Voipo on Uverse with new Firmware

[mdntblu]

I have Uverse and have had it for around 7 months. I have the 12mb down / 1.5mb up package. I have Uverse TV and also Uverse Voice. The Uverse Voice has been perfect and never had any issues. The only problem is the price is just under $40/month. So I signed up for 1 year service with Voipo last week and received my Linksys PAP2T device (which I have never liked Linksys because of too many DOA devices and devices that fail.
I hooked up the Linksys device on Saturday when I received it in the mail. I was able to get a dial tone and made several test calls. Setup my AT&T Uverse voice to forward calls to my temporary Voipo number until it gets ported.
Sunday night my wife said she heard touch tones randomly when she was talking to her sister for 18 min.
Then today I called my wife from my cell phone and it sounded fine the entire call.
But tonight she tried to call her Grandma and the ringing sounded horrible and robotic. Then her grandma answered and she couldn't hear anything she was saying. She tried 3 times and it was horrible everytime. So then she used her cell phone to call and started complaining about why she hates internet telephone. After she got on her cell phone I started making a bunch of calls to my automated banking system and all of the calls I made were horrible. I unplugged and replugged in the ATA. No change. I reset my Uverse residential gateway (2wire) and still not any better. Tried restarting the ATA again and it still did it. Tried recording some calls using *28 and every one of those sounded horrible. The recordings all came to my email but were all 260k and none of them would play in Windows Media Player. Voicemails play fine in Windows Media Player.
So after 1/2 hour of playing around I made another call to my bank and it worked fine. So I took the phone to my wife and said can you hang up with your cell and try calling her again. After she hung up she said it was fine.
I just don't want this to be an ongoing thing after I have my number ported over and miss my 30day guarantee.
My internet speeds are fine and my skype app on my iPhone works fine over my Uverse wifi always. Never have any problems. I was thinking about buying a Skype wifi phone and getting a powerful wifi antenna to cover the whole house but decided to get Voipo.
Any help with settings on my Uverse gateway would be great. Do you think my Linksys ATA is defective?

Thanks
Brad

[Russell]

A little more info about your setup (is there any other router involved besides the RG which can acts as a router by default) would be helpful. Off, the top of my head: put the ATA in DMZ Plus (assuming there's no other router involved) and see if that makes a difference. Is there other Internet activity going on (e.gl, torrents etc) during the time of bad audio? If it's any consolation one of the leading support guys at VOIPo has UVerse.

I've got UVerse 3/1 - you can search for other postings by me over the past few weeks.

[mdntblu]

A little more info about your setup (is there any other router involved besides the RG which can acts as a router by default) would be helpful. Off, the top of my head: put the ATA in DMZ Plus (assuming there's no other router involved) and see if that makes a difference. Is there other Internet activity going on (e.gl, torrents etc) during the time of bad audio? If it's any consolation one of the leading support guys at VOIPo has UVerse.

I've got UVerse 3/1 - you can search for other postings by me over the past few weeks.

No, there is no other router. My RG is the router.
The only activity was my daughter was watching a show on Netflix. And if that's going to cause my phone to sound like crap when movies/tv shows are being watched then I can't have this cause we use our Netflix a lot. The time when the audio did sound fine Netflix was still being watched. And I would think having 12mb down wouldn't affect it if other internet activity is going on.
Brad

[VOIPoLucas]

Different shows/movies on Netflix streaming can have a different impact on your connection - such as an HD versus non-HD media.

Does the U-verse hardware you're using have any option for managing bandwidth? QoS settings can be hit or miss, but it's usually worth a try.

Also, for the sake of isolating what *could* be the cause of the issue, I would definitely recommend placing a few calls without Netflix streaming, then a few with it streaming similar content to what was being played the other night.

Let us know how this works out.

[mdntblu]

No my Uverse Gateway doesn't allow me to do bandwidth management.

Also we have had the issue whether or not Netflix is being played or not. It's happened 2 or 3 times in the last week.

Also my wife says that all the people she is on the phone with (whether they called us or she called them) they hear beeps and tones and things on the other end but on our end we don't hear anything.

