[Resolved 8/1/10] 5 - 90 Min into the call and drops out

[brendany]

My ISP is Cogeco. I doubt if it's anything to do with the provider.

[volenin]

Well, just finished a very entertaining conversation with myself. Lasted 131 minutes, had to hang-up after that - got too tired of myself . It was an outgoing call from FPL number to cell, both in 416 area.

I have a very strong suspicion that this, as other problems before, have a lot to do with the load on FPL infrastructure: I experience most of the dropped calls on weekdays, between 9am & 5pm (ie, within working hours). When FPL infrastructure experienced problems last autumn (Sep - Oct 2009), most of the issues occurred during the business hours on weekdays as well.

So, I'll have to wait till a call drops during the week....

What time / days of the week does everyone else experience most of the dropped calls?

[Jake]

My ISP is Cogeco. I doubt if it's anything to do with the provider.

I thought it might be worth mentioning, I noticed Rogers mentioned by two people. The calling areas are different also, so it is unlikely that.

There must be a reason why it happens to some and not others. We are lucky, my wife can talk on the phone for hours without it cutting out.....

[brendany]

Do you have the NAT Keep Alive Enable setting set to "Yes" in your line settings?

I wonder if this would help keep things alive!

[volenin]

No, haven't found any correlation with keep-alive: http://forum.freephoneline.ca/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=845

[beverly]

happened again 3 times today 3 pm- 5pm
ended up switching MJ to a Canadian phone number (613) for $10 more a year
we'll see how this works out...

[smartoakville]

Another person with the same problems.

I've had FPL for a couple of months and it has worked fine most of the time, but the past couple of weeks I get disconnected a LOT! Yesterday my wife was on the phone with her friend and got dropped 3 times within 15 minutes!

Of course this is NOT ISP related, since all of a sudden tons of people are reporting the same problem.


VERY annoying.

[FONGO_kris]

Again we have isolated the problem and are working our hardest to resolve it, I will check into it this morning and see how the solution is coming along.

[FONGO_kris]

Hello, could you send me your phone number and the most recent phone call that dropped that caller ID as well as the time and date? I'll pull it up and see what's up with it.

[BigD]

I don't think this issue is from FPL or Rogers. For me mostly is like from your router. I am using Rogers, and I had similar problem with a Linksys router, after I replaced my router with a D-Link Dir-615 two years ago I got no problem at all since then.

[FONGO_steve]

I don't think this issue is from FPL or Rogers. For me mostly is like from your router. I am using Rogers, and I had similar problem with a Linksys router, after I replaced my router with a D-Link Dir-615 two years ago I got no problem at all since then.

Yeah, router's and VOIP can sometimes be tricky. D-Link has their auto QoS on a lot of their newer models, which makes VOIP applications an ease. However, they haven't put this on their "cheaper" models yet - still leaving some manual setup to be done.
Usually if it's a server problem, we'll know right away. If the server drops the call for one person, then it's probably affecting a few thousand people...

Router is the single most likely thing causing this, even if port forwarding is done, the router may still have some other option somewhere that isn't playing nicely with VOIP until modified.

Another possible issue would be a carrier related issue, but that would only happen when calling a specific number or region, and not on all calls. For freephoneline, I have set to see a carrier issue ever arrise for anything other than long distance (where calls may be taking several stops along the way).

[smartoakville]

I don't think this issue is from FPL or Rogers. For me mostly is like from your router. I am using Rogers, and I had similar problem with a Linksys router, after I replaced my router with a D-Link Dir-615 two years ago I got no problem at all since then.

It cannot be just the router. For instance, I tried to have my Cogeco modem conencted to the ATA directly, and still had the issues. Also, when I had the modem going to the router first then to the ATA. it worked fine for months, until the past couple of weeks this problem started, for me and for MANy others, at the same time, so it cant be the ISP or the router.

[volenin]

Hey, as Kris (or Steve?...) mentioned, they've located the problem on THEIR side and working on fixing it... As yourself, I've tried various combinations (with & without router, different VoIP providers) and I still experience the problem with FPL only. But FPL is on their way to fixing it, that's what counts!

Kris, let us know the status of the fix for this issue - it's been over a week since the issue got escalated... Would be great to know at least some ETA....

[Bloodsong]

I don't think this issue is from FPL or Rogers. For me mostly is like from your router. I am using Rogers, and I had similar problem with a Linksys router, after I replaced my router with a D-Link Dir-615 two years ago I got no problem at all since then.

Yeah, router's and VOIP can sometimes be tricky. D-Link has their auto QoS on a lot of their newer models, which makes VOIP applications an ease. However, they haven't put this on their "cheaper" models yet - still leaving some manual setup to be done.
Usually if it's a server problem, we'll know right away. If the server drops the call for one person, then it's probably affecting a few thousand people...

Router is the single most likely thing causing this, even if port forwarding is done, the router may still have some other option somewhere that isn't playing nicely with VOIP until modified.

