Service issue, April 4th, 2012

[TheHardy]

See my reply at: http://forum.fongo.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4936#p25932

I think that the intermittent problems may be a capacity issue at Fongo/FPL.

[TheHardy]

See my reply at http://forum.fongo.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4936#p25932

I am noticing that the times that people are posting seem to be around peak calling times, and therefore I am starting to wonder if there is a network server capacity at Fongo/FPL due to the popularity of the service. While their internal logs will show no errors/outtages, if everyone is failing to register at the same time, it might point out there is a capacity bottleneck going on.

If you are contacting Customer Support in any way regarding this, I would propose THAT as an option to the rep at the time you call.

[dibsmft]

The Cisco/Linksys devices (SPA2102, PAP2, SPA3102 etc) are quite complex to configure correctly and the full manual is around 90 closely printed pages. Many of the problems being reported are at peak times when both the internet and your local network may be busy and this can present problems for an ATA working properly. While 12 Mbits/s download speed sounds fast it is the upload speed that really can be a problem as it will usually be about 0.5 Mbits/s and the ATA probably needs a minimum of 0.1 Gbits/s stable to have much hope of working properly. I have known situations where the measured upload speed on cable in particular drops to below dial-up modem speeds. For best results the ATA needs to have priority over anything else on your network and needs to be correctly configured. Voip works extremely well when configured correctly, even better that POTS, and is much cheaper but nearly every setup is different (modem, router,ATA combinations) a lot more of the responsibility for running it falls on the shoulders of the user.
FPL, sell only the GS286 ATA box which is very simple to configure, can easily be preconfigured and will often (but not always) work "out-of-the-box". If you choose to use another ATA then you may get help with problems on this forum but do give details of
Your
ISP (type and upload speed)
modem (Maker and model number)
router (Maker and model number and details of port forwarding you have done)
Your ATA (Maker and model number and source... new?, unlocked?, Ebay etc and the configuration
Before you ask questions about an ATA problem power down all your devices, computers, internet TVs etc and wait 10 minutes. Then power up the modem, wait until it is connected and then power up the router, wait until it is connected and then power up that ATA and see if it connects and works. If it works then you probably have local a network problem and the router/modem is probably incorrectly configured or you have too many other devices running on the network and grabbing bandwidth.

[Bloodsong]

The Cisco/Linksys devices (SPA2102, PAP2, SPA3102 etc) are quite complex to configure correctly and the full manual is around 90 closely printed pages. Many of the problems being reported are at peak times when both the internet and your local network may be busy and this can present problems for an ATA working properly. While 12 Gbits/s download speed sounds fast it is the upload speed that really can be a problem as it will usually be about 0.5 Gbits/s and the ATA probably needs a minimum of 0.1 Gbits/s stable to have much hope of working properly. I have known situations where the measured upload speed on cable in particular drops to below dial-up modem speeds. For best results the ATA needs to have priority over anything else on your network and needs to be correctly configured. Voip works extremely well when configured correctly, even better that POTS, and is much cheaper but nearly every setup is different (modem, router,ATA combinations) a lot more of the responsibility for running it falls on the shoulders of the user.
FPL, sell only the GS286 ATA box which is very simple to configure, can easily be preconfigured and will often (but not always) work "out-of-the-box". If you choose to use another ATA then you may get help with problems on this forum but do give details of
Your
ISP (type and upload speed)
modem (Maker and model number)
router (Maker and model number and details of port forwarding you have done)
Your ATA (Maker and model number and source... new?, unlocked?, Ebay etc and the configuration
Before you ask questions about an ATA problem power down all your devices, computers, internet TVs etc and wait 10 minutes. Then power up the modem, wait until it is connected and then power up the router, wait until it is connected and then power up that ATA and see if it connects and works. If it works then you probably have local a network problem and the router/modem is probably incorrectly configured or you have too many other devices running on the network and grabbing bandwidth.

I am certain you mean 12 Mbps, Most people can't justify the cost of Fiber w/ 12Gbps
Anywho, depending on the codec and the latency settings VoIP can require as ltitle as 32kbps each direction. With ulaw and alaw it tends to be around 72kbps to 128kbps requirement. I usually set my latency to 0.10, it puts me at the upper scale of that requirement, BUT comes with (usually) improved voice quality allowing for more reliable fax/modem over VoIP.

