No incoming audio sometimes (intermittent one way call)

[fizikz]

I have a frustrating problem where on some calls with FPL desktop app, I cannot hear the other speaker. It has happened several times on outgoing calls, and I believe also on an incoming call.

The problem is not specific to certain phone numbers: the same phone numbers with which I had the problem have also had normally functioning calls.

Before the problem call, I had done a FPL echo test (226-244-444) which worked fine.

The Test Connection shows "Call service OK" but also "Unable to send/receive sound data! Port 13000 should be available." I just haven't been able to resolve this, even when calls work fine.

My router's SIP ALG (and every other ALG) is disabled. Calls typically work fine without port forwarding, but to be sure I forwarded UDP 13000-13001 and still had the issue. Windows 7 firewall has been configured to allow FPL, and the UDP ports 13000-13001 have also been opened in the Windows firewall.

Rebooting seemed to fix the issue, at least momentarily.

Not sure if related or unrelated, but I had an incoming call that was ringing, which I accepted, but saw a message like "The number is invalid" after which the ringing continued and another dialog popped up, which I also accepted. The call audio worked fine, but the ringing continued until I hung up. When the caller called back, this time I could not hear them. After rebooting, the incoming call worked normally again with audio in both directions.

I don't think it should matter, but I'm using FPL in a virtualbox VM, Windows 7 guest. For the port forwarding, I also applied it in the VM's settings.

[Liptonbrisk]

but also "Unable to send/receive sound data! Port 13000 should be available."

Unfortunately, that test is useless since it fails even when everything is working properly.

There's been an intermittent issue involving voip.freephoneline.ca and possibly voip2.freephoneline.ca since Sept 3rd (at least). I haven't been able to reproduce the issue at all, and I don't know whether the issue persists.

https://status.fongo.com/

"Sep 09, 2020

Completed - Server Maintenance (Fongo Mobile, FPL, Fongo Works)Scheduled for Sep 09, 00:00 - Sep 09, 04:00 (EDT)
Completed -
Sep 09, 2020 - 09:23 (EDT)
Scheduled - We will be doing some server maintenance tomorrow morning, calling platforms for Fongo Mobile, FPL, and Fongo Works will be affected between Midnight and 4 am on September 9th.
Sep 08, 2020 - 13:35 (EDT)"


Possibly the issue is resolved now? I'm not sure. Anyway, if it's not, troubleshooting won't help.

The Freephoneline desktop app has been out of development, as far as I can determine, since February 23, 2013. It works for me using Windows 10 64 bit version 2004 (OS Build 19041.508). I'm not going to test using virtualbox. To be fair, I've never spent an entire day using FPL's desktop app, so I can't say I've tested the desktop app more than a couple hours at a time.

[fizikz]

Well, I guess I'll stop worrying about that test's complaints.

I did notice that server maintenance notice but the time window is outside of, and supposedly completed before, my issue. Though it doesn't mention if it was completed successfully.

Yes, it worries me that there has been no update to the desktop app in many years. Seems abandoned. Is there any other way to use FPL on a computer for a free FPL user? I wish I could just use SIP credentials and a more actively maintained client software.

Oh, I thought of one more thing: there is also an ATA (using voip.ms) in my network. I was wondering if there could be conflicts in terms of ports etc, which is what prompted me to forward ports 13000-13001 for FPL, though I haven't needed to use port forwarding for the ATA in all these years.

[Liptonbrisk]

Is there any other way to use FPL on a computer for a free FPL user?

If users want to use FPL with something else, they need to buy a VoIP unlock key.

I was wondering if there could be conflicts in terms of ports etc

We don't try to troubleshoot other services here. However, it's possible to use different SIP ports and different RTP ports with the service you mentioned than the ones being used by FPL's desktop app. Contact your provider.
The FPL desktop app uses UDP 5060, 5061,6060, 6061,13000, and 13001. 13000 and 13001 are the RTP ports.

which is what prompted me to forward ports 13000-13001 for FPL, though I haven't needed to use port forwarding for the ATA in all these years.

Port forwarding is a security risk. I use a lot of different services, and I've never had to port forward (none of the ports used, however, conflict; if they do, it depends on the user's router whether everything works well).

[fizikz]

There is a conflict at least with port 5060 which my ATA is configured to use with the other service. The RTP ports are different though.

I did remove the port forwarding since it didn't seem to make a difference anyway.

Any chance of a maintenance update to the FPL desktop app after all these years?

[Liptonbrisk]

Any chance of a maintenance update to the FPL desktop app after all these years?

Your guess is as good as mine.