Help! VoIP stopped working!

ps200306

Wondering if anyone can suggest anything here.

Have used VoIP for years without a hitch. Three days ago it stopped working -- starting getting the dreaded one way calls. I can register with SIP provider and dial out and be heard at the other end but no audio is returned. I understand that these are usually network traversal or codec problems, but to my knowledge nothing has changed in my setup.

I'm using a Siemens S685IP cordless IP phone. Base station is ethernetted to a UPC Horizon box. VoIP provider is poivy.com -- one of the Betamax services.

I have tried:
* Resetting everything (powered off phone system and UPC box)
* Updating the Siemens firmware
* Trying each codec individually

However, I suspect it's not the Siemens phone's fault because I have also tried:

* X-Lite softphone from PC which was originally working fine also ... same one-way audio problem now.
* I have tried a different provider -- resurrected an old blueface account and once again I can register and call out, but no return audio
* I have checked stun server settings and have tried both accounts (poivy and blueface) with and without stun (two different stun servers). No luck.

However, I have also tried:
* Bria (formerly X-Lite) app on iPhone. When I connect via WiFi to UPC box it doesn't work. When I connect via cellular network it *does* work. This is using the same poivy.com account.
* I also tethered the laptop to the iPhone and went out over cellular using X-Lite, and it worked fine.

So looks like I can change everything except the UPC box and it fails. Or if I go out over 3G instead of UPC it works.

The problem is, I've never changed any settings on the UPC box. There is no IP filtering, no port forwarding, just the factory settings. Before three days ago everything worked fine. Now it doesn't. Apart from the new VoIP problems I don't seem to have any other problems with UPC internet, which is fairly flawless.

I'm completely stumped at this stage.

Mr. G

Try disabling the SPI firewall feature on the horizon. Sounds like the traffic is being blocked by something anyway.

Which way is the one-way audio?

ps200306

Mr. G wrote: »

Try disabling the SPI firewall feature on the horizon. Sounds like the traffic is being blocked by something anyway.

Which way is the one-way audio?

The outgoing audio works. Incoming doesn't. I can make a call but can't hear anything from the other end even though they can hear me. I'm not sure there is any way to disable the Horizon's firewall. This is all its firewall settings:



I've tried disabling the "WAN blocking" option, but to no avail:



Just to mention again -- I've never changed any settings on the UPC box before. Nothing's changed on it, unless there was some sort of automatic software update.

10-10-20

I think I fowarded the ports on my UPC Cisco router for the Siemens.

Yeah - here it is:

Port:
5060 - TCP & UDP.
5004 to 5020 - TCP & UDP.

Works with Blueface for these ranges. Before this, the call would place ok, but would terminate at 20 sec.
If this still doesn't work you could BRIEFLY place the phone into the DMZ and see whether that makes a difference. DO NOT leave it in the DMZ.
Otherwise, as far as I can recall, one of the SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) features can cause this too.

ps200306

10-10-20 wrote: »

I think I fowarded the ports on my UPC Cisco router for the Siemens.

Yeah - here it is:

Port:
5060 - TCP & UDP.
5004 to 5020 - TCP & UDP.

Works with Blueface for these ranges. Before this, the call would place ok, but would terminate at 20 sec.
If this still doesn't work you could BRIEFLY place the phone into the DMZ and see whether that makes a difference. DO NOT leave it in the DMZ.
Otherwise, as far as I can recall, one of the SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) features can cause this too.

Bingo! Gave the phone a static IP and forwarded those ports and it's working fine again. The only puzzle is how it worked exactly as is, across Eircom and UPC broadband, and four different routers including the current UPC box, without fail for five years or so. Then all of a sudden it stops working 3 days ago! Anyway, many thanks for the help!

kippy

ps200306 wrote: »

Bingo! Gave the phone a static IP and forwarded those ports and it's working fine again. The only puzzle is how it worked exactly as is, across Eircom and UPC broadband, and four different routers including the current UPC box, without fail for five years or so. Then all of a sudden it stops working 3 days ago! Anyway, many thanks for the help!

That UPC box is relatively new though is it not?

Mr. G

kippy wrote: »

That UPC box is relatively new though is it not?

Yes it is.

It sounds like a NAT or a firewall problem.

You should not need to set up port forwarding when you are registering with the servers.

Try setting up STUN on the device and see how you get on.

ps200306

STUN has always been on, for the last several years. The UPC box is relatively new, but has been working fine for a good couple of months before these problems. On day one, when it arrived, I just plugged the Siemens out of the old UPC box and into the new one, and it worked with no additional configuration -- using DHCP and no forwarding. (I dislike having to give things fixed IPs ... one more thing to break when the next box is on a different network).

Greentree_uk

Have same problem does anyone have a solution, must be an update pushed down by UPC...

Greentree_uk

figured it out just redirected the port range 10000-19999 to the phone and 5060

ps200306

That's a big port range! I got away with the ones suggested by 10-10-20 above.

Mr. G

ps200306 wrote: »

That's a big port range! I got away with the ones suggested by 10-10-20 above.

Rtp port range is usually 10000-20000 on most systems. Leave 4 ports per concurrent call and don't go out of the ftp range of 10000-20000 as it may cause call quality issues.

Again, you're registering with your provider, so you shouldn't need to forward any ports.

ps200306

Mr. G wrote: »

Rtp port range is usually 10000-20000 on most systems. Leave 4 ports per concurrent call and don't go out of the ftp range of 10000-20000 as it may cause call quality issues.

Again, you're registering with your provider, so you shouldn't need to forward any ports.

But again, it stops working if I don't.