Newbie: Problems setting up Obi202 with Callcentric

[philbert1]

Hey Everyone -

I'm a techie guy and I thought today was going to loads of fun. Instead it's been hours and hours of frustration.

After doing a great deal of VOIP research, I settled on the Obi202 & Callcentric as a provider. My 202 arrived from Amazon on Thursday, but I waited until today to get everything set up. Unfortunately, I just can't seem to make an outgoing call over the 202 and Callcentric. In a nutshell, here's what's happening:

* My hardware setup is: Cable Modem -> Netgear WNDR4000 Router -> Obi202 (connected via the "Internet" port).
* My old POTS telephone is connected to the Obi's "Phone 1" port
* The Obi202's IP address is currently in the Netgear Router's DMZ (to avoid any firewall issues)
* I used the ObiTalk web portal to add the Obi202 device to my account. I also used the ObiTalk web portal to configure Callcentric as the Service Provider. So in the ObiTalk web portal, SP1 is listed as Callcentric with the word "Registered".  SP2 thru SP4 are "Not Configured"
* In my Callcentric web portal account, it says "Your phone is registered"
* Using the Obi202, I can make a test call to **9 222 222 222 (yay!)
* Using a software phone on my iMac, I can make outbound calls via my Callcentric account (yay!)
* Using Callcentric's "Click 2 Dial" system, I can sometimes get my telephone to ring. If I pick up the phone, then hang it up, then try to use "Click 2 Dial" a second time, Callcentric's web portal tells me "You are already on a call. Please hang up your existing call and try again."  Very odd.
* I'm simply unable to call out to anywhere besides the Obi "echo test" using my POTS phone connected to the Obi202. Any time I try, after 30 seconds of silence I hear "The number you dialed (number is repeated) has not received a response from the service provider". I've tried the 17771234567 Callcentric test number, my cell number, and a few others.  Nothing:(

I think that's pretty much all the gory details my newbie brain can remember.  I'm hoping someone can help me. Thanks in advance:)

- phil

[QBZappy]

philbert1,

If I understood you correctly the OBi202 is not the DHCP server. Try setting it up in bridge mode with the DHCP router and see if it improves anything.

[Stewart]

Note that Callcentric does not support multiple concurrent registrations on the same account -- be certain that you have shut down (not merely minimized) your MAC softphone, before attempting to receive calls on the OBi.

On the WAN Setup page of your router, uncheck Default DMZ Server and check Disable SIP ALG.  If that doesn't help, try also setting NAT Filtering to Open.

If no luck, in the OBi, try changing X_UserAgentPort for SP1 from 5060 to 5070, and try setting X_DnsSrvAutoPrefix for ITSP Profile A -> SIP.

If still no luck, do a test with OBi Internet port connected directly to your cable modem.  You'll need to cycle power on both modem and OBi for this test.  Connect a PC (or the WAN port of your router) behind the OBi, so you can confirm that the OBi can access the Internet, before testing with Callcentric.

[Stewart]

If I understood you correctly the OBi202 is not the DHCP server. Try setting it up in bridge mode the the DHCP router and see if it improves anything.

Based on what the OP has said so far, there is nothing connected to the LAN port of the OBi, so IMO setting bridge mode would not affect anything.

[philbert1]

Stewart -

Checking "Disable SIP ALG" in my Netgear router's WAN setup seems to have done the trick! I can make outbound calls to my cell phone now (hooray!). The inbound "Click 2 Dial" test calls from Callcentric seem to be a bit more reliable, though not perfect (I'm hoping that I can chalk that up to the fact that I don't have a DiD).

Unfortunately everyone I know is out right now, so I can't do a proper test until tomorrow. If I continue to have problems I'll post back here. Thanks, Stewart! (and also thanks QBZappy as well).

- phil

[DeanJunk]

I also had this same issue with my OBI110 and Callcentric.  I had to disable the SPI firewall (in WAN settings) on my Netgear router to get it working.

Thanks!

[KevinB]

Glad that you posted this!
Same issue with my new Netgear AC1900 router.

Obi support couldn't help me, and when I saw that my SIP devices weren't going out, figured it was a firewall issue.  Googled it and landed here.  Saved me a lot of time!

[Ferdamshur]

Stewart -

Checking "Disable SIP ALG" in my Netgear router's WAN setup seems to have done the trick!

Thanks philbert1! Your post resolved the same issue for me.

[MikeHObi]

Note that this isn't an OBI problem.  It is a problem with the implementation of SIP ALG on these routers.  Such a service isn't needed with the OBI.