What is this now? I'm really worried this service is not up to par with what we want and I've just ported my number over and thinking I might have to cancel my year subscription and port my number somewhere else. All these issues and I had Packet 8 for like 3 years a few years back with none of these weird issues. And back then I was on a 1.5mb DSL connection, now I have a 12mb fiber connection.

[mdntblu]

How do I get into this Linksys PAP2T device and administrate it via a web browser? Aren't there settings in it I can change?

[mdntblu]

I am actually very dissatisfied with this service. There hasn't been a day go by where it actually worked correctly.
We just received a call from my sister-in-law and we answered it and there was just silence. And she ended up calling her back on her cell phone.
Why have the service if it doesn't work. How many days until we can cancel? Do we get 30 days? What about my number porting?

[VOIPoTim]

I am actually very dissatisfied with this service. There hasn't been a day go by where it actually worked correctly.
We just received a call from my sister-in-law and we answered it and there was just silence. And she ended up calling her back on her cell phone.
Why have the service if it doesn't work. How many days until we can cancel? Do we get 30 days? What about my number porting?

I recommend contacting our support department and working with them to check all the settings in your router.

The internet connection and bandwidth used to be the biggest factor for VoIP service quality. Today though, it's the router, that's the most important and available bandwidth is almost irrelevant because most connections have way more than enough bandwidth.

Most newer routers or modems with a built in router have things in them that try to handle all the VoIP traffic and do so incorrectly, so they require tweaking.

Today routers are at least 10x more likely than the internet connection to cause a customer's service to work or not work well. Since all VoIP networks are designed differently, the router settings can be optimized for the way our network is designed.

The issues you are describing are typical of a router blocking our connections. So what happens is the call comes through, but then the router blocks the audio stream when the audio starts. This is almost going to be solved by setting up port forwarding on the router for ports 5004-65000 (UDP) and applying any other tweaks for the router model. Support can help do this.

So your best bet is to work with support to double check all the router settings to make sure things are optimized for our network. If you PM your info, I can have a Tier II tech contact you Monday to go through it.

[Russell]

I am actually very dissatisfied with this service. There hasn't been a day go by where it actually worked correctly.
We just received a call from my sister-in-law and we answered it and there was just silence. And she ended up calling her back on her cell phone.
Why have the service if it doesn't work. How many days until we can cancel? Do we get 30 days? What about my number porting?

Have you tried putting the device in the DMZ Plus of the RG (as previously suggested by me)?

[jlachowin]

I just setup my parents up with VOIPo and they have uverse as well (They only have 3Mbps internet) and it works FLAWLESSLY.

I did assign a static IP to the phone adapter and forwarded the UDP ports, but that is about it. Contact support before you dislike the service, give them a chance to make it right.

[usa2k]

Just wondering if Uverse Modems come in different models?
If so, it would be interesting if there is an relation between modem and success.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21788117-ATT-UverseWhat-kind-of-modem

They are all a "RG 3800HGV-B Gateway"?

Had a look at their site, and found it frustrating.
Every variation to investigate meant re-entering an address.

[jlachowin]

AT&T Uverse uses a residential gateway (fancy router name) that combines internet, uverse voice and tv routing. It's has a very easy interface, made by 2wire.

AT&T only uses 1 model, the 3800HGV-B, and they update the firmware every few months.

[usa2k]

Thanks for that confirmation!

[mdntblu]

Yes I forwarded the ports.
Not sure what else I can do on this router. And yes all AT&T uverse connections use the exact same 2Wire router. Even DSL connections have a similar one it's just a different model used for DSL.

What's the tones and beeps being heard on the other end of the line to the calling party? Is this because of the router as well? How do I fix that?

[tritch]

What's the tones and beeps being heard on the other end of the line to the calling party? Is this because of the router as well? How do I fix that?

Your ATA is causing this and it's called "DTMF talk-off". It's caused by higher pitched voices (usually female) during calls. When the ATA is set to DTMF out-of-band, the ATA is constantly monitoring the audio stream during the call for any touch tone key (DTMF) that might be pushed. If it misinterprets the voice frequency for a touch tone key, it will send an out-of-band DTMF. The receiving caller will usually be the only one to hear the tones as you described above.

