VoIPo Service with Tomato 1.23

Hello everyone. Very happy customer, great support, communication from Tim, yada, yada....

I am having a very strange problem that I would say is a router issue, but am suprised neither the GS 502 or Linksys PAP2 can handle.

I have everything on my network behind a Linksys WRT54T GS, running Tomato 1.23. I currently have the Linksys PAP2 (from VoIPo) on-line. Using "static" DHCP for all devices on network.

If I lose power to router or reboot, my Voipo service goes down and does not come back. Even a soft reboot does not work AND a "fast" hard reboot does not work (remove power, re-apply power within 1 to 2 seconds).

The only thing that works is to remove power from the PAP2 for ~30+ seconds, re-apply power, and service is restored.

Appears the router / Tomato FW is holding on to state of connections for the IP address even after a soft reboot of the router.

Question:

Anyone else using Tomato 1.23 and NOT having this problem? If so, and you are willing to chat (either voice or electronically), can you send me a PM or if you were and made some change that resolved this behavior, please share on this post?

Thanks!!!

Just a random thought here, but have you tried putting the static IP in the PAP2 itself?

It almost sounds like a possible DHCP issue like maybe the static IP is not being reassigned until the PAP2 is completely rebooted and sends a DHCP request again?

Yes -- infact, this is one way I can "workaround" the problem (lots of testing today with this issue led me to this idea). If the unit will not come online as I have posted, I log into the PAP2 (dhcp address), change the IP to a static on my network, and reboot. Works.

So, during testing today, looking at various FW/router settings, saving, rebooting -- you get the picture :) I have gone back and forth between static and dynamic (or change to another IP) on the PAP2.

So, I guess I could have mentioned that -- but I have tried so many things. I did run into a post here: http://www.linksysinfo.org/forums/sh...r+voip+service

Which highlights some type of known issue with Tomato 1.23.

I have seen other posters on this forums using Tomato -- I am hoping to here more about their configurations.

64.233.217.2, 64.233.217.3 are the DNS entries on my Tomato 123
HT502, HT286, and PAP2T have not had that problem.
I think those are my WideOpenWest Cable DNS servers.

Looks like I did not set them like before.
I have my PC hard coded to 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.4

WOW Cable likes to choose where to direct a bad URL.
I don't like uninvited spam that my ISP likes.

EDIT: Have not lost Router power in a while though ...
Connection Uptime 7 days, 22:42:46
Remaining Lease Time 6 days, 01:25:22

Thanks usa2k. So are you saying if you soft reboot your router, your adapter is able to re-establish service without the need for a power reboot of the the adapter, as I have described?

If not too much trouble, can you tell me what model/version of router you are using? Also, can you confirm and are willing to share who your ISP is -- one idea I have is type of IP address I am getting from Cox and want to compare what your ISP does.

Thanks!!

-bird

while I have not experienced the issue, but see if VoIP SIP registration issue on router reboot helps
BTW, my modem, WRT54GS (tomato v1.23 f/w), ATA, ... are on a UPS
Cheers,
-v

I just saw the thread that voxabox referenced. UDP timeout of 10 seconds seems low. I am not familiar with Tomato but I assume this is the NAT entry timeout for UDP packets. Since the NAT send alive interval for PAP2T is 15 seconds, you will have a 5 second window where the NAT entry will not exist. And you will have problems getting incoming calls during that window.

1bird2, play around with the value and make sure incoming works fine.

http://forums.voipo.com/showpost.php...2&postcount=14
(Links about my router discussions ...)

More to come ...

Hmmm, I am confused about my uptime
Uptime 91 days, 21:19:55 was also on the same page as:

Connection Uptime 7 days, 22:42:46
Remaining Lease Time 6 days, 01:25:22

Maybe I never rebooted after all?

Model is:
Name WRT54GL
Model Linksys WRT54G/GS/GL

Just did the soft reboot for the first time.
I've moved things around, and that relates to the shorter uptime I think?

EDIT: You are right, after a soft reboot, (of Tomato) I lose the PAP2T registration.

A cold boot of the router gets them back!

Thanks all for the posts. I am pretty confident that there are definite issues with Tomato and Voip services in general. I will be hauling a network analyzer home from work today to sniff the network this weekend as I can reporoduce this issue everytime like clock work. I have seen all of these other posts at dslreports, linksys.org saying do this or that --- tried em all, not seeing any success. My router, cable modem, linksys pap2 are all on a 40 min ups, so that will help. trust me, when there is a problem, I am not home or I am in my car, on a plane, whatever (then you can imagine what I hear then.....)

My suspision now is turning to the type of up stream IP network I am on (i.e. is Cox NATing my connection to them).

I will follow up on what I find or what type of solution I come up with at my end.

For Tim -- I would add to your wiki KB issues with Tomato, or at least bring it up as a potential issue with service if they are having strange issues with connectivity as I have documented (here and in your ticketing system).

Thanks again for all of the input from everyone.

-bird

I was having very similar issues with Tomato v23. Never had any issues with v19 and wish I had never upgraded. Switched to DD-WRT and the problems went away. Shortly after, I decided to upgrade my network to gigabit throughout so my Linksys router gave way to a new DLink DIR-655. Took a while to find out what all the setting did, but now everything is running perfectly. I still have DD-WRT running on my WRT54GS which is now a repeater for my DLink.

