Port Forwarding

[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.

[jjocsak]

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.

Yes that is true. I was just curious because the ATA disconnected the other day and I had to power cycle to get it back. It was on, but the phone line lights were not.

I have this RT31P2 device behind my router and was wondering if was something that would factor in.

Jeff

[chpalmer]

Yes that is true. I was just curious because the ATA disconnected the other day and I had to power cycle to get it back. It was on, but the phone line lights were not.

I have this RT31P2 device behind my router and was wondering if was something that would factor in.

Jeff

Sorry for the hijack attempt.. Im good at that.

As for the RT31P2- No that is not something port forwarding should fix.

The ATA tries to re-register at a specified time period. If that registration does not make it to the server and back, the lights will go out.

[jjocsak]

Sorry for the hijack attempt.. Im good at that.

As for the RT31P2- No that is not something port forwarding should fix.

The ATA tries to re-register at a specified time period. If that registration does not make it to the server and back, the lights will go out.

Interesting, do you have any idea what time that may be?
Is that daily?

Jeff

[burris]

If VOIPo is provisioning your ATA, then only they can set it or change it...be sure to describe your problem when you submit a ticket..

[gls101]

I think that when these isolated problems occur, they are as a result of mis-management on the users setup, and these work-arounds should only be necessary in rare cases when a diagnosis is not available or perhaps when there are esoteric setups that fall outside the realm of provider supplied and provisioned ATAs.

I can think of one other cause - the crap that router vendors peddle to unsuspecting end users.

I fought a Linksys RVL200 VPN router for over a year. It would do VPN semi-decently, but that was about it. Even though it offered the ability to do port forwarding (among other 'features') in the setup menus, the feature didn't consistently work, and trying to run an ATA behind it was almost impossible. I could forward a port and verify that it worked one day, only to find it closed a few days later, with nothing changed in the setup. And this was while running the latest available firmware. It was a complete joke of a router.

I finally flashed a WRT54GS with Tomato (with OpenVPN), and that was the end of my problems. Port forwarding was no longer needed for either of my ATA's, and the VPN feature is like night and day compared to the junk RVL200. Even my data throughput is better.

I suppose this could be classified as 'mis-management on the users setup', but it was caused by the design of the manufacturer. I often wonder how many others are victims of absolute junk foisted on the public by manufacturers that expect us to do their beta testing.

Gary Sanders

[burris]

Gary..

You certainly made a good point..