The really issue on registration, being just a standard SIP message and not a VoIP codec is only a very small message send periodically and it's biggest issue comes from your own network setup. Either your router/firewall/ASA/etc. dropping the ACK(nowledgement) package out of hand, or actively blocking/denying access due to a perceived threat.

By default SIP is over port 5600 and the Voice codecs (RTP) tend to dynamically grab a port from 10000-20000 (though some servers are set-up differently). Depending on the complexity of your own network we can do all kinds of neat things with NAT/PAT and address morphing.

However; if you're finding registration to be unreliable, the important thing is this: PORT FORWARDING of the sip 5600 port to your ATA.

[dibsmft]

You are of course correct, Getting my G and Ms mixed up.... Oh for the days of my first 300 baud modem connection. All these high speeds nowadays are too much for me!

Corrected with thanks.

[ua]law are probably the most common audio codecs for voip. However there are much lower bandwidth codecs available but the provider may not support them.


"However; if you're finding registration to be unreliable, the important thing is this: PORT FORWARDING of the sip 5600 port to your ATA."

Did you really mean

"However; if you're finding registration to be unreliable, the important thing is this: PORT FORWARDING of the sip 5060 UDP port to your ATA.?"

5600 UDP will do as long as the normal port 5060 is specified in ATA "Ext SIP Port" box

[indijones]

I don't know what's wrong with this service. Sometimes people are telling me that they called but the phone never rings. What's going on Fongo?

[dibsmft]

Can you check teh external IP address that your 2102 currently has (when not working properly)
You can find it on the web configuration page under Voice and info. Also see if you have STUN configured
(under the Line 1 tab) and what does the entry say?

[Bloodsong]

Actually SIP is often on TCP

[dibsmft]

Most retail SIP uses UDP and there are historic reasons for that but those reasons are probably not really important today. TCP does have its advantages for such as FAX and apparently triggering iPads(?). IAX might be protocol that would simplify set up for new users but it is not widely available. The SPA series of ATAs don't support IAX and only support SIP over TCP with the most recent firmware.

[watermark]

I have some monitor log. The FPL peak time seems after dinner.

SIP registration log:

Code: Select all

[Mar 31 08:23:48] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #1)
[Apr  1 03:16:51] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #1)
[Apr  3 00:36:09] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #1)
[Apr  3 00:36:30] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #2)
[Apr  3 02:55:32] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #1)
[Apr  3 02:55:52] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #2)
[Apr  3 02:56:12] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #3)
[Apr  3 02:56:32] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #4)
[Apr  3 02:56:52] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #5)
[Apr  3 02:57:12] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #6)
[Apr  3 16:58:39] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #1)
[Apr  3 16:58:59] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #3)
[Apr  3 16:59:19] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #4)
[Apr  3 17:04:29] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #2)
[Apr  3 17:04:49] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #3)
[Apr  3 17:05:09] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #4)
[Apr  3 17:05:29] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #5)
[Apr  3 17:05:49] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #6)
[Apr  3 17:11:13] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #1)
[Apr  3 17:15:53] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #1)
[Apr  3 17:16:13] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #3)
[Apr  3 17:16:33] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #4)
[Apr  3 17:16:53] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #5)
[Apr  4 10:14:59] NOTICE[999] chan_sip.c:    -- Registration for '*@voip.fongo.com' timed out, trying again (Attempt #1)

ping -s 164 -i 0.02 -c 100 74.205.216.26 :

