HELP ! Callcentric... service is dead

[Tim-In-Forum]

Since at least all day yesterday my service doesn't work and no way to talk to a human.

Can anybody recommend a replacement service? PLEASE!

All I get is a email saying "we know, we are working on it"

inbound rings... sometimes... then disconnects
outbound plays a message about "no response from service provider"

registrations seem to fail

[bryanlyle]

Seems they were attacked with a DDoS.

twitter.com/callcentric

[CoalMinerRetired]

Also under discussion here: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27591360-CallCentric-tech-issues-today-

[Rick]

Workaround posted on their site when you log in...

I use them for 911 only.  Disappointing to just learn it has been down for days... 

[Dixon]

They should have notified their customers if they are able. I just found out this morning when I set off my home alarm and the home phone didn't ring. Only my cell rang.

Edit: And I use them for 911 too.

[jimates]

Yes, they should have sent an email. I got one a couple weeks ago about line congestion.

[jimates]

I use Callcentric for all my incoming calls. In the last 4 days I have had most of my calls dropped when I try to answer them. Google forwards the calls fine, and they come to the Obi. My call history for most of them say failed busy. The phone rings but when I answer I hear nothing.

Switching back to google voice directly to see if the problem goes away.

[QBZappy]

This Callcentric system failure is a good lesson for everyone who depends on voip for 911 and alarm systems. As if we need this, once again we have another example that Voip service is not as dependable as POTS, or even cellular service. When was the last time anyone ever hear that your cell service was down?
If 911 or alarm systems are important to you, it seems that a fallback plan is necessary. A fallback strategy involving another voip account, gsm, or POTS line needs to be considered.

An early warning system would also be interesting, as I can see that a few people were surprised to read on this forum that CC was down and didn't realize the implications of 911 availability.

Early warning system can be anything in house if you a have a server running 24/7 or cloud based solutions. An interesting one since everyone here has a gmail account is to consider using a little know feature of Google called "Google Alerts Monitor". ( http://www.google.com/alerts ) In the Search query we can type a
1) search criteria something like: Callcentric down OR Callcentric Network down OR OBiTALK down OR obitalk service down OR voipms down ("OR" adds another search term, you get the idea)
2) Result type: Everything
3) How often: As it happens
4) How many: Only the best results
5) Your email: yourname@gmail.com (An email will be sent to your attention alerting you of a potential problem)

In house solutions can be found by searching for Network Monitoring Tools. Some of these in house are overkill, however I have seen a few light weight free solutions that sit in your tray.

10 Free Server & Network Monitoring Tools that Kick Ass
http://sixrevisions.com/tools/10-free-server-network-monitoring-tools-that-kick-ass/

I found this free app which can send emails, when a server is down. The basic idea is to ping any or all of the following services offered by your OBi unit, the sip provider, OBiTALK server, and receive an email when there is a problem. If anyone finds another app which can notify via email or SMS please let me know.

Serio IT Service View, a free network monitoring tool
http://www.seriosoft.com/service-view/main.htm
http://www.seriosoft.com/service-view/feature-matrix.htm

Cloud based test. This site can be scripted to deliver emails.
http://www.upordown.net/callcentric.com.html

[HMishra]

QBZappy,

While I agree with your strategy of having a backup service capable of dialing 911, the monitoring script suggested by you would not have helped in this situation with CallCentric.

The reason being, at no time during this outage, the main site was down. The ddos was targeted at their sip registration servers which do not reply to pings anyway. Unfortunately, this was an instance where you would have come to know of the outage only when trying to use their service. A backup/failover path to 911 would have been the only way to be prepared for emergencies. One possibility of setting up failover is using dial trunks although there might be others beyond the obvious way of using maybe a cell# as backup.

-Hiranmoy

[QBZappy]

HMishra,

The "Google Alerts Monitor" approach is not testing any server. It basically looks for threads on the topic which is then reported to you via email. It is an indirect way of testing.

[HMishra]

Ok, I see now how it can useful despite the possibility of false positives.

[lhm.]

HMishra's suggestion is similar to what I am using, gv911.com and dialing in to a PSTN/DID {(<911:14242798234>):sp1} and Phone Port has a primary line of TrunkGroup1 w/3 providers. Any calls to the gv911 # that are not in their caller id database are forwarded to a national 911 call center, where a live person will forward the call to my local 911 emergency center.  My area supports www.smart911.com, so my cell is a good alternative as well. CallCentric has a similar national 911 call center setup/failover, it's just not reachable via PSTN/DID.  

[Rick]

An early warning system would also be interesting, as I can see that a few people were surprised to read on this forum that CC was down and didn't realize the implications of 911 availability.

...An interesting one since everyone here has a gmail account is to consider using a little know feature of Google called "Google Alerts Monitor". ( http://www.google.com/alerts ) In the Search query we can type a
1) search criteria something like: Callcentric down OR Callcentric Network down OR OBiTALK down OR obitalk service down OR voipms down ("OR" adds another search term, you get the idea)
2) Result type: Everything
3) How often: As it happens
4) How many: Only the best results
5) Your email: yourname@gmail.com (An email will be sent to your attention alerting you of a potential problem)

I was one who found out that Callcentric was down via the Obi forum.  I made the changes late last night and was (and still am) up and running.  I then said to my wife "maybe I need to call the test number daily".  Just read your post and went "DUH".  Setup an alert immediately.  Freakin' right in front of my nose.  I use the alerts to monitor business news, but no reason I can't get a Callcentric or OBi alert. 

Thanks!   

[Rick]

I have to say I was appalled to log into Callcentric today and see that the solution they came up with is no longer working because "Unfortunately due to this new information being publicly released, outside of Callcentric, our new servers have also been affected. As such, the work-around that we developed and the information provided yesterday will no longer work.".

I am shocked that their solution was foiled because anyone with the new server info can now attack the new servers.  I figured they had developed a solution on the new servers, not just sent traffic elsewhere.  Posting the solution publicly is a bad excuse, any idiot trying to sabotage Callcentric simply needs a free account and to log on and see the solution.

I certainly hope they've contacted the proper authorities including the FBI or other agencies.  Preventing E911 calls from going through WILL result in loss of life, and the person doing this will be liable for manslaughter.

[carl]

QBZappy : I experienced several longer lasting failures of the cellular system and I am not talking about issues like congested system which does not allow you to make an outgoing call . I even experienced POTS failures.
Back up is indeed the way to go; and not just because of 911 which is just one of mukltiple issues for me. I have a back up cell phone, prepaid from different provider on an entirely different network and 3 VOIP providers.
But I am truly frustrated that such a highly rated company as Callectric did not bother to send out an e-mail about the problem. I only use Callcentric a couple of times a week and I found out about it from this forum. This is bad.

[CoalMinerRetired]

Incoming calls through Callcentric are still dead air for me.  Current configuration is using the correct srv prefix.

Today already I had two such calls, so back to Forward to > Google Chat, uncheck forwarding to the CallCentric number.

[jimates]

My CC calls have not been good since the day before the attack. I get the ring, I get the caller id with name; but when I answer I hear nothing and my other forwarding phones from GV continue to ring.

It is like I never answered the call. But my call history shows "failed busy' for each of the problem calls.

[CoalMinerRetired]

There's an informative thread on BBR/DSLR, the main points being: Attack is not over yet, different people are experiencing different call quality (or lack thereof), and CC seems to be handling it wevy well but everybody is anxious.

Unfortunately I'm in the 'lack thereof' category for call quality.

[carl]

Seems to be working fine for me. For updates :
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27591360-CallCentric-tech-issues-today-~start=440