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Switched from GV to PhonePower - intermittent "not configured"

Started by EdWilliams, April 23, 2014, 10:59:06 AM

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EdWilliams

  I've had my OBI100 for over a year, using GV with no problems.  Anticipating the loss of GV, I switched to PhonePower which I configured on SP2, made it the default for outgoing calls and left GV on SP1.  It worked immediately - BUT about once every two days, the phone stops working.  If I dial out, I get a "service not configured" message.  Rebooting the OBI fixes the problem.  I deleted GV on SP1, in case that was somehow the issue,  but that had no effect.
 Any ideas?  I didn't change anything other than the provider, but the phone has gone from very reliable to flakey.

adutchman

Quote from: EdWilliams on April 23, 2014, 10:59:06 AM
 I've had my OBI110 for over a year, using GV with no problems.  Anticipating the loss of GV, I switched to PhonePower which I configured on SP2, made it the default for outgoing calls and left GV on SP1.  It worked immediately - BUT about once every two days, the phone stops working.  If I dial out, I get a "service not configured" message.  Rebooting the OBI fixes the problem.  I deleted GV on SP1, in case that was somehow the issue,  but that had no effect.
 Any ideas?  I didn't change anything other than the provider, but the phone has gone from very reliable to flakey.

I also signed up with PhonePower and configured it on SP2, made it the default for outgoing calls and left GV on SP1.

It also worked immediately and then this afternoon, when I tried to make a call, I got "service not configured" message as well.

After rebooting the device all was good again.  I hope this is not a sign of the way things are going to be.

Update:  I removed the Google Voice configuration completely (it was on SP1) and move the SIP (PhonePower) from SP2 to SP1.  So far so good.  I will see how it is in the morning.

jimbo_obi

Same problem here. When this happens, the phone light is OFF on the OBi device, and I can't make calls. However, when I log into the OBi device web page, it shows the service is still registered.

I need to reboot my OBi100 daily. Does anyone have any advice on configuration changes that may avoid this problem?
Keep-alive, registration period, etc.?

adutchman

Here is some more information on this problem:

When trying to make calls from the outside or a cell phone to my PhonePower phone number, I get a recorded message that says "(my phone #) can't take your call now.  To transfer to a fax machine press 7.  At the tone please record your message.  When you have finished recording, simply hang up or press # for further options."  Then I get a beep.

When I login to OBiTalk and check the dashboard, the SP1 shows OBi PhonePower with status Registered.

If I restart the device all is good again.

Taoman

Quote from: adutchman on April 24, 2014, 02:03:23 PM
Here is some more information on this problem:

When trying to make calls from the outside or a cell phone to my PhonePower phone number, I get a recorded message that says "(my phone #) can't take your call now.  To transfer to a fax machine press 7.  At the tone please record your message.  When you have finished recording, simply hang up or press # for further options."  Then I get a beep.

This is because the call is going to PhonePower's voicemail system which you haven't set up yet. I realize this doesn't explain why the calls aren't going thru to your Obi device but that is why you are hearing that recording.

adutchman

Quote from: Taoman on April 24, 2014, 02:20:16 PM

This is because the call is going to PhonePower's voicemail system which you haven't set up yet. I realize this doesn't explain why the calls aren't going thru to your Obi device but that is why you are hearing that recording.

Actually I did set up the voice mail.  It is even forwarding the messages to my e-mail address.  No, there is definitely a problem.

I was just on a TechChat with PhonePower.  He told me on to make sure that SIP ALG is disabled on my Netgear router and then to following the instructions at this URL...

http://www.phonepower.com/wiki/Obihai_Lite#Obihai_Initial_Sync

I will check things out when I get home later are report back.

kealolo

I have had the same problem with my Obi100 and PhonePower.

Did a tech chat with the phonepower site and he had me re-submit the information on the obihai site and then reboot the device. Sounds from this like rebooting the device would have been sufficient.

Clearly, this is a problem. 

It's even a bigger problem if you read the fine print - once can only get out of the annual phonepower contract for the first 30 days, after that you write off your year's charges if you leave.

I asked the chat tech guy how often I could expect this to happen and whether they were having any incompatibility with obi devices.   He blamed the "portal", and when I asked for clarification he meant the Obi website.

