Is a router a necessity?
SteveInWA:
Thanks. In one of your posts, you had mentioned "mainland China version...", so I was checking to see if you were in China, where the government aggressively blocks VoIP and VPNs that try to circumvent their restrictions.
I'd just add-to Robert's suggestion as an alternative to OBi, and as a capability test: try installing and using the mobile Google Hangouts client on an Android or iOS device, over your WiFi connection. Hangouts can use ports other than the typical VoIP clients, and it may work where the OBi fails.
SteveInWA:
Also: acknowledging that this is a long thread with a lot of experimentation, but it seems like starting with the basics hasn't been adequately covered:
Forget for the moment about "bridging", and adding extra routers. From my understanding, your source of internet service is via a WiFi connection to your service provider. So, for example, when you're using your Windows laptop, you're using a WiFi connection on the laptop to your ISP. In other words, this is similar to sitting at a Starbucks or other place with available WiFi internet service, if I understood your comments.
Go to this website, and run their SIP VoIP test: http://myspeed.visualware.com/index.php
This will accurately simulate a true end-to-end VoIP connection. Therefore, it will definitively tell you two things:
Does your ISP allow or block VoIP traffic?If it allows the traffic, does your WiFi signal strength and overall network performance support reliable VoIP conversations?
If yes to the first question, and you score a 4.0 or higher on the second question, then you can use VoIP on an OBi or on a soft phone client.
Next: you should be able to install a basic softphone SIP VoIP client on your Windows laptop, set it up with a SIP internet telephone service provider, and see how it performs. I like Counterpath's X-Lite, but there are other good clients, too. You can get an inexpensive VoIP account on voip.ms (Canadian company, eh) or Callcentric (NYC company), with an inbound telephone number. Either of these providers are fully supported on OBi devices, and both provide excellent performance and customer support.
If it works, then you can also connect an OBi 200 or 202 with an OBiWiFi dongle to that same WiFi network, and use it just like you'd use the softphone.
drgeoff:
Quote from: JohnSV on August 11, 2015, 08:29:51 am
Have almost given up hope to get my OBi100 connected. After my last posting I retried the bridge approach as suggested by azrobert, by first disconnecting my virtual router. But while the connection to the Meraki network remained showing active, no signal to the internet came through. This provided the proof that the Meraki admin. here blocks bridged connections. Then when I received the TL-WR702N and finally got that working in client mode (it's a Mainland Chinese version logging into a ditto website to set it up, so I needed some help with that), the phone-light indicator of the OBi blacked out after a few seconds of activity. ***1 provided an IP address in the range of the virtual router, dhcp is enabled, +02 (whatever that means). So I guess there is a way to detect an upstream bridged? signal and block that as well? BTW, my PC connection to the internet remains unaffected this time. Any thoughts on it all, or is this the end of the line?
1. Are you certain that you had the 702N configured correctly to act as a client on the virtual router? You could check that by connecting your laptop to the 702's ethernet port and disabling the laptop's WiFi.
2. Does the virtual router allow communication between its clients?
3. I assume your reference to "mainland China version" and "ditto website" meant Chinese firmware and Chinese language in the config screens. Have you got those changed to English versions?
JohnSV:
@SteveINWA
First, you're right about my wifi set up. Followed your advice and installed hangouts on my iPhone 4s. Installation went okay but when I dialed out I got "unexpected account registration error". Thought that was specific to my problem but checked the hangouts help forum. And apparently a few other people got the same error message, but without any working solution on offer. Still don't know if hangouts in principle works for incoming calls and I could drop my prepaid telco, or if it's just a skype alternative.
Then got your latest reply and did the voip test. Three errors... 1. Firewall blocking upstream test, default port 20001. 2. Firewall blocking downstream test, default port 20000. 3. MVLS03 VOIP packets arriving out of order. I guess these are, not unblockable by me, server ports? And so it's a no-go? For hangouts too? Also did a speed test. Download 6.32Mbps, upload 828kbps; so that would be enough...
@drgeoff, thanks for replying too! 1. The 702N shows up in the list of client peer connections (together with my android tablet and iPhone) to my virtual router. 2. How could I test for that? 3. TP-LINK makes a simplified version of the 702N for its home market. Its firmware is for a quick install only, and it's non-changeable to English.
drgeoff:
Quote from: JohnSV on August 13, 2015, 11:21:40 pm
3. TP-LINK makes a simplified version of the 702N for its home market. Its firmware is for a quick install only, and it's non-changeable to English.
Googling says otherwise. eg
https://spafdroid.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/flashing-chinese-tp-link-wr702n-with-english-firmware/comment-page-1/
and posts 57 to 60 at https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=41040&p=3 confirming it works. But post 78 says no success on unit with latest Chinese firmware so YMMV.
2. You can test that by having laptop, tablet and Obi with 702 connected to virtual router. Get the OBi's address by ***1. Try to open that address in a browser on laptop and tablet. Do you get OBi's log-in prompt?
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