Losing voice on calls for over a year now...

I've been having intermittent problems with me losing the ability to talk on calls that I'm on. Sometimes the calls work great and sometimes I have multiple problems.

Every time I call I get a different answer about something that's being done. "We've tweaked this" or "We've made a change" Reboot and try it now. It will work for a day or so. At least I think it does as it's intermittent and then I get problems again and I call and the same thing.

One thing that strikes me as strange is that I need to open up 5004 - 65000. That seems like an awfully broad range.

Is there a way to limit the ports that are used to a smaller subset?

I've had several other services and never had to open up this many ports.

The ports that are asked to be port forward are pretty standard, my advice to move your adapter into the DMZ of your router. That way you won't need to worry about port forwarding.

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Originally Posted by redoneusa

The ports that are asked to be port forward are pretty standard, my advice to move your adapter into the DMZ of your router. That way you won't need to worry about port forwarding.

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Thanks.. The problem with opening up so many ports is there are a lot of standard apps that already use some of those ports. Now I've got one tool that use 60,000 ports by default and others that either have to be discontinued or have all of their ports used. Wouldn't it be easier to limit the amount of ports used. Before Voipo I was on Vonage. While it costs more I didn't have to open this many ports and all of my apps were able to work.

Something has to give? Is it my use of Voipo? I hope not.

Josh

What redoneusa suggested by putting the IP address of your adapter into the DMZ is good advice. At least for troubleshooting purposes. The ports used by VoipO for calls are dynamic. Meaning, they change. That's why it's not really possible to just put in a standard set of ports and leave it at that. There's obviously certain standard ports such as 5060 for SIP. But for the RTP protocol, it changes. By putting the adapter into the DMZ, it allows it to take any port that it needs at the time. It takes what it needs and when it needs it. And with voip adapters not really being vulnerable to attacks, it doesn't really hurt to have it in the DMZ.

Also; unless you're a heavy gamer, who has many different games set up to use certain ports, most common apps use ports BELOW 5000. And unless you're playing a particular game or using the app when a call is received or made, there really shouldn't be too much conflict. But gamers are about the only users that tend to have voip port issues.

I also recommend that depending on your router, that you try disabling a couple of things. 1st: Disable the firewall. Usually marked as SPI Firewall or something similar. At least try it for experimental purposes. If you really feel you need a firewall, you can use software firewalls on your PC's. But at least for experimenting, disable this. The firewall many times will block certain traffic. Including ports for voip. I also disable UPnP. Also; many routers have pre-configured apps in their port forwarding section. Such as SIP. You want this SIP turned off. It is expecting software from a PC to initiate this. Such as Skype or similar. If you have this enabled, it may block your voip adapter from having access to port 5060 or 5061.

But most definitely try the DMZ first. Being you understand the concept of ports, you obviously have given your voip adapter a static IP address. So, turning OFF port forwarding and putting the voip adapter into the DMZ would be a very good start for troubleshooting. If you still have issues, then it may not be a port issue as much as something else like a conflicting app. Which also leads to another suggestion for troubleshooting. Try and determine if ALL computers and such that are using ports, is turned off; and the only thing on the network actually working is your voip adapter; are you still getting cut off voice? It's not so common now; but in the past, there were actually a number of ISP's (Mainly cable companies), who actually blocked certain ports so people couldn't really use voip. They were trying to force you to use THEIR digital phone service. Not saying that's happening; just that if your adapter is in the DMZ, there are NO PC's on, there are no other port forwarding or anything set up in your router, and you STILL are having problems; it could either be your router, (Bad or a compatibility issue), or your ISP. That's why I suggest when individuals are having voip issues, to disconnect all other devices and basically just have the voip adapter and router and internet connection. It helps you troubleshoot. If the problem goes away, it's an issue on your network. If the issue remains, it's either the router or ISP. (Unless the voip adapter itself is bad).

Anyway; some suggestions to try. Best of luck. Mike....

Mike, thanks for such a well thought out and informative post. I think it will be very useful for people coming to look for these same problems.

My biggest problem is that even though I'm not a heavy gamer I have other apps that run on ports above 5000. I have a couple of webservers that run around 8080. I have some other apps that run around 5500. Not many mind you, just a handful or so.

I also have the problem that it's very intermittent. It could work great for a week then a whole day of issues. With 10 computers and many devices that share the network in the household it's not always as simple as just turning off all the computers and testing it that way, though I would like to. I would like to be able to reproduce it on demand as it would make troubleshooting much easier.

I've moved it into the DMZ but there are still apps that are going to take those ports when needed. We'll see how it works out. If not, as much as I don't like it, I might have to switch back to Vonage. Even though it will cost me more money, I never had these problems before. In the end consistent communication is the most important.

Thanks for the help

Josh

Almost since inception about 5 years ago, I forwarded ports 5004-65000 on my router to my ATA. I created a fixed IP on the ATA and that's the IP the router port forwarding points to.

I haven't had any port conflicts that I am aware of and have had perfect phone service ever since.
Wish I could take credit for this but the lead tech at VOIPo advised me...and he was correct....as he always is.

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Originally Posted by burris

Almost since inception about 5 years ago, I forwarded ports 5004-65000 on my router to my ATA. I created a fixed IP on the ATA and that's the IP the router port forwarding points to.

I haven't had any port conflicts that I am aware of and have had perfect phone service ever since.
Wish I could take credit for this but the lead tech at VOIPo advised me...and he was correct....as he always is.

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Thanks.. I understand the concept of them wanting all the ports forwarded. My original reply was it seems very fast and doesn't seem to take into account that anyone would have other things that run on ports as well.

As I mentioned, I have lots of things running and have no conflicts that I am aware of.
I wonder what the difference might be?

Have you tried the setup I use?

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Originally Posted by burris

As I mentioned, I have lots of things running and have no conflicts that I am aware of.
I wonder what the difference might be?

Have you tried the setup I use?

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The difference is you probably just don't have apps on those ports. Apps use so many different ports, some standard and some app specific, it just depends.

Opening the ports on the router (or worse, putting adapter in DMZ) should only be done for troubleshooting. You open ports for unsolicited inbound traffic - for example, if you run Web or FTP server on your network. Nothing in phone traffic should be unsolicited.

Some of us are more- or less- security conscious; so different people have different level of comfort opening the ports. But well-functioning phone system with VoIP provider can and typically does run without the need to open the ports.

I don't have any ports specified on my ATA as open nor have it setup as a DMZ. The only thing I have is the ATA has a static IP. I think it's more of the peculiarities of the router you have and how it operates with your setup.

I disagree with blaming it on the router. The advice from Voipo directly is to open a huge amount of ports. Conversely I received a VOIP phone from work and they had me open 2 ports ONLY if needed and I was having troubles.

http://www.voipo.com/help/article/ba...-guide-20.html

I have the device sitting directly on the cable modem/router from Comcast in the DMZ, i.e nothing is blocking. Still having issues.

I am not blaming the router, I am just pointing out I have no ports forwarded and my ATA is not sitting behind a DMZ and I have no problems. There is obviously a difference between your router setup and mine unless Comcast is blocking the ports for you.

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Originally Posted by voipinit

I am not blaming the router, I am just pointing out I have no ports forwarded and my ATA is not sitting behind a DMZ and I have no problems. There is obviously a difference between your router setup and mine unless Comcast is blocking the ports for you.

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I really with that was the case with mine. I'm not sure why I, or others, would need traffic forwarded. It just seems to happen.

Josh

YES BLAME THE ROUTER! Not all routers are equal. Some routers are designed to identify packets, and prioritize real-time applications (RTA) better than others.