Direct to Voice Mail

[PhoneyExpress]

Before I follow up with technical support again. I would like to run this by all of you VOIPO users out there.

I have been a VOIPO user for over two years now. Reasonably satisfied and only had to generate a half dozen or so ‘tickets’.

Now and then I am presented with, what I call, the direct to voice mail problem. Incoming calls go direct to voice mail. No ring tones at home phone although there is a dial tone and I can make outgoing calls. Variation of a theme repeated throughout this forum.

Normally I am able to clear the problem with a power reset to the Grandstream HT502

Reading through FAQs and noting the advice given by tech support persons. A common problem appears to be the configuration of ones router. Up until a couple of months ago I did not have a router. However this problem had presented itself before then. Only recently did I add a wireless router to receive Netflix and other services on my TV. The router is wired after the VOIPO adapter and tech support has confirmed the router would have no effect.

I am now told the HT502 will only support one phone on each of the Phone 1 and Phone 2 outputs.
At the time of installation I did raise the question of what the RE capacity of these outputs would be and was told this information was unknown. I went ahead and connected the house wiring to the phone 1 output and it has supported 8 phone extensions with no serious ramifications.
I now see the instructions for the Grandstream HT502 Installation Guide have changed from two years ago. Where (do not use in-home telephone wiring/POTS). has been added to 1) Phone -.

Before I spend out on a wireless phone system and six handsets. I would like to know, do others with multiple conventional phones have the same problem?

[tritch]

You should probably continue to work with Voipo’s support team to resolve this issue....

The straight to voicemail problem sounds like a firewall issue to me. In other words, the incoming call is being blocked due to the SIP port of your ATA not being kept open on the NAT/firewall attached to the ATA. You indicated you had the HT502 attached this way:

Cable/DSL modem -> ATA (HT502) -> Home router

If so, you need to verify you have no other firewall/ NAT going on within the cable or DSL modem. A lot cable/DSL modems these days are actually combo units (modem + router) instead of simply just a modem. A quick way to check is to simply log into vPanel and click “Connected Devices” (it’s the 12th selection item down in the left blue pane). Take a look at the second row called “Received”, is this field completely blank or does it show ”sip: IP address: port #”. If it’s blank, there’s no firewall/NAT going on in your cable/DSL modem and I would continue to work with Voipo to resolve the problem. If there's an IP address/port number indicated, then you have a firewall/NAT issue you need to resolve in your modem. You will need to log into your modem and disable the routing/firewall functions. I would recommend that you put the modem in “bridge” mode if possible. This will make your modem perform simply as a modem with all other features disabled. If this is not possible to do with your modem, then you might want to have Voipo log into your HT502 and enable the setting “NAT traversal” with no specified STUN server. This will keep the NAT hole open in your modem. Here’s what the HT502 manual says:

“If the NAT Traversal field is set to “Yes” with no specified STUN server, the HT502 will
periodically (every 20 seconds or so) send a blank UDP packet (with no payload data)
to the SIP server to keep the “hole” on the NAT open.”

Hope you get this issue fixed…..

As far as attaching the phone line ports to your home wiring, you do so at your own risk. It’s Voipo’s policy that you not do so and you take full responsibility for damage to the ATA if something happens (REN overload, lightning strikes, etc). I have no idea of the REN ability of HT502 ports, but there have been a couple of other users who have had these ports go bad on the HT502 by connecting it to their home wiring. This particular ATA seems to be more vulnerable than others. You may want to check out this thread:

http://forums.voipo.com/showthread.p...ed-Please-help

[PhoneyExpress]

[QUOTE=tritch;66465]You should probably continue to work with Voipo’s support team to resolve this issue....

I intend to.

Thank you for your detailed explanation on the possible existence of a firewall within the DSL modem. I can confirm there is a sip address and port number listed on the Received: line, under Connected Devices.

Not being familiar with the setup and configuration details of the Westell DSL modem I will have to spend more time in trying to put this device into the “bridge’ mode.

I acknowledge, no manufacturer of an electronic device can be held responsible for damage to a product that may occur during a local lightning strike. In the event of such an unfortunate circumstance I would like to hope VOIPO could replace the ATA for a reasonable price. The fact that damage may occur with or without it being connected to the home POTS wiring always exists as a possibility.
Your reference to the VOIPO forum discussion is appreciated.
My concern is that, at the time of my purchase, there was no information stating the HT502 must NOT be connected to the home wiring system. Only in the latest Installation Guide is there any mention of: (do not use in-home telephone wiring/POTS).
While no REN number exists, maybe it should be specified.

[tritch]

[QUOTE=PhoneyExpress;66482]

Not being familiar with the setup and configuration details of the Westell DSL modem I will have to spend more time in trying to put this device into the “bridge’ mode.

I need to revise my previous post…..

I would not try to bridge your modem with your current setup. I’m not sure whether your DSL provider uses PPPoE to authenticate or simply uses DHCP for its connection type. If it uses DHCP, bridging the modem should be OK (the ATA will pull the public IP instead of your modem). Your ATA and home router should work fine. However if your DSL provider uses PPPoE for authentication, this would require the PPPoE username/password credentials to be entered into the HT502 WAN setup in the ATA. You would have to ask your DSL provider for these credentials. I’m not sure you are willing to do this type of change within the ATA.

Instead, I would probably just try to disable the DHCP server and any firewall settings within the DSL modem. You may want to ask your DSL provider if this is easy to do or even possible. Otherwise, I would try my other suggestion about having Voipo support enabling the “NAT traversal” setting within the HT502.

Best of luck….