Calls intermittently going directly to voicemail

[MisterEd]

In my case changing the ports to what Tim suggested resolved ALL the "no audio" problems I had been having for months <knock wood>. Haven't had a single occurrence since I changed them. <knock more wood, plastic and galvanized steel>

I'm on Fios with a Buffalo router running DD-WRT.

[VOIPoTim]

In my case changing the ports to what Tim suggested resolved ALL the "no audio" problems I had been having for months <knock wood>. Haven't had a single occurrence since I changed them. <knock more wood, plastic and galvanized steel>

I'm on Fios with a Buffalo router running DD-WRT.

Yeah we are hearing this a lot not. One thing about your situation too is that you had A LOT of VOIPo problems with multiple routers to the point that you were ready to cancel even though you had the smaller range 5060-5080 and 35000-65000 forwarded, but the full range resolved them all.

We've had quite a few cases of this were that range solved everything and it's the range our CLEC partners recommend, so we're just going with what works so people can get the quickest resolution possible.

[tritch]

I agree. I haven't had any issues since forwarding these ports over a year ago. Initially, my router (Linksys WRT350N) was blocking ports and causing all sorts of strange audio problems (dead air, etc.). The SPI firewall on some routers can be problematic. I've since purchased another router, but have forwarded these ports as well just to avoid any potiential issues. Other than a few glitches with my ISP and minor Voipo datacenter issues, the service has been working great since Feb 09.

DSL modem bridged
Buffalo WZR-HP-G300N (stock firmware)
static IP assigned to ATA
UDP ports 5000-65000 forwarded to ATA's static IP

[caseydoug]

Yeah we are hearing this a lot not. One thing about your situation too is that you had A LOT of VOIPo problems with multiple routers to the point that you were ready to cancel even though you had the smaller range 5060-5080 and 35000-65000 forwarded, but the full range resolved them all.

We've had quite a few cases of this were that range solved everything and it's the range our CLEC partners recommend, so we're just going with what works so people can get the quickest resolution possible.

Tim, what about Brian's question regarding other devices that need specific ports forwarded? Do you agree that it's OK to give those devices the ports they need, but then to forward to VOIPo as many other ports in that range as possible? The way I figure it, it's a question of probabilities. There is only a small chance that any particular port in that range will be needed by VOIPo (except, of course, the local port used for SIP signaling), so the more ports you can forward, the lower the probability that the audio will be blocked or get lost.

[VOIPoTim]

Tim, what about Brian's question regarding other devices that need specific ports forwarded? Do you agree that it's OK to give those devices the ports they need, but then to forward to VOIPo as many other ports in that range as possible? The way I figure it, it's a question of probabilities. There is only a small chance that any particular port in that range will be needed by VOIPo (except, of course, the local port used for SIP signaling), so the more ports you can forward, the lower the probability that the audio will be blocked or get lost.

That should be fine to forward ports you use.

I guess the best way to explain it is that while it's true the ATA and router can be setup to communicate on certain ports, if an audio stream comes into your IP on one of the ports we use and the router doesn't know what it is or where it goes, it wouldn't know to get it to the ATA in the first place so the ports the ATA use are not really even in the picture. With the forwarding it just directs all the traffic in those port ranges to the ATA regardless.

This setup is a little different since we don't handle audio. Some providers proxy 100% of the audio through their systems so it comes from the same IPs the router already knows are communicating with the ATA.

[tritch]

Caseydoug, your previous post on page 3 seems appropriate.

Carve out as much of a port range for Voipo's ATA that you can and hopefully this will not interfere with any other devices that maybe in this port range. I'd estimate the majority of people out there (95% or more) do not have other devices that conflict with UDP 5000-65000. They'll just have to experiment and see what works.......

[Brian]

BTW, the ports in question - are they UDP only?

[VOIPoTim]

BTW, the ports in question - are they UDP only?

Yeah, we are UDP only.

There's no need to forward TCP and most other things you guys might use on those ports are likely TCP.

[Brian]

Yeah, we are UDP only.

There's no need to forward TCP and most other things you guys might use on those ports are likely TCP.

Cool. How about people w/multiple VOIPo adapters?

Also, would it be simpler just to put the device in the router's DMZ?

[VOIPoTim]

Cool. How about people w/multiple VOIPo adapters?

Also, would it be simpler just to put the device in the router's DMZ?

When multiple adapters are involved, a router that properly handles things is really recommended.

We don't recommend DMZ because newer routers don't have a true DMZ mode and still filter the traffic. They make them so complicated these days.