Obi100 No inbound calls, outbound works fine

[pbd3mon]

Hello,

I have been using my OBi100 for several years now without any issues but in the last 2 weeks we stopped receiving calls (outbound calls still work fine).  When I call from my cell I get silence for about 15-20 seconds and then a busy signal.  No changes have been made to any of the settings.  I tried the basics like rebooting the OBi and my modem but that did not work.  I have been digging around to find possible solutions to our problem but so far I haven't had any luck.

Here is some additional info:

- using Voip.ms
- using OBi100
- Made sure server on OBi100 matches the server registered with Voip.ms
- Dialed *79 to disable DND (do not disturb)
- Checked Voip.ms echo test and it worked fine
- Checked Voip.ms call record and I see the incoming calls on the list
- Logged into OBi100 web interface and I do not see any of the incoming calls only the outbound calls are on the list.

I think I have reached a limit of my technical ability so I hope that I can tap into the vast knowledge of this community and I'd like to thank everyone for their time and effort in advance.

pbd3mon

[SteveInWA]

Hi:  disclaimer:  I'm not a voip.ms customer, and so hopefully somebody who is, will chime in.

Just a couple of quick thoughts:  

If all inbound calls (tests you have made from your cell phone, and others, for example) appear on your voip.ms webpage as received, then it would seem that the inbound call route is working to their server, but failing to reach your SIP client (your OBi).  

Is your OBi 100 listed on your OBiTALK web portal account?  http://www.obitalk.com/obinet/pg/obhdev

If so, look at the status page, and click the device name, and view its status page.  Scroll down to look at the "status" column.  Does it say "Registered", or something else?

If your device is not on OBiTALK, then pick up the attached phone and press ***1 and write down the IP address it speaks to you.  Go to that address on your web browser, to view the status information.  You can also view the call history from that web page, to see if it shows the inbound calls.

The goal here is to see if there's a problem with your voip.ms setup on the OBi.

If it shows "Registered" but inbound calls fail, I'd suggest opening a ticket with voip.ms to troubleshoot.  If it isn't showing "Registered", you can try eliminating the OBi as the source of the problem by unplugging your OBi, then installing a SIP "softphone" client on your computer, and entering your voip.ms SIP server credentials (user name and SIP password), then trying inboubd and outbound calls.   Here's an easy-to-use and free softphone:  http://www.counterpath.com/x-lite/

If it works with X-Lite, but fails with the OBi, then you've got an OBi problem we can troubleshoot.

[pbd3mon]

SteveInWA,

Thank you for your reply,

The status of my OBi says Registered.  When I said "Logged into OBi100 web interface" I meant through the IP address, in the call history there I do not see any of the incoming calls only the outbound calls are on the list.

Should I still try troubleshooting with the softphone?  Or does this sound like an OBi issue?

[SteveInWA]

I think it would be worth it to try unplugging your OBi and trying it with X-Lite.  It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, and it will quickly determine if you have a configuration issue with your OBi.  If it fails in the same way as it does when using the OBi, then open a ticket with voip.ms.

By the way, have you changed anything at all with regard to your home network or internet service recently that might correlate with the failures beginning?

[BruceW]

Hello,
  You might want to try logging into your voip.ms Portal Home page.
Take a look at the "Issues and Mainteance" section and you will see
that there has been some problems with US DID numbers Inbound
issues. This problem has been going on since Dec 4th and not sure
all network issues have been fixed. You might at first try another server
like tampa - newyork - atlanta etc, to see if that helps. Other than that
open a trouble ticket with voip.ms and let them know what is going on.
They will help you out.
Bruce.

[pbd3mon]

Thank you for the suggestions, I do see the inbound issues listed on the site so I finally submitted a ticket but my guess is since the echo test worked just fine they'll tell me the DID is working properly on their end.  Worth a shot though.  When I find some free time I will try X-Lite.

Thanks guys.

[pbd3mon]

Hmm I got a reply from voip.ms and apparently the server IPs were changed I had the old one in my settings.  After updating the IP everything is back to normal.  It's kind of strange that the IPs were changed without any notifications... Anyhow thanks again, now I can rest. 

[SteveInWA]

Do you mean that you actually had the IP address, i.e. x.x.x.x in your configuration, instead of, for example, denver.voip.ms?  It's usually best to not configure devices with IP addresses, since, as you found, they may change over time, causing these issues.

