My xlink has pretty different quality of sound depending on make and model of phone, but that seems not to be an issue here.

dsk

[podor]

I use one with a WE 2565 along with a 4A speaker phone through my KSU daily in my office and have had no complaints. Now I'm wondering if mine sounds ok and everyone is just being polite.

[dsk]

Pretty odd if several phones has a bad transmitter, but I got complaints on my 2500 until I changed the transmitter element.
dsk

[Jack Aman]

I use an X link with four old WE phones throughout the house (two 302's and two 202's)  The old WE's run alongside a three station Panasonic DECT system.  The old and the new. I get excellent fidelity both incoming and outgoing including on my old WE phones. .  I have however replaced the old carbon granule transmitters in all four with amplified electronic transmitters.  The receiver sections in my old handsets function well and I have only replaced one.  No issues with the xlink at all after an initial hiccup.  When I first set it up I would sometimes get calls incoming, all the phones in the house would ring, and audio would only be available from the cell phone itself, thus completely defeating the reason for having the xlink.  Software update didn't help. The helpful tech support sent me a custom patch which I installed and it worked perfectly and I've never had that issue again.  I would say I have landline quality service without a landline.  Dialing on the old WE's works perfectly.  I've been very happy.