Thats interesting, I went with Tomato because it seemed better with QOS and bandwidth meter etc. I did like the DDWRT user interface much more.
However, I have not had any issues since switching to the Linksys with Tomato. I have actually been put off ant Netgear routers now except the cheap ones !!!!

I am running .23 on a Asus WL-520gU and have not had a problem, although no interruptions in service the last week or so since I got it up and working. Took me a few days to get QoS set up, but since then no issues at all with call quality or anything else.

My set up is bridged DSL modem(2wire) -> Asus 520gU -> PAP2T.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by buckethead

I am running .23 on a Asus WL-520gU and have not had a problem, although no interruptions in service the last week or so since I got it up and working. Took me a few days to get QoS set up, but since then no issues at all with call quality or anything else.

My set up is bridged DSL modem(2wire) -> Asus 520gU -> PAP2T.

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That ASUS router is the very best I ever had. Since I'm not into Tomato, etc., nor do I have a need for it, I run the router as is. I did a few firmware upgrades since I got it, the latest being 3.0.0.5.

If you actually got the 2 wire running with no problems, you are quite lucky. Maybe being in bridged mode helps. I have the Netpoia 2210-02 in bridged mode and I too, let the ASUS do all the work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by burris

If you actually got the 2 wire running with no problems, you are quite lucky.

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The 2wire worked perfectly for the last 2+ years and still was - I just wanted more control and add in QoS as my lan was starting to get used more and more.

One other note about Tomato is that is seems in .23 the wireless power control does not seem to work either - LINK. While I have no problems and do not need to adjust my power it seems as if .23 has a few little bugs.

I was strictly Linksys w/Tomato for the last 4 years. Never even had a single problem that was router related, till I upgraded to V23. I had been looking to run a repeater for the far end of my house, but Tomato did not have that option. Once v23 started giving me issues I didn't hesitate to switch to DD-WRT. I used a WRT54GL as my router, and a WRT54GS as my repeater. Worked great but I wanted to upgrade my network. I'm sure Tomato will work out the bugs in the next version. It's a really good firmware, just not the latest version.

So strange occurrence today ...

I realized the phones were dead like when I was asked to test a soft reboot of the router. Re-powering the router did not seem to solve it. I was not feeling like troubleshooting just now, so I tried them on their own IP direct to the Modem (I have 3 IPs possible) and the immediately registered.

Very odd. I think I coming down with a cold and not at my sharpest right now ...

OK, decided to try them back off the router (no reboots or power cycles) and both PAP2T immediately registered as if there was never a problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Montano

I was strictly Linksys w/Tomato for the last 4 years. Never even had a single problem that was router related, till I upgraded to V23. I had been looking to run a repeater for the far end of my house, but Tomato did not have that option. Once v23 started giving me issues I didn't hesitate to switch to DD-WRT. I used a WRT54GL as my router, and a WRT54GS as my repeater. Worked great but I wanted to upgrade my network. I'm sure Tomato will work out the bugs in the next version. It's a really good firmware, just not the latest version.

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I am running Tomato on my v4 WRT54G using V23 and it seems ok so far. I have DD-WRT on a GL set up as a client bridge. I could never get it set as a client bridge using Tomato but DD-WRT was simple to set up.

They've felt fairly comparable in my limited experience with both (and a significant improvement over any stock fw).

-- DD-WRT: more options, clunky, reboot after most changes
-- Tomato: nice, smooth (ajax) gui, pretty charts, cleaner feel

I'm running a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 with Tomoto 1.23, qos enabled, static dhcp set for the PAP2T. I also have an ASUS WL-520gu with Tomato 1.23 set as a wireless ethernet bridge for my entertainment center. I haven't had to reboot anything since last December, save for all the fun with my Grandstream HT502. The replacement PAP2T has been up and running without cycling the power since I received it.

How the heck did you get the other router to work as a wireless bridge using Tomato? I tried and tried and finally went the DD-WRT route which was easy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ptrowski

How the heck did you get the other router to work as a wireless bridge using Tomato? I tried and tried and finally went the DD-WRT route which was easy.

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Selected "Wireless Ethernet Bridge" from the Wireless Mode Setup screen. Set my the bridge router address as xxx.xxx.x.2 where the main router was xxx.xxx.x.1. Set the default gateway and static dns to the main router's address. Disabled DHCP on the bridge. On the bridge, set the ssid, channel, and security info to match the main router. Also, on the advanced-router setup tab of the bridge, I changed the drop-down to router from gateway. I also had some problems initially, but I found the last step via a google search and everything started working perfectly.

Just heard from another user in a PM on DSLR that they dropped Tomato 1.23 and their issues went away (voice quality, delay, echo, random issues).

Thanks for the update. Do not have any service quality, per se, just registration type issues when router goes down. Quality is excellent. I have captured a ton of data for the Tomato community, but basically, they agree there is an issue with Voip and Tomato. Claim it will be addressed in future release -- which I am now available as a test subject.

My workaround is pretty simple now -- IF there are problems:

1. Do nothing, as failever works as designed (forward to cell phone)
2. Login as admin, change IP address.

I can live with this for now. Excellent team Tim, support and all. BTW, wrote my dslreports review. Very happy with all aspects of the product and service.

-bird