Linksys ATA's seem to be more prone to this problem than the Grandstream ATA's. I would open a ticket with support and see if they are able to adjust the DTMF strict time. However, the last time I checked, the PAP2T firmware didn't allow much adjustment for this, so it's guess whether it can be fixed. If support changes you over to DTMF inband to fix this, you may not be able access many IVR systems including Voipo's own voicemail system.

If all else fails, you might request a replacement with a Grandstream ATA.

[mdntblu]

Now I have no dialtone. I tried unplugging the ATA a few times and it's still not working. The power light is Red. Not sure if that means anything.

[VOIPoBrandon]

If the power light is staying emitted as red -- this sounds like a problem with the power source / device. Can you attempt plugging the device directly into the wall at some other location in your house -- and advise if it remains red?
________
BUY EXTREME Q (http://vaporizers.net/extreme-vaporizer)

[mdntblu]

I plugged it in somewhere else and it's still doing it.

I also left it unplugged for like 15 min and it's still not working.

[VOIPoTim]

I plugged it in somewhere else and it's still doing it.

I also left it unplugged for like 15 min and it's still not working.

A red light usually means the voltage is not right.

Are you sure you're using the right power adapter?

Has this been plugged into a phone jack or house wiring?

[mdntblu]

It's been plugged into a cable that runs in the ceiling over to a wall plate and then into the panasonic answering machine/cordless phone. I know this is not wiring that goes to multiple phone jacks cause there is a patch panel and each jack is separate.

I'm using the power supply that came with it. Several people said I should request the grandmaster ata to fix my problems.

[zanophol]

I wanted to quickly post that I have Uverse (1.5up and 12down) and have made 0 changes to the RG. I have had one line with voipo for over a year and recently switched my house line when uverse went to $35 a month. I have not needed to make port changes or anything with QOS. The PAP2 (Linksys) hangs directly off the RG. In fact, I can download at full speed and still make two voice calls with no issues.

My RG recently got a firmware update as well.

[mdntblu]

Just to give an update.

I received a new Linksys ATA from Voipo which is working.
I have made all the changes in my Uverse router to forward the ports requested.

But I am still having issues. Some callers are complaining they are getting a disconnection message sometimes. Sometimes the phone will ring and we'll see CID, pick up the phone and it will then be dead air and the failover phone (cell) will ring. Some callers are saying the voice quality is horrible. Still having random beeps on other side as well.
Still not happy with this service that I paid 1 year in advance for and probably can't cancel it.

[VOIPoTim]

Just to give an update.

I received a new Linksys ATA from Voipo which is working.
I have made all the changes in my Uverse router to forward the ports requested.

But I am still having issues. Some callers are complaining they are getting a disconnection message sometimes. Sometimes the phone will ring and we'll see CID, pick up the phone and it will then be dead air and the failover phone (cell) will ring. Some callers are saying the voice quality is horrible. Still having random beeps on other side as well.
Still not happy with this service that I paid 1 year in advance for and probably can't cancel it.

With Uverse, you also need to disable SIP ALG. They intercept all the SIP (VoIP) traffic by default with this.

You should be able to go to http://192.168.1.254/mdc or http://gateway.2wire.net/management and click on "Configure Services" and then uncheck SIP ALG and reboot.

If that doesn't solve it for you and you're still having issues, it may just be some kind of underlying compatibility issue between your setup and VOIPo or a bad connection between us somewhere.

If you decide to cancel and are outside of the 30 day window, you can still do so and we'll issue a prorated refund as if you were a monthly customer. So if you used the service for 2 months, we'd just deduct the cost of 2 months of service at the monthly rate from any refund due. You'd also need to return the VOIPo adapter in order to cancel.

We always hate to lose a customer, but if you're having that many problems, there is something going on. Less than 2% of our customers have ever even contacted support so most have no problems at all but the ones that do have trouble typically have ongoing issues.

