Call cut off at 60 minute mark?

[davecool]

During a long distance call to the US, our call was disconnected (to a fast busy) at exactly 60 minutes into the call. Is that weird?

[FONGO_mike]

Hi davecool,

Has this only happened once or is it happening regularly?

[bridonca]

NAT problem! add a crappy router to the mix.

I will tell you what happened.

Your ATA, probably a CISCO PAP2, just a guess, has the registration period set for 60 minutes, which is fine. However, your router, more than likely, totally forgot where your ATA is after an hour, so when the ATA checked to reconfirm to the router where it was, the router got confused, and killed the connection.

A good router will just keep memory of where the ports are. An OK router will allow you to manually map the ports the ATA needs so the router does not have to guess where the ATA is. Your router, as poorly programmed as it is, probably keeps track for about 5 minutes, and then forgets about it.

The dirty fix would be to set the registration period on the ATA to 2 minutes, and hope the router can keep track of the ATA within that time. The router will get a reminder to hold those ports for the ATA every 2 minutes.

Or get a good router.

[davecool]

Hi davecool,
Has this only happened once or is it happening regularly?

This is the first time this has happened, though it's the first time we've had a 60 minute outgoing call. The reason for my alarm is that it happened at exactly 60 minutes.

[davecool]

NAT problem! add a crappy router to the mix.
I will tell you what happened.

Good guesses, though not applicable with my network setup. It does not appear to be a NAT/router issue. The ATA is not Cisco, rather it is the Grandstream HT701 as supplied by Fongo (this is a Fongo Home Phone forum, not Free Phone Line forum). I have checked the router settings and all applicable ports have been mapped to the ATA, and the ATA has a static IP on my network. Since I have manually set addresses and mapped ports, all of the router's dynamic functionality is disabled for the ATA.

The only setting that I can see which appears to match what you mentioned is the "Register Expiration" with the SIP server, which is set to 60 minutes. Is it possible that the ATA isn't able to re-register while a call is in progress? If that's the case, shouldn't I instead set the time period to a longer time rather than a shorter one? Why not set this value to it's maximum?

Thanks,
David

[Jake]

It would be a terrible ATA if it couldn't re-register during a call, and a pretty pointless ATA at that.

Just because your settings are such that things 'should' be working, that doesn't mean they are. If loads of people were complaining about a 60 minute call cutoff it would indicate there is a problem Fongo's side. My lines get used for over 60 minutes at a time with no cut off so I would sway towards a problem with your setup. The router is a common problem. The make of the ATA would not make a difference in Bridonca's explanation. There is still a 60 minute registration time which probably would have started when you placed the call.

Does the 60 minute call thing happen to Canadian numbers or is it just when you call the US? It could be that you were just unlucky.

I would also suggest there is very little between a HT701 on a Home Phone setup, and a HT701 on a FPL setup. They are both going to the same servers and running through the same system. The only difference will be who you signed up through and how much you are paying - and yes you also have the ability to call in! There are very few people here who can actually get phone help; and you are one of the lucky ones


What I would do is run a few tests on Canadian numbers and place calls for 65 minutes or so and see what happens. Then maybe use a GV account and call into your home phone and see if it disconnects at any time. Until you can make the error appear a good few times it can be very tricky to suggest things.

By any chance do people say to you that they tried calling, but the call went straight to voicemail often?