[pbd3mon]

Yes I had actual IPs for the servers I use in my OBi settings Service providers menu >> ITSP Profile >> SIP >> at the "X_AccessList" option

I believe I did that in an effort to stop spam calls...I can't quite remember now.

[pbd3mon]

Well this is not good, my OBi just reverted back to my old IPs after accepting the new one and rebooting, and incoming calls don't work again.  Any reason it would do that?

I get this "Status   Registered (server=158.85.70.150:5060; expire in 59s)" after changing IP and rebooting and when the timer runs out it goes back to old IPs.  

[SteveInWA]

Yes...  you no doubt made the changes on the OBi's local web page interface.  OBiTALK takes precidence, and overwrites these changes.  So, log into your OBiTALK account, and update the setup for voip.ms from there.

If you don't want to use OBiTALK, you will need to disable it on the local web page interface, otherwise it will keep overwriting the configuration.

[pbd3mon]

Hi Steve,

I don't see any options to set IPs in OBiTALK.  How would I go about disabling OBiTALK on the local web page interface I can't find it.

[SteveInWA]

You don't need to enter any IP addresses.  Just use the voip.ms server name instead.

Log into your OBiTALK account dashboard.  Click the service provider you want to configure (i.e. SP1 or SP2).  It will take you to a page promoting Google Voice, Anveo, etc.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "OBiTALK Compatible service providers".  Then, click "voip.ms" and enter your credentials.

[Taoman]

Hi Steve,

I don't see any options to set IPs in OBiTALK.  How would I go about disabling OBiTALK on the local web page interface I can't find it.

It would be easier for you to change the ip address via the Obitalk web portal if that is how your device has been provisioned in the past. On the Obitalk web portal try this:

1>Click on gear icon with red "E" in the center for advanced configuration
2>Go to Service Provider>ITSP Profile SIP>X_AccessList
3>Make sure both boxes to the right of the field are unchecked
4>Enter the new ip address
5>Submit and save your changes

[Taoman]

You don't need to enter any IP addresses.  Just use the voip.ms server name instead.

That is not possible for the X_AccessList field. OP must enter an IP address.

The method you are describing for changing the voip.ms server name is not the issue. In fact, using the method you describe won't even allow you to enter an ip address. You must select a server off the list to be your POP server to avoid the specific problem you were referring to.

The X_AccessList field, designed to stop SIP scanners, must use a literal ip address.

[SteveInWA]

Well, my point was to not use IP addresses for the servers, since companies periodically change IP addresses, and so letting the DNS servers do the name-->number lookup is a best practice.  If this is a must-do*, then yes, your answer is perfect, thanks.

Edit:  *must-do, meaning that you're experiencing SIP scanner issues.  Personally, in all the years I've been using VoIP, I have never been hit with the problem.  Just lucky, I guess.

[Taoman]

Edit:  *must-do, meaning that you're experiencing SIP scanner issues.  Personally, in all the years I've been using VoIP, I have never been hit with the problem.  Just lucky, I guess.

Agreed. I didn't mean to imply that using voip.ms requires the use of that field. But since the OP is, he must use an ip address or just not use the field.
Likewise, in all the years I've been using a variety of SIP providers I've never experienced a SIP scanner issue. Nor have I ever had to put my OBi in a DMZ or forward a single port.........but I digress.

[SteveInWA]

Edit:  *must-do, meaning that you're experiencing SIP scanner issues.  Personally, in all the years I've been using VoIP, I have never been hit with the problem.  Just lucky, I guess.

Agreed. I didn't mean to imply that using voip.ms requires the use of that field. But since the OP is, he must use an ip address or just not use the field.
Likewise, in all the years I've been using a variety of SIP providers I've never experienced a SIP scanner issue. Nor have I ever had to put my OBi in a DMZ or forward a single port.........but I digress.

I guess we're in "violent agreement"!  I wasn't paying attention closely enough when OP pbd3mon mentioned the specific field he was configuring.  By the way, the "brand G" ATAs have several easy radio-button options to "harden" their ATA against scanning, including "Allow Incoming SIP Messages from SIP Proxy Only".  It would be nice if OBi devices had the same settings.

[pbd3mon]

Yes the reason why I set it up like that years ago was because we were getting SIP scanner calls in the middle of the night one after another.  Setting up the IP the way I have it stopped ALL of those calls since.

Either way I was able to save all my settings without losing them by changing several Auto Provisioning sections to the disabled option as per a tutorial I found.  Thanks guys and merry x-mas.