Code: Select all

2012-03-29 13:32:06 Freephoneline 14 percent packet loss
2012-03-29 16:28:14 Freephoneline 100 percent packet loss
2012-03-29 23:20:07 Freephoneline 48 percent packet loss
2012-03-30 08:26:07 Freephoneline 46 percent packet loss
2012-03-31 21:15:04 Freephoneline 16 percent packet loss
2012-04-02 12:07:04 Freephoneline 59 percent packet loss
2012-04-02 12:24:04 Freephoneline 91 percent packet loss
2012-04-02 16:07:04 Freephoneline 11 percent packet loss
2012-04-02 16:14:04 Freephoneline 13 percent packet loss
2012-04-02 17:29:14 Freephoneline 100 percent packet loss
2012-04-02 23:06:04 Freephoneline 42 percent packet loss
2012-04-03 18:04:04 Freephoneline 15 percent packet loss
2012-04-03 18:06:03 Freephoneline 15 percent packet loss
2012-04-03 18:07:04 Freephoneline 13 percent packet loss
2012-04-03 18:09:04 Freephoneline 14 percent packet loss
2012-04-03 18:11:04 Freephoneline 12 percent packet loss

[dibsmft]

From Newfoundland I get:
25 packets transmitted, 25 received, 0% packet loss, time 4811ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 112.635/114.147/118.055/1.327 ms
round trip time a bit long but not problemattical about the same as montreal.voip.ms
25 packets transmitted, 25 received, 0% packet loss, time 4811ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 45.742/46.635/53.600/1.456 ms

I don't think that helps us much.

[user451]

What are your keep-alive times? It has been suggested in other threads on this forum to reduce the standard ones of 3600 to a lower value, which may result in more "up-time" at the tradeoff of more network traffic ... may be the solution you need though!

Yup. NAT keep alive is enabled and Register Expires is set to 180 seconds.

[dks]

I'm in Gatineau (next to Ottawa) and I cannot make calls right now. It was working ok at supper time but for the past while I've had no phone which sucks.

[jeffrey1790]

Phone wont register as of a couple hours ago. Registration failed. Also, tryed softphone app, and it gives a server connection error.
Location is Niagara Falls, Ontario

[evilmonkey]

Not working here either (London, Ontario with a Toronto number). I can register, but incoming and outgoing calls don't work. I also set it to Call forward if my SIP client is offline, and when I get my number I get a busy signal. Also, all my other trunks work and there has been no change in configuration from the last two years. So yeah, it's not me, it's a network problem.

[sharky]

Solid service for almost two years now. Recently been noticing more and more "fast busy" when trying to call people, particularly at the busy hours between 8-10PM EST.

Tonight service stopped on both my home lines at around 8PM, still out at 10PM. Got a "Can't connect to login server" for a while (and when people dialed my number they got a fast busy). After awhile it has now gone "online" and now they get voice-mail and I still can't dial out successfully.

Anyone else experiencing outages?

[watermark]

The same problem, registration timeout, is happening now. FPL service seems unstable recently.

[michaelpayas]

Yes - my phone is out this evening in Toronto (since 9PM at least) It is now 10PM and still out. Now thats twice - March 18 and April 4.
Are you on to this in Cambridge guys?

[oscarjia]

Same thing here, Aurora ON. Can hear dial tone, but cannot reach any number.

Restart router, shows can't connect to server for 30 mins.

Now, registered, but cannot make a phone call.

[grilw]

3 HOURS ALREADY NO SERVICE
YESTERDAY ALSO 2 HOURS NO SERVICE

NOBODY HAS ANSWERS IN THE COMPANY, WHAT IS THIS?

[mc2007]

Location: Mississauga. Started tonight, problem ongoing.

Android app doesn't work (cannot dial out/dial in).

SPA-2102 failed to register - basically no server response.

If I use cell phone to dial the number associated with my SPA device, get busy signal - I set up the number to forward to my landline after 6 rings as a backup plan, that backup doesn't work either!

Hope this will be fixed soon. Glad I keep my landline.

[michaelpayas]

I don't have service tonight in Toronto - and the forum moderator does not seem in a hurry to approve my post about it half an hour ago. Though i was very polite .....

[Azaghal]

I'm facing the same issue here, I get momentary "online" statuses but once I try to call out it just goes back to "Can't connect to login server"

[leper1983]

I'm also having the same issue in Hamilton here.. Doesn't want to ring any numbers and i've had the same config for pretty much over a year here.. Rebooted Router and Ata and same issues


Registration State: Can't connect to login server

[CSCO]

Reg failed, Calgary. 8:32PM

Last successful registration 7:24PM