Strange issue, can anyone help?

[taichun]

Greetings, fellow Fongo users:

I have been using Fongo (FreePhoneLine.ca) service as my VoIP solution at home for over an year. My ATA is Linksys SPA-3102 which I have set up following many excellent forum/web guides and it has worked flawlessly with the original Fongo assigned number. Since everything has worked very well I have decided to port my Shaw number over to Fongo about 2 month ago, then a strange issue strated to happen:

Calls from certain numbers go directly to voicemail and Fongo call logs show extra line "Destination out of order"

What actually happens when the said numbers called my ported number are thus:

1) Caller will hear the following voice prompt: "The person you're trying to reach is not available. Please leave a message." then get connected directly to my voice mailbox. If they leave a voicemail then I'll get the email (set up through Fongo's web management pages)

2) On my side the phone never rings, not even once. I do have my voicemail ring number set to 5 to allow my home answering machine to pick up before Fongo's system.

3) If I log into Fongo's web management page and check my call logs then the said call will have two entries with exactly same connect and disconnect time, but one shows "Normal call clearing" and the other shows "Destination out of order" under the Disconnect Reason column.

This issue has never happened when I was using the original Fongo assigned number and only happens after I have my Shaw number ported over. My ATA box and router keep exactly same configurations before and after porting, except that I have to change the SIP account and password to get registered. My ATA box is connected and registered all the time when this issue happens so it's not a registration issue. I can call out through Fongo service and calls from other numbers not affected can connect and ring my phone just as normally would.

What baffled me is that as soon as I found out the issue I contacted Fongo tech support and have them help to resolve this issue. The front line agents escalated this to the higher tier and it seems to fix the issue temporarily, i.e. the calls from problematic numbers (for example, my Roger's cell phone) can connect through after they did the "fix". However, after certain time this issue came back and that number will get dropped to the voicemail directly again. I called Fongo support again, and they escalated again, and the issue got fixed temporarily again. Then it will come back, Argh!

At this point of time I'm really too frustrated to trust that Fongo tech support can fix the issue permenantly so I'm seeking the advice of fellow Fongo users. Has anyone encountered a similar issue before or has any idea what's causing this? I'm quite sure this issue is on Fongo's server side as the calls got routed to my voicemail box correctly each time but if this might be caused by my setup I'm more than happy to post my configurations here.

Thank you for reading this and any feedback would be really appreciated.

[TheHardy]

I can help with part of this ....

The other part, ported numbers going to voicemail, has been brought up by someone else on this forum recently, and, to the best of my knowledge, has NOT YET BEEN RESOLVED.

The duplcate entry thing, happens when the calls are not answered (or Follow-Me-forwarded) and the FONGO system picks up (whether or not the caller leaves a voicemail). The first line entry "destination out of order" indicates a "ring no answer" condition, and the "normal call clearing" indicates call completion (ie to their voicemail platform, as the call as at that point TERMINATED somewhere, even internally).

I know this, as I use the softphone only, and when I am NOT at my machine, I do not leave it running. So I have a vast call log of missed calls etc to go back and look at, and I have also asked this question about the log entries about a year ago when I first signed up and started using the service.

Sorry I could not help you with the other problem!

[taichun]

Thanks, Hardy, for your quick response. Really appreciated.

I have been monitoring both my ATA and Fongo call logs. When the issue happens and the call got dropped directly into voicemail my ATA, although remains registered all the time, never get triggered from the incoming call (the last caller number never got updated). However if an unaffected number calls my ported number the ATA gets triggered right away and my phone rings.

What's strange is that this behaviour only happens on certain numbers (like my Roger's cell phone) while other numbers go through with no issue. If it randomly happens on all the calls then I know I have to check my registration or network routing... That's why I think there's something wrong on Fongo's server side for my ported number but they seem not to be able to find the cure so far.

[dibsmft]

I think you need to carefully check the configuration of your SPA3102. I have an SPA3102 and they are a bit fussy, though I would expect it to work OK with the ported number. For now you might find turning STUN off if it is on and retest or more likely turn STUN ON (try using stun.callwithus.com stun server) and also turn on "NAT Mapping Enable" as well as "NAT Keep Alive Enable" then reboot the rooter and then the ATA.

[taichun]

Thanks for your suggestions, dibsmft.

I've thought about the STUN solution you mentioned but like what I mentioned in the reply to Hardy: The issue only happens on certain numbers (unfortunately one of those is my Roger's cell phone so I cannot call home at the moment ) while other numbers can connect through with no issue at the same time. If it's a network routing/discovering issue then this behaviour should happen on all calls. My ATA doesn't even trigger when the affected numbers called which leads me to believe that something's wrong on the Fongo server side that they don't forward all the calls to my ported number properly.

