Certain calls disconnect after 15 minutes

Hello,

I am currently using the OBI100 for my phone adapter. Whenever I make certain calls, such as to a landline number, the calls automatically disconnect after 15 minutes. I'm not sure if this is an issue with VOIPO or the router I have the phone adapter hooked up to. I am using the Cisco WRT310N Router. This seems to only be happening with certain numbers, as I called a cell phone number and was able to be on the call for over 30 minutes with a disconnect.

If you believe this is a Voipo issue, I'll put in a ticket to support.

Thanks,

Chris

It sounds like your router is blocking / not replying to SIP re-invites at certain time intervals.....

Read this similar issue from a customer at Phonepower:

http://www.phonepower.com/forum/topic.php?id=1190

The tech says "The most common reason for calls dropping around the 10 - 15 minute mark is due to the device not receiving / or replying to the re-invite our server sends out to keep the call leg active. The way to resolve this is to either configure the nat so we have direct access and no ports being blocked, or to bypass any router and connect the ata directly to a cable modem that does not have any layers of nat."

You'll probably find this issue goes away if you directly connect the ATA to your cable/DSL modem (bypassing the router). This is not an option in your case since you won't be able to connect your router anymore.

Try these steps in your router:

1) Disable SIP ALG. Log into your router and look under the different tabs/settings and see if there is an option to disable "SIP ALG". This option is usually found under the "Administration" tab on Cisco routers, but not always. If you can't find the option, then it's likely builit-in to the router's firmware and can't be turned off. If this is the case, you may want to consider changing the firmware to DD-WRT which has the ability to turn this feature off.

2) Log into your router and assign your ATA a static IP, then either forward UDP ports 5000-65000 to the ATA's assigned static IP or place it in the router's DMZ. This may resolve your issue, but keep in mind this exposes the ATA with little to no firewall which can cause unwanted SIP probes/scans from hackers.

Since you are BYOD, I'm not sure how much Voipo support team can help but it doesn't hurt to ask....

Assuming that re-invite is indeed the root cause of disconnection after 15 minutes, I would suggest change the settings on OBi instead of tinkering with the router. Take a look at the values in Service Providers -> ITSP Profile X SIP (where X is A or B depending on your setup). By default, RegistrationPeriod is 60 seconds, which should be more then enough to re-register in time. Also take a look if any of the "Expires" settings are not default. I've been using OBi with Voipo for about a year (first 100, and now 202), and never experienced this problem

Regarding suggestion 1 above - I wholeheartedly agree that it's a good idea to disable SIP ALG, but I can't see how it would help in this situation.

Suggestion 2... try it for troubleshooting to identify the root cause, but then put it back and fix the root cause. Leaving OBi open seems like taking unnecessary risk. Just sayin'

Hi,

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I did attempt to load dt-WRT on the Cisco/Linksys Router, but unfortunately I believe I wrecked the router in the process. The upgrade didn't finish and the web session interupted the update, for whatever reason. Anyway, I did have a NetGear WNR1000 lying around, so i just decided to configure that one to work. I was able to disable SIP ALG on that router. But, I made a test call and sure enough.. still disconnected after 15 minutes. Voipo Support also suggested I enable port forwarding from 5000-65000. So, i just did that. Not sure if that will work or not. I haven't made another test call.

Will be interesting to see if this gets resolved or not. I'm curious if it is the OBI100 doing this? Unfortunately i don't have another phone adapter to try.

Chris

What happens if you reset your router according to instructions?

Like I said, I have OBi with Voipo service and never had this problem. Did you check the settings that I listed? Are they set to default?

Personally, I don't like DD-WRT; I prefer OpenWRT - but now I have a very primitive router that is built into DSL modem, and I still don't have a problem. And we make 2-3 calls every day that are more than 15 minutes. So, I would look closer to OBi settings, and you can always ask questions on OBi forum - there are a lot of friendly knowledgeable folks there.

As far as forwarding ports 5000-65000, I am at a loss how it could relate to getting disconnected. Unless, perhaps, "disconnected" really means that you don't hear the other party. Still, the other party would hear you! In short, I think you are solving the wrong problem. But I may be wrong...

Hi There,

I've been busy, not much time to troubleshoot the past week. :) But, the router itself I think is finished. I tried the reset several times with no luck. That's ok. I was going to replace it soon anyway. The Obi settings are all set to default. The really interesting thing here though, is that it seems only landline numbers are disconnecting after 15 minutes. If I call a Verizon cell phone, for instance, I do not get disconnected. I was just on a 25 minute call this morning to a cell. So, if it's only certain numbers that are getting disconnected, wouldn't that rule out an issue with either the router or the phone adapter? I guess maybe I should hook up the Grandstream adapter again to see if the landlines still disconnect. I think that's the only way Voipo will investigate anyway, since they don't support the Obi.

Thanks again for your help.

Chris

Sounds like depending on the destination phone number you are calling and what upstream carrier is negotiating the call there may or may not be a re-invite happening at the 15 minute mark on some of your calls. This is a series of packets that establishes a re-negotiation of the connection / call behind the scenes. This usually includes INVITE / 200 OK / ACK. There could be a few reasons why the call is dropping; however it is likely related to a failed dialog on the re-invite in which the re-invite ACK is not correctly happening. This could be the result of a SIP ALG, Firewall, broken user-agent-client (some older devices) incorrectly handle this. It also could be the result of a mangled callid, fromtag, totag, or on older devices (from uri, to uri, etc) .. etc. Just some things to think about and look into.

Hi there Folks,

Well, looks like I resolved the issue with the calls getting disconnected after 15 minutes. I switched the phone adapter to the Linksys PapT2 and no more issues are happening of that nature. Very interesting. So, I'm guessing it had something to do with the settings on the OBI.

It's too bad, because the OBI seemed to work fine otherwise. But, the PapT2 seems to be very good. I managed to find all the settings for it by doing web searches. I'm obviously by no means an expert with this stuff. The number of different settings available are pretty mind boggling. I guess that's why the software developers make the big bucks. :) Thanks again everyone.

Chris

By the way, OBi has terrific logging capability that could shed some light as to why re-invite was failing. Obviously, if PAP2 is working, and if you don't dozens of OBi features that PAP doesn't have ;) then it ain't broke and there is no point fixing it...

But if PAP2 is fine - then why did you replace Voipo's Grandstream in the first place?