un-reliable incoming calls on Blueface

bigpaddy2004

I have a blueface account. I am using the linksys pap2 ata. Making calls is never a problem but most of the time incoming calls go straight to the voice mail service. What could be wrong? I have emailed blueface several times but got no reply.

paulm17781

Who is your ISP?

It sounds like a problem with your downstream bandwidth.

Whether this is ATA, Blueface or ISP related is another matter.

quozl

That sounds like it could well be your firewall to me. I'd the same symptoms until I turned on port-forwarding to make the various sip ports accessible to the wider world.

The blueface SIP server (as I understand it) regularly attempts to connet to your SIP client to check that it's still there. If it can't (because of your firewall for example) it'll think the clients gone and will forward calls to your voicemail.

There's an option in the pap2 to turn on NAT keep alives, that ought to fix things for you if this is the problem. Or you could setup port-forwarding like I did, that'd be a bit harder and I can't remember the correct ports. The most important one (I think) is the one that'll be listed in your cfg as the sip port for a particular line.

I honestly don't think that problems with your downstream bandwidth would call these symptoms. You use the same bandwidth making a call as receiving one, and the check to see if you're active will use almost no bandwidth.

If you've continued trouble I'd call blueface and explain the symptoms.

[Edit]
If you do have a firewall try putting your pap2 directly on your net connect with no firewall/router/whatever in the way. Then see if it's much more reliable. Of course you'll lose your net connect while you're doing this
[/edit]

Blaster99

Or lower the registration timeout. What's most likely happening is that your router is closing the UDP port map when there's no activity and Blueface can't get through.

WillieFlynn

Another thing to check is that your ADSL modem/ router doesn't drop the line after a period of inactivity.

This could produce what you are seeing, some incomming calls will work just after the ATA sends a registation request, then the modem can time out so incoming calls will be rejected and so on. Also all outgoing calls will work as the link will come up automaticaly for them.

bigpaddy2004

The setup i have is unique to the regualar broadband user. I have a 5mbit down/512kbps up connection. The router is in my parents house in the town. I have a wifi link from there to my house which is in the country. levels are very good so its not a signal issue. I have never seen a lost connection yet on my pc since i set it up. the firewall is also turned off.

WillieFlynn

bigpaddy2004 wrote:

I have never seen a lost connection yet on my pc since i set it up. the firewall is also turned off.

Your WiFi setup should work fine. However if your modem is dropping the connection after awhile and reconnecting on demand, you will not notice that it is down from your PC.

You will have to look through the log and or its set up pages. To see if that is the problem.

lzbones

Try a differnet provider - http://www.smarttelecom.ie/ or http://www.freespeech.ie - they have free accounts. I don't know why everyone goes blue face mad here

WillieFlynn

lzbones wrote:

I don't know why everyone goes blue face mad here

I thinks its because they were the first ones around and also they are very good at providing customer support......

lzbones

WillieFlynn wrote:

They are very good at providing customer support......

Then why does this thread start with - I have emailed blueface several times but got no reply.

I tried the others and I have no complaints - and they are cheaper - I always got good support response when I emailed them. Smart have their own bb for sharing knowledge and freespeech have a good online support center. Anyway perhaps one provider is more suiable than another for particular hardware/network setup.

cormac_byrne

lzbones wrote:

Then why does this thread start with - I have emailed blueface several times but got no reply.

Blueface have always replied promptly to any emails send by me (even at weekends) Not only that but they have always resolved any issues that I have had and always given a proper answer to any of my questions. (i.e. not a fob off)

e.g. helping me configure my Linksys WRT54G2P (which they gave me for half price) so that it would work with a call controller which converts pulses to tones, so that I could connect my 1940's Rotary phone.

lzbones wrote:

Try a differnet provider - http://www.smarttelecom.ie/ or http://www.freespeech.ie - they have free accounts. I don't know why everyone goes blue face mad here

Blueface give an 01 number and included minutes packages, the others are 076 only and pay per minute. 'you pays your money and takes your choices'

If you have a 2 port ATA then there's no reason not to have more than one provider.

Mossy

lzbones wrote:

http://www.smarttelecom.ie/ or http://www.freespeech.ie - they have free accounts.

If by "free" you mean that you don't have to pay a subscription, Blueface also offers that kind of option where you only have to pay for the calls that you make. You have to pay at least €5 for call credit to get started. freespeech, by contrast, requires that you spend €19.99 before you can make calls.

lzbones wrote:

I tried the others and I have no complaints - and they are cheaper

That's not strictly true. For instance compare the following charges-

[Prices in cent per minute]
Blueface
Ireland landline peak/offpeak: 1.7/1.1
Ireland mobile peak/offpeak: 18/16
UK landline peak/offpeak: 1.8/1.1

freespeech
Ireland landline national/Dublin: 1.5/1.4
Ireland mobile: 19.4
UK landline: 1.4

Cheaper if most of your calls are made during the day to landlines. May also be cheaper (or not) if you're calling certain foreign countries, but I'm not going to compare them all.

Smart Telecom
Ireland landline: 1.85
Ireland mobile: 18
UK landline: 2

Err, not cheaper at all.

FrankGrimes

can you use an ATA with freespeech to be able to make and take both incoming and outgoing calls just like a normal phone? If not then you're not comparing like with like, and if you can do this they need to make it clearer on their website.

cormac_byrne

Mossy wrote:

Cheaper if most of your calls are made during the day to landlines.

If you made an hour of calls every working day blueface would be cheaper with their €14.99 unlimited calls package

Mossy

FrankGrimes wrote:

can you use an ATA with freespeech to be able to make and take both incoming and outgoing calls just like a normal phone?

Yes.

FrankGrimes wrote:

if you can do this they need to make it clearer on their website.

True. Currently you have to click on "... read more" or "Extras" before you really get the idea that they provide more than just computer-to-computer calls.

Maybe they don't want to scare potential customers off, get them signed up and using the software phone before they realise there's a for-money service there

cormac_byrne

FrankGrimes wrote:

can you use an ATA with freespeech

Yes, but they're trying to force you to buy their hardware, router as well as ATA. Can see that it makes sense from their point of view. i.e. no NAT issues if the ATA is in the router, rather than behind it. Also I presume they know the router has decent QoS settings etc...

Blueface will let you use any setup, which is great if you know what you're doing , but probably gives blueface support more probs when people get it wrong.

msmx5

cormac_byrne wrote:

If you have a 2 port ATA then there's no reason not to have more than one provider.

Unless its a Netgear TA612V where both ports have to be with the same provider! :-(