[aposner]

I don't have a setting for SIP ALG in my 2wire setup. Does that mean my SIP traffic isn't being blocked or just that I can't find the setting?

Alan

[Russell]

With Uverse, you also need to disable SIP ALG. They intercept all the SIP (VoIP) traffic by default with this.

You should be able to go to http://192.168.1.254/mdc or http://gateway.2wire.net/management and click on "Configure Services" and then uncheck SIP ALG and reboot.


Tim, UVerse has been upgrading their firmware. Neither of your links work for the new firmware and I've not been able to find the SIP ALG setting (if it exists) for the new firmware. If you look at http://forums.voipo.com/showthread.php?t=2333, I'd asked if anyone knew how to do what you're describing for the new firmware and got no answer. I'm sure it'll be beneficial to your support staff (for their UVerse cheatsheat) and us if someone in your company who has UVerse (Brandon?) can get to the bottom of this.

[VOIPoTim]

Tim, UVerse has been upgrading their firmware. Neither of your links work for the new firmware and I've not been able to find the SIP ALG setting (if it exists) for the new firmware. If you look at http://forums.voipo.com/showthread.php?t=2333, I'd asked if anyone knew how to do what you're describing for the new firmware and got no answer. I'm sure it'll be beneficial to your support staff (for their UVerse cheatsheat) and us if someone in your company who has UVerse (Brandon?) can get to the bottom of this.

We'll see what we can find.

[mdntblu]

Tim,

As APOSNER and RUSSELL have said above, we all have the new firmware (which is what is stated in the post subject) and we don't have access to those features. I can't understand why everything else on my internet works fine and I have this issue with your service. I had Packet 8 back 5 years ago with a slow 1.5mb DSL 2wire modem and it worked great. Now 5 years later I have a ultra high speed connection and I can't even get phone service to work correctly.

My wife was talking with her sister tonight and her grandma on 2 separate calls and sometimes she can't hear them, sometimes they can't hear her. It's just not working very well. I don't get it to be honest with you.

Thanks for the information on canceling. I really don't want to cancel because I like the price compared to paying AT&T $35/month for the same thing but at least theirs worked fine and I didn't have any issues.

Brad

[VOIPoTim]

I can't understand why everything else on my internet works fine and I have this issue with your service. I had Packet 8 back 5 years ago with a slow 1.5mb DSL 2wire modem and it worked great. Now 5 years later I have a ultra high speed connection and I can't even get phone service to work correctly.

Unfortunately if the AT&T router is blocking the traffic, there's nothing we can possibly do on our end to force it through. It's going to have to be fixed on their router. The only option we have is to continue to try to get information from AT&T as to where they've hidden the controls for it. As of right now, we've not been able to get details from them.

With the SIP ALG feature that we're trying to disable, the AT&T router intercepts 100% of the VoIP traffic we send to you, analyzes it and rewrites it the way it thinks it should be. Unfortunately since all VoIP providers have very different networks, it doesn't rewrite it correctly most of the time.

So what happens is that it may get the first part of the call right

We're going to continue to try to figure out where they have hidden this functionality. ISPs rarely cooperate with VoIP providers since they have competing services and their routers often make it hard to optimize things for another VoIP service since it could cause their own VoIP servie not to work as well.

Routers are 100% without a doubt the biggest hurdle for VoIP customers today. It's not so much about having a reliable internet connection...it's more about having a router that does not mess with the traffic.

We're going to try to reach out through another means to AT&T and see if we can get anywhere that route to find out what they've changed.

BTW, do you have a ticket number for your issues? If so, please post it so we can identify your account. We may be able to look at trying a different device model to see if it works better with your setup.