On my ATA both "NAT Mapping Enable" and "NAT Keep Alive Enable" options are set to ON since the beginning of using FPL service.

[dibsmft]

Initially the DID that I use (not from FPL) could not be called from a my Virgin cell phone and it turned out that this was because the number was from a new series of numbers that were not in the database use in the cell routing. After about 3 weeks calls from my cell to the number started to work OK. I guess that the problem is with Rogers and perhaps you should try calling them to get it corrected.

[TheHardy]

As taichun stated, he had no problems until he ported his SHAW # over ... now he is having a problem calling his Fongo (ex Shaw) form Rogers ...

I am going to guess that he had no such problem before, when the Shaw # was a Shaw # ... Can you confirm this Taichun? Or did you call yourself much then?

If I re-read the post correctly also, his former FPL # (before he ported Shaw onto it) worked correctly also ...

My only other information and suggestion would be to try to monitor WHAT PROVIDER the other people are using who are FAILING directly to voicemail without triggering a ring on your end, to see if there is a pattern; while it is somewhat harder to do (these days with portability) by just scanning the NPA-NXX (as the number may have been ported), the website at CNAC.CA is still useful somewhat. You can of course ask the people that are calling you, when you talk to them, whom their provider is. It may be enlightening if you come to find out that they are all using the same provider!

That said, I have rescanned the threads and I have seen no further action on the other thread that had a problem with a ported in number "skipping" some calls.

Perhaps a PM to Mike to poke this issue into the forefront also?

[taichun]

Thanks, Hardy, for re-examing this issue for a fellow user.

Your observation is correct that when my number still belonged to Shaw there's no such an issue, all calls coming through successfully. At the same time my previous FPL number also worked perfectly, all calls come through without issues. The whole issue happened the very first day FPL ported my Shaw number over.

What I do not understand is that this issue is not limited to certain provider(s). If, for example, all Roger's phones cannot reach me then I know it's probably due to a late updating of the call routing tables. However the current situation is that my wife's Roger's phone can connect successfully while my Roger's phone cannot, and this was in an opposite way before that her phone cannot connect but mine can (the situation only changed after another call to FPL tech support, escalation, wait, etc.). My work phone (which I presume is using the University's PBX system) can connect successfully before but now it cannot. My daughter tried to call home from her school and failed while a couple weeks ago she had no such a problem...

The unreliability of the service (after number porting) and repeating failed attempts to get the issue addressed is what makes it so frustrating for me and my family. I would very much like to remain a loyal FPL customer because the service has been proved to work quite well for me before but I'm losing my credibility before my family's complaints about the service.

I'll try sending a PM to Mike and hopefully there will be some progress on my case.

[TheHardy]

Hmmm ... interesting observations there: some from a certain provider, and also various providers. This plus the fact that calls to the number while it was in Shaw's-control were trouble-free lead me to strongly lean towards some kind of a port/network error on the side of Fongo.

Remembering that I am NOT a Fongo-tech, my suggestion once escalating it to Mike here, would be to ask them to MONITOR your account (in real time) while you attempt a call from your Rogers mobile and/or your work number into your ported-from-Shaw-now-Fongo # -- that way the techs can see IRT how their network is handling the call (if it even is!) or where it is failing (possibly an IXC failure); in either case, it would seem to be a port-related problem. There is an off-chance that it may be a SHAW-related problem insofar as their network not being set up to "send along" the call to Fongo correctly (phone systems route calls based on NPA-NXX, and as yours is a Shaw #, it is first passed to Shaw, where their port-file then forwards the call to Fongo to be processed - responsibility for this happening correctly lies _now_ with Fongo, as they "own" the # now, so THEY have to make the request back to Shaw to make sure it is working correctly -- IE: you cannot just call Shaw and ask them to check it anymore...) Note that the ported-# database may (stress MAY) be accessed by the originating carrier prior to routing to Shaw, but this is only like a cached DNS type setup, and by default, all routing of calls should "dip" to their original provider.

Again, these are only suggestions and observations, but from how I am looking at it, unless they already have log dumps of the trouble calls, examining it in real time would be the only way to nail down where the point of failure actually lies.

I would be highly surprised if it is something wrong with the setup at your end, based on the information you have provided here WRT who can call you successfully and who cannot.

