one way audio voip.freephoneline.ca - voip2.freephoneline.ca

[ihtus]

Hello,
I configured my voip adapter with voip.freephoneline.ca and got only one way sound.
Then I changed to voip2.freephoneline.ca => and got 2 way connection, so it's ok.

My question is: why voip.freephoneline.ca is not working?

[bridonca]

Short answer, your router is not up to snuff. Long answer, it is complicated. But generally, your router is unable to route incoming packets to the ATA by itself, and needs a little help to do it. voip2.freephoneline.ca is set up to do that, but it probably has to use some dirty, non standard tricks to accomplish that goal. voip.freephoneline.ca uses no such tricks and really has no control where to route the audio. Your router controls the show, and if the router does not have good firmware, problems can happen.

[ihtus]

Thank you,
is there any chance I can make my voip adapter work with voip.freephoneline.ca?

My VOIP adapter model is Linksys SPA-2102.
My router is a very flexible and programmable one - Mikrotik RB750GL

Just tell me what I need to do. I am a former sys-net admin.
Do I need port forwarding?

[adit]

You need to open some ports on your router. Check your ATA (SPA-2102) specifications. Don't confuse the ports with the one posted on Freephoneline FAQs, those are for their desktop app, your ATA require others. Or set DMZ for your ATA.

[bridonca]

As another variable in the mix, Cisco ATA devices are extremely picky devices. They need the incoming ports properly configured. I do not know what you have for a router, and hopefully it is decent when it comes to forwarding ports. You would need to forward RTP ports 16384 to 16482 from the router to the ATA. Those should be the default RTP ports for the SPA-2102, adjust accordingly if that is not so. Suprisingly, I do not think you have to worry about port 5060 unless your router has implemented a buggy version of SIP ALG.

[dishko]

It looks like this is common problem for freephoneline users. I'm quite experienced VoIP user, had in the past VOIP service with other providers and still have another account configiured on my Linksys ATA that works perfectly.
But with my freephoneline account I don't receive the incomming RTP packets. I have the proper range of ports forwarded from my Cisco E1200 model router (16384 to 16482 ), did an upgrade on both, my router and ATA, and still same problem.
When searching here in the forum, I see at least three recent discussions on this problem with people using all kind of hardware and firmware versions... Do you, guys from Fongo, you don't think it is the time to look on your side for the problem?

[bridonca]

It looks like this is common problem for freephoneline users. I'm quite experienced VoIP user, had in the past VOIP service with other providers and still have another account configiured on my Linksys ATA that works perfectly.
But with my freephoneline account I don't receive the incomming RTP packets. I have the proper range of ports forwarded from my Cisco E1200 model router (16384 to 16482 ), did an upgrade on both, my router and ATA, and still same problem.
When searching here in the forum, I see at least three recent discussions on this problem with people using all kind of hardware and firmware versions... Do you, guys from Fongo, you don't think it is the time to look on your side for the problem?

Fongo, or any other VOIP provider, have limited options on dealing with your cruddy router. Your Cisco E1200 router is so poorly programmed, it does not know where to route the incoming traffic. Simple as that. Your router comes with a broken implementation of SIP ALG. That means it will break VOIP providers audacious enough to use the default ports. The default firmware is that bad!

Other VOIP providers try to skirt around the cruddy router issue by using other ports as defaults, keep alive tricks, use a VOIP protocol other than SIP, and other dirty hacks, with various degrees of success. Fongo also implements some of these tricks also, you just have to activate them. For example, you can use a SIP port other that 5060, like 6060, which would get rid of most of your SIP ALG issues your cruddy Cisco added to the mix.

If you want to fix your problem, get a better firmware for your router. I do believe the E1200 can be flashed with DD-WRT, which unlike the default firmware, it actually works well.

[dishko]

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try one of those firmewares and will let you know how this works.

[beeknight]

Thanks to OP and all those responded. I encountered the same problem with my WRTP54G and was able to resolve using voip2.

Wondering if there's any benefit to use voip.freephoneline.ca? I have no idea how to port forward....

[dishko]

I have to admit bridonca is right. Looks to be a SIP ALG problem, so if you guys don't have the SIP ALG enabled on your router or it is enabled but won't work properly, then the voip.freephoneline.ca won't do the job for you and you have to use the voip2 server.