Dead air after 10 minutes

[johnsnow]

Both incoming and out going work but after 10 minutes I get dead air , the call does not disconnect. This started about a week or so ago and I have not made any changes to my config on my SPA2102 ATA. The only thing I can remotely think of is I changed ISP's from Teksavvy to Bell. But I don't understand why it dies after 10 minutes.

I have the Bell Home Hub 1000 in bridge mode (full bridge, not just disabling DHCP/WiFi ie not double Natting), configured PPPoE on the router on the same router that was used with Teksavvy.

[Mango]

Let's try the easy solution first.

Please verify that your ATA is configured as per the official guide, including my post below the official guide: http://forum.fongo.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=16198

In addition, set your Proxy to: voip4.freephoneline.ca:6060
Please set your SIP Port to a random number such as: 52186

Save, reboot, and test. There have been recent reports of (cable) modems modifying SIP packets, even when in bridge mode. I realize you're using ADSL but just making the point that it is not impossible that your Bell Home Hub is causing the problem.

If that does not solve the problem, you need to inspect the SPA's Info page while the problem is happening. Look for Call X Packets Recv. Make a note of the number, then refresh the page. Repeat this a couple of times. Let us know if the number stays about the same, or keeps going up. Also, let us know what router you are using. This will tell us where to troubleshoot next.

[johnsnow]

I triple checked the config and everything is set accordingly. I changed the proxy from voip to voip2 is there a reason why you recommend voip4 instead? I'm using line2 for FPL and swapped the port numbers between the two lines to see if it will make a difference.

The Call X Packets Recv are blank, could this be because I have logging disabled? My main issue is I don't actually use the phone or am home when it occurs and only get reports that it was an issue today.

Also I'm using a Netgear R7000 running KongAC DDWRT builds.

[Mango]

voip4 listens on an alternate port (6060) which might bypass a malfunctioning SIP ALG or DPI.

For Packets Recv, make sure you are looking in the correct column. There are two.

[johnsnow]

okay I'll leave it at voip2 for tonight and see if I get complaints regarding dead air tomorrow, this will allow to to troubleshoot on the weekend and test with voip4.

Please see edits regarding router on my previous post. My router and ATA config are exactly the same so you maybe right regarding the Bell modem which would be a total bummer. So have others reported issues with Rogers and FPL considering you said cable modems? I ask if this turns out to be a Bell issue then I will jump ships to Rogers if they don't have issues.

[johnsnow]

using voip2 and changing port to 5060 seems to have fixed it for now. Will try voip4 in a few days anyways to see if it's still the works in case I ever need to switch ISP's I won't have to deal with this again.

[johnsnow]

This started happening again, switched to voip4 and the issue persists. I've had the same hardware for well over a year now and never had issues with voip until switching to FPL.

[Liptonbrisk]

Netgear R7000

SIP ALG needs to be disabled in this router to work properly with FPL. So, if your modified firmware does not offer that option, I suggest reflashing to official firmware and then disabling SIP ALG.

Afterwards, should the issue persist, despite the call not dropping, I would suggest looking for packet loss.

[johnsnow]

Not the SIP AIG setting, the really odd think I noticed is that it occurs midway in the month but the first half is fine. I have my router set to reboot first of the month so not sure what changes in the second half.

Since I'm on bell I get a new IP every month, maybe the IP lease is an issue?

[Liptonbrisk]

Not the SIP AIG setting, the really odd think I noticed is that it occurs midway in the month but the first half is fine. I have my router set to reboot first of the month so not sure what changes in the second half.

Since I'm on bell I get a new IP every month, maybe the IP lease is an issue?

This person helped someone with a R7000: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/merged-f ... st24104237
Exactly the same issue as yours. Unfortunately, the issue seems to be specific to R7000 with specific firmware versions.

Unfortunately, the work around is to port forward SIP Port and the RTP port range.
RTP range is UDP ports 16384 to 16482 for the SPA 2102.

And your SIP port is whatever you have under Line1>>SIP Settings>>SIP Port
It is considered to be a bad idea to port forward anything. You would definitely be advised to use anything other than 5060 for the SIP Port.
Make sure you enable these settings before port forwarding anything:

Handle VIA received: yes
Handle VIA rport: yes
Substitute VIA Addr: yes

Test with those settings enabled before port forwarding.