But it seems like there is a real problem of dropped service with utterly no warning... nice that they include E911, but damn glad I wasn't calling E911 last night because we had no phone service.

ObiHai needs to weigh in on this.  Any Obi people posting here?

all best...

adutchman

After getting home I checked my Netgear router as the PhonePower tech support person suggested.  I found the Disable SIP ALG setting and it was not checked.  This means that SIP ALG is in fact enabled.  I checked the box and disabled SIP ALG and restarted by OBi100 device.

I remember having to do the same thing a few years ago on my old Linksys router when I was using a MagicJack which is also a SIP device.

My OBi100 device and phone service always seems to work for a while after restarting it.  It always seemed to not be working sometime the following day.  I will post an update tomorrow to let everyone know how it turns out.

I found a short article about SIP ALG and why VoIP providers often recommend that you turn it off here...
https://support.gradwell.com/entries/23128463-What-is-SIP-ALG-and-why-does-Gradwell-recommend-that-I-turn-it-off-

For those that are having this same problem after switch from Google Voice to a standard VoIP provider, what have you got to lose.  See if your router has a SIP ALG setting and disable it.  You can always change it back.


adutchman

Here is an e-mail response from Obihai Support Team...

Do this:
1. Look at your router's configuration.
Go to your router's (the router that OBi is connected to) configuration and disable "SIP ALG"
For example:
http://screenshots.portforward.com/routers/Netgear/WGR614v9/WAN_Setup.htm
     Google Voice is not SIP, therefore you never had to do this.

2. After you have saved the setting, reboot your router to make sure that the setting is applied.

3. Now try to make calls out again.

-Obihai Support Team

EdWilliams

  I have an ASUS RT-N66U ("Dark Knight") router.  I couldn't find any SIP settings either on the web interface or by telnetting in and executing  "nvram show|grep sip".
  I then updated the firmware to the latest version 3.0.0.4.374_720.
  I now have a new toggle under  WAN|NAT Passthrough for SIP passthrough. (also with the telnet there's a new variable fw_pt_sip=1).
  For the moment I've left it enabled to see what happens.  The article https://support.gradwell.com/entries/23128463-What-is-SIP-ALG-and-why-does-Gradwell-recommend-that-I-turn-it-off-  suggests to turn it off because it may be poorly implemented.  If the firmware upgrade doesn't fix things, I'll try turning the NAT passthrough off.


adutchman

This morning I tried to call me house but it went straight to voicemail and it was really important that I get through because nobody in the house was answering their cell phones.

Then just now,  without changing anything, I tried calling the house number from my cell and the call when through.  I also have a dial tone to make outgoing calls.

Perhaps things are working okay now, but I have my doubts.

PeterFales

FWIW, I've been experiencing the same thing with my phonepower account - once a week or so, it will simply stop working.  My OBi is connected directly to the cable modem (no firewall or router), so the SIP-ALG settings do not apply.  Also, (while trying to figure out what to do with the OBi in the post-GV world), I have three SIP accounts on my OBi 202 - I have never seen this type of random failure with the Anveo or Vestalink accounts. 

adutchman

Update:

Steps taken last night (4/25/2014)...

1) Rebooted router to make sure SIP ALG setting change took effect.

2) Completely reset OBi100 device by following instructions provided by PhonePower beginning with step # 2 - ReSetting your Obihai.  Here is the link they provided http://www.phonepower.com/wiki/Obihai_Lite
Note that I did not press the reset button located on your Obihai phone adapter

3) Restarted OBi100 device.

As of 3:00 pm today (4/26/2014) everything is still working as it should be.

MsCint3

I, too, had these same problems. First off, I chose Phonepower voip. I was knocked off of the system twice. In both cases I had noticed that my config info was missing. The 1st time i manually replaced the info and went to the phone power site to sync the devices. The next morning no service. The second time I configured through Obitalk approved service providers section. I tabbed on the phone power followed the promps and placed phonepower in the sp1 and left googlevoice in the sp2 section. After the configs were done, I returned to the phonepower site to sync the devices.  Earlier I had tried to remove GV to replace with CircleNet voip in sp2.  It messed up everything so I reconfig to GV. Now, I have been on for 2 days with no probs.
I hope that this advice works for you as well it has for me.
Good Luck!!

bucksitter

I'm glad to have checked this forum on this matter, as I was attempting to do the setup of Phone Power (using an OBi 100 currently on GV,  from the "Approved Providers" page).  My problem is that the page will not let me select either the OBi device or the SP slot (from the pulldowns).  No info is in the pulldown.  And when I try and click the "Signup at PhonePower" button, it turns those previous fields red and says I haven't chosen anything. This isn't looking good, OBi!  I really wanted to choose the OBi Lite offering from PhonePower.