[JimDog]

Brad,

I have U-verse Internet service and have a Linksys PAP2T from VOIPo. Although I'm a very light phone user I haven't had any service issues. I have the PAP2T configured in the U-verse residential gateway in DMZplus mode. I chose to use the DMZplus instead of forwarding ports because I didn't want to take the chance that something could be blocked by the firewall. When the PAP2T requests a DHCP IP address, the residential gateway will provide it with its public IP address and any traffic not destined for another system on your network will go to the PAP2T. I have no idea if this bypasses the SIP ALG feature but it seems to work fine for me. If you haven't tried it yet already you may want to give it a shot. Settings -> Firewall -> Applications, Pinholes and DMZ -> Click the LinksysPAP in the Select a computer section -> Click the button for Allow all applications (DMZplus mode) -> Save. After the settings are applied, reboot your VOIPo adapter so it can update its IP address.

Jim

[mdntblu]

The problem with me putting my Linksys PAP2T in DMZ Plus means I can't remote desktop into my computer which I do very often. Cause it will make it so all ports are routed to the Linksys PAP2T. This is not necessary for it to work. I have the ports opened that they specified. I also have another piece of hardware on my network that I remote into on a different port which I wouldn't be able to do anymore either.
This is not the solution because it limits me from everything else. I also might be getting a security camera solution which allows me to remotely view from the web and I won't be able to do that either with the Linksys PAP2T in DMZ Plus mode.

[mdntblu]

Basically tonight I played with it for a while. Trying different things and it is not working. I can't even receive calls. It rings my phone like 2 times and then going to voicemail even if I pick up the phone before the 2nd ring it gives me a dialtone.
I can't do this anymore. I'm signing back up for AT&T Uverse Voice and paying $35/month for unlimited. Sucks to have to say goodbye but I guess you get what you pay for.

BTW, my wife is totally pissed off at me because she told me before I even ordered Voipo that she didn't want me to because some of her friends have had horrible luck with different Voip services and I did it anyways. Now she gets to say "Told you so".

[VOIPoTim]

The problem with me putting my Linksys PAP2T in DMZ Plus means I can't remote desktop into my computer which I do very often. Cause it will make it so all ports are routed to the Linksys PAP2T. This is not necessary for it to work. I have the ports opened that they specified. I also have another piece of hardware on my network that I remote into on a different port which I wouldn't be able to do anymore either.
This is not the solution because it limits me from everything else. I also might be getting a security camera solution which allows me to remotely view from the web and I won't be able to do that either with the Linksys PAP2T in DMZ Plus mode.

When you say opened, do you mean opened in the firewall or forwarded? We recommend forwarding the entire range of 5004-65000 or using DMZ.

[JimDog]

The problem with me putting my Linksys PAP2T in DMZ Plus means I can't remote desktop into my computer which I do very often. Cause it will make it so all ports are routed to the Linksys PAP2T. This is not necessary for it to work. I have the ports opened that they specified. I also have another piece of hardware on my network that I remote into on a different port which I wouldn't be able to do anymore either.
This is not the solution because it limits me from everything else. I also might be getting a security camera solution which allows me to remotely view from the web and I won't be able to do that either with the Linksys PAP2T in DMZ Plus mode.Even with DMZplus enabled for one device, you can still forward specific ports to other devices. I have mine set up so I can externally remote desktop into two different workstations and still have the PAP2T in the DMZ. When an external packet comes into the RG, it will look at the port forwarding rules and existing open connections first. If it doesn't match those then it is sent to the DMZplus device.

[mdntblu]

Tim,

Yes I mean forwarded. The same way I've done it for other things such as remote desktop, etc.
It still doesn't work. Called AT&T today and resubscribed to Uverse Voice which I had before this whole mess.
I will be sending back the ATA and canceling the service and would like a full refund of my money.
I will fill out a support ticket or billing ticket once AT&T turns up my new line. I really wish I could have worked it out but I've tried everything.
Brad

[VOIPoTim]

Tim,

Yes I mean forwarded. The same way I've done it for other things such as remote desktop, etc.
It still doesn't work. Called AT&T today and resubscribed to Uverse Voice which I had before this whole mess.
I will be sending back the ATA and canceling the service and would like a full refund of my money.
I will fill out a support ticket or billing ticket once AT&T turns up my new line. I really wish I could have worked it out but I've tried everything.
Brad

OK. We always hate to lose a customer, but if you're not able to put the device in DMZ, you're likely to continue to experience ongoing issues and would be better suited at another provider, so it's likely the best choice in this situation.