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/merged-f ... st24104947

[Mango]

I suggest you first try forwarding only the RTP range, but not the SIP port. If that works, it would be significantly more secure than also forwarding the SIP port.

Chances are if the phone rings reliably, forwarding the SIP port is not required.

[Liptonbrisk]

I suggest you first try forwarding only the RTP range, but not the SIP port. If that works, it would be significantly more secure than also forwarding the SIP port.

Chances are if the phone rings reliably, forwarding the SIP port is not required.

I agree. Test with the RTP range forwarded first.

Before port forwarding anything at all, make sure these are enabled, and then test.

Handle VIA received: yes
Handle VIA rport: yes
Substitute VIA Addr: yes

Unfortunately, for Badman, who also uses a R7000, port forwarding the RTP range and disabling SIP ALG only fixed the one way audio issue. It did not fix the dead air after 10 minutes problem.
Only forwarding the SIP port fixed the dead air after 10 minute problem. See here: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/merged-f ... st24103399
I'm not sure what's going on with NAT tables in that router that would cause that to happen after 10 minutes. It seems as though port connection just closes after 10 minutes for no reason unless port forwarding is in place.

[Mango]

If it were me, I would replace that router

[Liptonbrisk]

I wonder whether there's a UPnP bug in the router firmware. I also wonder what happens
if UPnP were disabled with SIP ALG disabled and just the RTP port range forwarded.

The newer Netgear routers are extremely popular now, but the firmwares can be very buggy.
In particular, SIP ALG in that router firmware does cause problems.
Due to their popularity, I suspect there will be increasing problems for FPL support staff.

[johnsnow]

I understand the netgear firmware has issues, but you have to remember i'm running DD-WRT, so unless this is hardware my issue is the same but not same firmware.

DDWRT does not have any SIP AIG settings and I did have one way audio issues when I first moved to FPL but that was fixed by enabling the 3 VIA options above. I can't comment on badman, but for me the phone works just fine for the first 10+ days and I hear no complaints until midway in the month which is what I'm trying to figure out.

Maybe it is the DDWRT firmware, but I have since upgraded it a few times and this setup has been working for a year prior to moving to FPL.

[Liptonbrisk]

I understand the netgear firmware has issues, but you have to remember i'm running DD-WRT

I am aware, but that may also have issues. Simple NAT hardware acceleration in that router is proprietary. It wasn't easy for Kong to support it. Given the proprietary nature of some of its hardware features, it's entirely possible DD-WRT firmware is not accounting for other limitations as well. There's enough reports of people losing wi-fi connection, N7000 rebooting to defaults, etc., using Kong.

so unless this is hardware

It very well could be; the N7000 may have a general issue with NAT table corruption. If rebooting the router fixes the problem for 10 minutes, then you know where the issue lies.

Maybe it is the DDWRT firmware, but I have since upgraded it a few times and this setup has been working for a year prior to moving to FPL.

FPL does not deal with RTP traffic in the same manner as some other VoIP providers. So, the fact that your setup was working before moving doesn't matter.

http://www.desipro.de/ddwrt-ren/K3-AC-Arm/Changelog

"(3) On builds > 24500 with HW NAT UDP incoming traffic to the routers lan ip is blocked this affects only apps
on the router e.g. sip. By default HW NAT is off."

What happens when you enable HW NAT?

If that setting doesn't do anything, then unfortunately, I see four unappealing options available to you:

A. Port forward to the ATA. Port forward the RTP range first to test; and then also port forward the SIP Port if forwarding the RTP range doesn't help.

B. Try Tomato, but I wouldn't hold my breath that changing to a different firmware will help.

C. Replace your router with something else.

D. Don't use FPL

[Liptonbrisk]

There's a report here of XWRT working with an R7000 and Freephoneline: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/any-good ... st24307187

[johnsnow]

So I reconfigured my router from scratch to make sure no corrupt setting transferred from a previous build and I can say my router has been up for 11 days and no complaints of dead air yet (fingers crossed). I also recently purchased the obi200 to replace the old 2102, mainly because I could only use line2 since it was a teksavvy ata. The obi has 2 days of up time so need to leave everything as is for a few weeks to know for sure.

I will report back again in a week or so just so both obi and router both have a few weeks of up time, since this starts to occur after the router has been up for 10+ days.

[Jake]

Also, which mod moved a post about a password issue into a nearly two-month-old thread about no audio?

Wasn't me but I do know who it was......