[TheHardy]

As I was finishing up my last post, I was struck by a novel idea for attempting to trouble shoot this problem a little more ... it takes a bit of effort on your end, and it is not a fix, but an interesting experiment nonetheless ... don't get me wrong, no one should really have to test and fiddle to make something work as advertised, but this may be interesting ....

a) create a new DV/FPL account with a local-to-you number
b) follow-me that # directly to your existing Fongo-formerly-Shaw # with "always forward"
c) try calling your new FPL/DV number (which is forwarded) from the "problem phones" and see if it now rings your ported number correctly

In theory, this should be foolproof as it would be the Fongo-network connecting to the Fongo-network, and the issue of the calls not ringing should be eliminated, if indeed it is a porting issue.

[taichun]

Hardy, once again, your insights and kind advices are really really appreciated.

If I understand your correctly then all the incoming calls have to go through multiple "host lookup"- like process starting from the very first telcom company that owned the number originally? That means the lookups have to started from Telus, then Shaw, and now to FPL as the number was ported through all these providers but it always worked without any issue.

I was suspecting it's not so much as a routing issue but rather the forwarding on the Fongo's servers to my ATA. The reason being that ALL calls have been routed to my Fongo account correctly. The failed calls goes directly to my Fongo voice mailbox and I got an email notification right away with the mp3 file attachment. It's just the failed calls have not been forwarded to my ATA device by Fongo servers.

I 100% agree with your suggestion that I need to work with Fongo support to monitor my account activity in real time while I'm calling with both affected and unaffected numbers. The problem lies to get contact with their "real support" people to hook this up rather than the front line agents keep escalating my issues and told me to wait for 24-48 hours.

[FONGO_mike]

Hi Taichun,

This issue is actually with the provider trying to reach you. We have looked at it again (i was the one to originally reply to your ticket request) and we have been able to see it is the provider that is trying to reach your number having issues. The porting has been completed properly and there is no conflict on the Fongo side of things with your number.
When looking at your account, i can even see the type of ATA device you have logged in and registered with so i know you are connected and authenticated to our servers. (I have also spoken with our porting department to confirm everything is in good working order.)

[taichun]

Mike, thank you very much for looking at this issue and confirming my ATA device and the porting are in good working order.

One thing I still don't understand is thus: If it's the caller's provider having issue to reach my number, then the caller should hear nothing from FPL or my ATA device when the call is having the said issue, right? But what actually happened is the caller will hear no ring back but the FPL voice message prompt "The person you're trying to reach is not available. Please leave a message." right after connection then they get the beep and can leave a voicemail. If they do leave a voicemail then it's right into my FPL account because I got a email attachment of the message right after. Wouldn't this behaviour indicate that the call DOES reach my number successfully?

I have been monitoring the network traffic on my end. When the affected numbers are calling there's not incoming traffic from FPL to my ATA device but when a working number called there are all sorts of packets coming through. All of the above symptoms lead me to believe that when the issue happens, the call does reach FPL server (because it gets connected to MY voice mailbox) but the FPL server failed to connect to my ATA device.

Mike, my above assumption is based on the observed symptoms and logical conclusion of network administration over 10+ year experience. However I do not fully understand how the telecom routing and VoIP server would work like you do so if you or someone else in the forum can explain the above symptoms are indeed caused by the other providers then I would very appreciate that and seek resolution else where. Thanks.

[dibsmft]

This would seem to indicate that the DID itself was not fully working so that should be pretty easy for Fongo to investigate.

[taichun]

Dibsmft:

Exactly my thought, but the Fongo tech support team seems to want fixating the issue onto "other providers" and keep ignoring the facts I've pointed out. One would think it'll be "pretty easy" to cross-examine the server side logs of client connections with my call logs to determine what might be causing the issue. However so far I couldn't convince anyone to do so and the issue continues.

I've browsed the forum and the following thread took my interest:

http://forum.fongo.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... fpl+number

If there are other cases (although different issue compared to mine) happening right after people ported their numbers over then it points out that the ported numbers are processed differently then existing FPL numbers which never had these issues. If they are controlled by a different server then that would make a lot of sense. However it is, Fongo needs to make sure the ported numbers are processed EXACTLY SAME as their existing numbers.

Because this number is important to me and my household I'm considering to port it out again to other providers as Fongo has not been able to resolve this issue. Does anybody know whether I can get another free FPL number (which I presume will work without the issue) to use with my existing unlock key, or is it $75 ($50 unlock + $25 porting) down the drain?

[FONGO_mike]

Hello,

Tested again on our end using one of our supported devices andthe issue could not be duplicated. It is likely an issue with the configuration of your ATA or set-up

[dibsmft]

Did you actually try STUN then? The SPA3102 is a great ATA but it can be a problem at times and the problems can be difficult to trace. Try STUN with stun.callwithus and if that does not work then try stun.ekiga.net.
Also, check the external IP that is shown on the ATA status page, it should be the same external port that your router has.