Update 5/3/14:  Turns out in order for my OBi device and all to display I had to be logged into OBi using my Google account, and not just my Yahoo mail account. After this things showed up correctly and I was able to sign up for the PhonePower deal.  However, even though I'm keeping GV on SP1 until May 15, on SP 2 I can't get better than a "Registered" in the Dashboard for PhonePower.  The Dashboard won't accept my PhonePower VoIP number with a "1" for country code. Says I have to limit it to 11 characters (which this is), but the Dashboard is appending the sip.phonepower.com into that field.  Don't know what's up with this.

EdWilliams

Quote from: EdWilliams on April 24, 2014, 07:08:42 PM
  I have an ASUS RT-N66U ("Dark Knight") router.  I couldn't find any SIP settings either on the web interface or by telnetting in and executing  "nvram show|grep sip".
  I then updated the firmware to the latest version 3.0.0.4.374_720.
  I now have a new toggle under  WAN|NAT Passthrough for SIP passthrough. (also with the telnet there's a new variable fw_pt_sip=1).
  For the moment I've left it enabled to see what happens.  The article https://support.gradwell.com/entries/23128463-What-is-SIP-ALG-and-why-does-Gradwell-recommend-that-I-turn-it-off-  suggests to turn it off because it may be poorly implemented.  If the firmware upgrade doesn't fix things, I'll try turning the NAT passthrough off.



  To follow up on this, this morning I got the same "Service not Configured" message.  I've now disabled SIP Passthrough on the router and I'll see if this does anything useful.

ageek

I registered for PP and set it up about a week ago. It worked fine for 2 or 3 days and then suddenly stopped working (outgoing calls gave a service not available message). I found some references where people were saying disabling SIP made a difference and others that said putting the Obi's IP in the DMZ fixed this issue, so I did both per PP's instructions for my router: http://www.phonepower.com/wiki/D-Link_DIR_655

So far, so good but I will have to wait to see if this is a permanent fix. Maybe this will help someone.

adutchman

Quote from: adutchman on April 26, 2014, 01:14:08 PM
Update:

Steps taken last night (4/25/2014)...

1) Rebooted router to make sure SIP ALG setting change took effect.

2) Completely reset OBi100 device by following instructions provided by PhonePower beginning with step # 2 - ReSetting your Obihai.  Here is the link they provided http://www.phonepower.com/wiki/Obihai_Lite
Note that I did not press the reset button located on your Obihai phone adapter

3) Restarted OBi100 device.

As of 3:00 pm today (4/26/2014) everything is still working as it should be.


4/27/2014 Update:

I was out shopping this afternoon and called the house phone and my call went straight to voicemail.  I called my son's cell phone and asked him to pick up the house phone.  He did and told me that there was a dial tone.  I told him to hang it up.

I tried calling the house phone again, and again, it went straight to voicemail.  This is very frustrating.

When I got home about 1 hour later, I picked up the house phone and got a dial tone.  I hung it up and called from my cell.  This time the phone rang.

I'm not sure what is going on, but it isn't good.  I've never had these kind of issues when I was using GV with the OBi100.

fugley4651

Hello everybody!

I'm having the SAME problem everyone else is having. I have done a factory reset on the OBI 100, reconfigered the OBI device and the PhonePower configuration, and have disabled the sip on my Netgear router. After doing this, I'm still having to reset the Obi constantly. I have 2 weeks left on my 1st month of signing up with PhonePower, and I'm going to cancel unless there's a fix on this issue. It's strange that the first week and a half it worked perfectly with no problems. Thanks to everyone here for all your suggestions. I've tried them all to no avail!

SteveInWA

I suggest trying a different service provider.   There are plenty to choose from, and it will a) troubleshoot whether it's the provider vs. your setup, and b) help you find a provider that actually provides reliable service.  There's just no excuse for it being so flaky.