Port Forwarding

[chpalmer]

I have three and sometimes four VoIP adapters operating behind my router (plus soft phones), and some of them are reached directly -- i.e., without using proxies.

Are you saying the provider system refuses to recognize NAT? Or that your ATA is unable to be set to recognize its behind NAT??

I know on one of my ATA's, I believe its A Grandstream, that one setting can influence that behavior at the carrier side...

[caseydoug]

Are you saying the provider system refuses to recognize NAT? Or that your ATA is unable to be set to recognize its behind NAT??

For those calls, there is no "provider." For example, I can forward an IPKall number or Gizmo5 directly to my adapter without the need to register that adapter to a particular provider or to use a SIP proxy. Or I can call from one adapter directly to another adapter across the internet without using a provider. Also, the adapter can register to one provider (e.g., VOIPo) but still receive incoming calls directly from IPKall or G5 or another adapter. Some adapters and soft phones have a specific setting to support receiving calls without registering, whereas others don't. My point is that port forwarding is necessary to receive calls that go directly to the adapter.

I have two PAP2 adapters (one for VOIPo and one for NextAlarm), plus two old AzaCall/UTStarcom adapters from Lingo. I also sometimes use an XLite soft phone. Most of this is just for fooling around.

[chpalmer]

For those calls, there is no "provider." For example, I can forward an IPKall number or Gizmo5 directly to my adapter without the need to register that adapter to a particular provider or to use a SIP proxy. Or I can call from one adapter directly to another adapter across the internet without using a provider. Also, the adapter can register to one provider (e.g., VOIPo) but still receive incoming calls directly from IPKall or G5 or another adapter. Some adapters and soft phones have a specific setting to support receiving calls without registering, whereas others don't. My point is that port forwarding is necessary to receive calls that go directly to the adapter.

I have two PAP2 adapters (one for VOIPo and one for NextAlarm), plus two old AzaCall/UTStarcom adapters from Lingo. I also sometimes use an XLite soft phone. Most of this is just for fooling around.

Ah- yep, that makes sense.. Your ata is more like a web or mail server in the sense that it doesnt know where its next flow of traffic is coming from, and therefore you have to provide the route to it...

Thanks for the explanation...

[burris]

I hope we are not getting too far off the track, and I hope that not too many plain vanilla users are trying to understand what this is all about.

My original comments were in reference to those who have nothing but a provisioned ATA and simply want to plug it in and talk and listen.

Perhaps a separate thread for the special hook-ups would less confuse those who are asking the basic questions.