Another possible issue would be a carrier related issue, but that would only happen when calling a specific number or region, and not on all calls. For freephoneline, I have set to see a carrier issue ever arrise for anything other than long distance (where calls may be taking several stops along the way).

Another option that I haven't seen mentioned, (may have missed) that would cause random drops is related to the power supply. Networking equipment can be sensitive to spikes,dips and surges which aren't noticeable to the naked eye or casual observer. I have seen however in some towns with bad power grids, or in older houses with a different standard of supply that such issues are common.
Easy enough to fix, get a good Surge-Protecting powerbar which conditions power, or get a half-decent UPS (Like one from Ultra) that not only conditions your power, but can keep your FPL up and running for several hours during a blackout.
Remember not to overload your FXS.

Another issue I've seen with some cable setups is that they have several above ground lines which may see micro-second long line drops during high-wind conditions even on a bright and sunny day. While the cable near your drop may be underground, that's no guarantee that it isn't above ground along the road getting to your house. My parents have been plagued by this issue themselves in their brand-new subdivision.

Keep an eye on other more robust services, if you play an MMO, turn on your lag-o-meter and watch for spikes or splits that you recover from. Etc, the only way to varify this type of issue is to monitor all of your internet transactions with a high-level of scrutiny as many software systems, especially TCP based ones, may not be easilly noticed.

(Note: I do fully believe that there's likely something happening with FPL's servers, I've even seen reference to an issue being worked on at their end... However, you should try your best to ensure that your issue with FPL drops is actually related to the FPL service only, such that you do not unwittingly provide false diagnostic information.)

[smartoakville]

Any news or is it still being "worked on"?

[new936]

I have freephoneline for 4 days and was worried but so many people have this problem that means I am not alone

the worst part is it dropped while I was telling my friends to switch to freephoneline

Rogers-internet
linksys PAP2 ATA
Area code-905
With Acanac VOIP and Rogers and Bell clients-both incoming and outgoing calls.
call drops after 3-9 minutes

[volenin]

Hmm.... every 3-9 min seem to be way too often. Kris mentioned that it was a load balancing issue... Check if the same happens when you place the call at night (after midnight) - I'd argue that since there is very low load on the systems at this time of the day, any load balancing issues FPL might be experiencing should probably not impact the quality (since there is no load per se)....

[kelf]

Oh I have the same issue since last Aug / Sept in 2009 when I first sign up until now (March 2010). I thought it was just me until I see this post. The call would drop randomly like other users are experiencing here. But suprisingly the alarm monitoring that I hooked up to FPL is working fine (they called when I had a false alarm), and the alarm panel never showed any connection lost error.

I am definitely hope FPL can find a solution! fingers crossed

[Bloodsong]

Hmm, see alarm panel had no drop, and is using your ATA as well?

Check QoS on your ATA...
I don't have one, what level of logging is available on the ATAs themselves? It might be interesting to see what's being recorded during the drops at the client end.
If not a lot of logging is available from the ATAs, what about people setup with asterisk? Any of them getting this sort of issue? That should allow for more granular reports.

[volenin]

See p1 of this thread for enabling logging on the ATA.....

[rajajis]

I have rogers extreme 9.7MB up down .95 pap2 na calling from 647-428 to 416-546 call dropped after 6min. router TP_LINK wr642g

[Postmeon]

Im with Acanac DSL and i got a (514) area code from you guys and calls are being dropped to, please fix this issue, this started in march of 2010 and its really frustrating to be quite honest

People are saying to call them back ONLY when the problem is fixxed cause they are annoyed from the drop outs


I have a GrandStream HT502

[Bloodsong]

There are some things which have been suggested, and have worked for some...
So again I stress, if you're going to submit to the thread, give as many details as possible not only about your Hardware setup, but your configuration and testing as well.
Note: I'm just another user, but I understand how frustratating it is to the troubleshooter to have more issues piling up, but not getting any more information. Please do your best to help this free service be the best.

Hardware:
What phones?
How many phones?
What ATA?
What Router?
What Modem?
What ISP?
Power supplies (Surge Bar, Smart-UPS?) etc.
Configuration of Hardware? (Wall > Modem > ATA > Router | Wall > Modem > Router >ATA |Demark > Modem > ATA > Wall) etc.
What ports are forwarded?
Configuration of ATA (What Codecs? What defaults? What initialization strings? Anything different from the default config file?)
Do you experience significant latency, or lag spikes during other online activities?
Time and Date of specific calls that were dropped (Three or less will likely do.)

[Postmeon]

Modem speedtouch thompson 3616 >>Linksys>>HandStream ht502

1. modem Speedtouch Thompson 3616 >> (bridgemode)
2. Linksys WRT54GP2 >> (PPPOE)
3. HandStream HT502 >> (dynamic Ip)

Note:
PCMU = codec
SIP INFO

[volenin]

WOW! That's a nice set of test results! Would be great if you can post the links to all utils you used - will definitely be helpful to everyone else trying to debug any sort of issues. Kris / Steve can prob. also make it sticky on the 'Tips&Tricks' board (or whatever the name of that board is).