As several of the other UVerse users posted here, DMZPlus resolved their issues. We understand that some people choose not to do this though. There's just nothing at all we can do on our end to force traffic through your modem/router to our adapter if it's not being allowed through.

U-Voice is a a little different where there is no problem with traffic getting stopped at the modem and not making it through to an adapter since the adapter is built into the modem itself.

Sorry to see you go, but good luck with AT&T U-Voice.

[VOIPoTim]

Tim, UVerse has been upgrading their firmware. Neither of your links work for the new firmware and I've not been able to find the SIP ALG setting (if it exists) for the new firmware. If you look at http://forums.voipo.com/showthread.php?t=2333, I'd asked if anyone knew how to do what you're describing for the new firmware and got no answer. I'm sure it'll be beneficial to your support staff (for their UVerse cheatsheat) and us if someone in your company who has UVerse (Brandon?) can get to the bottom of this.

Russell -

In terms of the ALG setting, AT&T doesn't seem to know about it. One rep thinks it was removed in the update. Maybe they had too many complaints about it?

It sounds like if you have DMZPlus setup that you should be safe. Are you having issues or just wanting to make sure it's 100% optimized?

[Russell]

Russell -

In terms of the ALG setting, AT&T doesn't seem to know about it. One rep thinks it was removed in the update. Maybe they had too many complaints about it?

It sounds like if you have DMZPlus setup that you should be safe. Are you having issues or just wanting to make sure it's 100% optimized?
Tim,

Fair enough. You can only find out so much from AT&T. I just wanted to be sure my setting was correct and since I couldn't find it in the new firmware, I thought I'd ask.

I've recently begun forwarding ports (never had to all these years with multiple voip providers and same hardware - so I'm less than excited) and things are solid. Unfortunately, my primitive router is in the DMZPlus. I say primitive because it does not let me choose between TCP and UDP - I only specify port ranges so I'm presumably both kinds of traffic in the 60+K port range.

[mdntblu]

Ok, I now have AT&T Uverse Voice. How can I get a label to ship back my ATA? And how do I get my refund on my credit card for the service? I believe I should get a full refund since I was basically never able to use it right.

Brad

[VOIPoTim]

Ok, I now have AT&T Uverse Voice. How can I get a label to ship back my ATA? And how do I get my refund on my credit card for the service? I believe I should get a full refund since I was basically never able to use it right.

Brad

We offer a full refund if cancelled within 30 days of ordering. After 30 days, we will issue a prorated refund for unused months and just deduct the monthly cost for the months you did have the service.

We don't provide return labels since we don't charge for shipping the devices out initially.

Just contact billing@voipo.com if you need help with the cancellation process.

[mdntblu]

I'm giving this another go around. So far my experience hasn't been pleasant. My account wouldn't let me log in, then my number says disconnected everytime so they had to give me a new number. Now I'm waiting to test it out when I get home.

[rbwalter]

I'm giving this another go around. So far my experience hasn't been pleasant. My account wouldn't let me log in, then my number says disconnected everytime so they had to give me a new number. Now I'm waiting to test it out when I get home.

I found your thread because I'm a new Voipo customer who is considering switching my ISP from Comcast to Uverse. After reading through everything, I'm amazed that you are going through all this again. Were you not satisfied with Uverse phone?

[Russell]

I found your thread because I'm a new Voipo customer who is considering switching my ISP from Comcast to Uverse. After reading through everything, I'm amazed that you are going through all this again. Were you not satisfied with Uverse phone?

I too have UVerse. VOIPo is a lot cheaper than UVerse phone and has more features. To me VOIPo is a no-brainer when compared to UVerse phone.

[mdntblu]

I found your thread because I'm a new Voipo customer who is considering switching my ISP from Comcast to Uverse. After reading through everything, I'm amazed that you are going through all this again. Were you not satisfied with Uverse phone?

I'm fully satisfied with Uverse Phone I just hate the price.

[stevech]

AT&T: Your bend-over service provider.