claudetools/clients/cascades-tucson/reports/2026-06-18-voice-quality-diagnostic.md

Cascades — Voice Quality Diagnostic (post VLAN 30 cutover)

• Date: 2026-06-18 (Howard-Home / claude-main)
• Trigger: All phones migrated to isolated VOICE VLAN 30 to improve call quality; users report dropped calls, breaks in voice, reception issues. This is the RF/quality assessment.
• Data source: live UniFi controller /stat/sta + USW-16-PoE port_table, 2026-06-18.

Cutover status — COMPLETE

31 devices on VOICE (10.0.30.0/24): 8 AudioCodes (.224-.231), 22 Poly (.202-.223), Vertical desktop (.201). AudioCodes required a full power-off/on (external-powered; not PoE -> UniFi power-cycle is a no-op) before they re-DHCP'd.

Headline finding

The VLAN move gives separation + sets up QoS, but it does NOT by itself fix call quality. The dropped calls / voice breaks are an RF problem on the WiFi (Poly) phones. The wired AudioCodes are clean. Quality fixes are RF + QoS, below.

Wired AudioCodes (8) — HEALTHY

All USW-16-PoE ports 1-8: up, 100M full-duplex, rx_err=0 tx_err=0 rx_drop=0. No network-layer problem. 100M is fine for voice. With VLAN isolation + QoS these desk phones should be solid.

WiFi Poly phones — RF problems (retry% = the call-quality killer)

Thresholds: retry >10% = audible breaks; RSSI <-67 marginal, <-75 bad; voice wants 5 GHz.

SEVERE — fix first:

Phone (IP)	User/Loc	AP	Band	RSSI	Retry	Issue
10.0.30.202	Lauren / Accounting	CC Bridge	2.4	-56	50%	stuck on 2.4 GHz, half packets retransmit
10.0.30.218	Shelby / MemCare Dir	MemCare Nurse Stn	2.4	-56	53%	stuck on 2.4 GHz
10.0.30.220	Christine / rm 515	517	5	-82	7%	coverage gap (signal near-unusable)
10.0.30.219	Karen Rossini / rm 515	517	5	-75	16%	weak + high retry

MODERATE: | 10.0.30.212 | rm 204 | 204 | 5 | -74 | 13% | weak + retry | | 10.0.30.213 | Medtech rm 206 | 206 U7 Pro | 5 | -66 | 13% | 5 GHz congestion | | 10.0.30.214 / .215 | rm 210 | 210 | 5 | -72 | 7-9% | weak | | 10.0.30.206 | Dining Room | Dining Room | 5 | -70 | 9% | borderline |

Healthy (reference): .207/.209/.221/.222/.223 etc. — 5 GHz, RSSI -41 to -60, retry <3%.

Three root causes

1. 2.4 GHz with ~50% retry (Lauren .202, Shelby .218) — the single worst issue; matches the documented Cascades 2.4 GHz saturation. Must force these to 5 GHz.
2. Coverage gaps — rooms 515 (-82/-75), 210/204 (-72/-74): too far from the serving AP; weak signal drops calls when RF varies or people move.
3. 5 GHz congestion — several at 13-16% retry on 5 GHz (80 MHz width + channel overlap, per the 2026-06-16 audit).

Stragglers — 6 Poly phones NOT on VOICE

Five on VLAN 20 (10.0.20.64/.65/.66/.67/.195) + one on 192.168.1.126. 10.0.20.66 (Dining Room) is at 35% retry. Missed in cutover or still on the old PPSK key -> migrate to the voice PPSK so all phones are isolated + benefit from voice QoS.

Recommended fixes (prioritized; NONE applied — Cascades requires explicit per-change go)

1. QoS for the voice VLAN (NEW capability the move enables) — highest ROI, lowest risk. Mark VLAN 30 voice traffic DSCP EF / priority on pfSense + UniFi so voice gets priority under load -> reduces jitter/breaks network-wide.
2. Force voice phones off 2.4 GHz — on the CSCNet voice PPSK / the APs serving .202 & .218, disable 2.4 GHz association for voice (or band-steer to 5/6 GHz). Fixes Lauren + Shelby (the two worst) immediately.
   • DONE 2026-06-18: Lauren .202 locked to AP 103 (off the CC Bridge wireless-mesh AP -> wired AP). INTERDEPENDENCY: AP 103's 5 GHz is saturated (ch149, 75% airtime, ~25,900 retries, 12 clients) -> tonight's 5 GHz plan MUST relieve AP 103 (channel off 149 / 80->40 MHz / load-balance) or she trades a mesh problem for a congestion problem.
   • Shelby .218 is floor 5/6 (MemCare) -> out of scope tonight per Howard.
3. Coverage — rooms 515, 210, 204: check AP placement/power; consider a closer AP or raising the nearest AP's power; min-RSSI to push phones off far APs. (Ties into the staged coverage-thin / 2.4 remediation runbooks.)
4. Migrate the 6 straggler phones to the voice PPSK (VLAN 30).
5. 5 GHz width/channel — apply the staged audit recommendation (40 MHz width, non-DFS plan) to cut co-channel retry.

Next

Discuss + pick changes. QoS (#1) + 2.4 GHz force-off (#2) are the fastest wins for the complaints.