VOIP doesn't work in my building, but....

[pfiltz]

works in our 2nd building.

Hardware: Both buildings have a DSL modem. Both buildings have a AT&T supplied netopia modem. Both buildings have a CISCO VOIP model 7960 attached directly to the Netopia Modem.

The VOIP in my building can't make a call to another VOIP in our customer's office in Colorado. The other building has no issue's in making a call to the same extension.

I can take the VOIP from our building to the 2nd building, change a few IP addresses, and it will make a call to that extension on the other end.

AT&T field tech was in the building yesterday, and didn't find any problems with their lines.

I'm at a road block. AT&T 2nd tier support tells me that cannot support the VOIP. I understand that, however; it works in another building hooked up to their equipment. I'm wanting them to run diagnostics on this DSL number, but they're not budging from their position.

Any thoughts as to why it works in a 2nd building but not here in this one?

Both buildings with regard to the phone, DSL modem, etc... are mirror images of each other. I've gone into the modem's software to compare configurations of the two. They both match except for the IP stacks for each modem to assign out.

The customer at the other end of the VOIP, can ping each modem, and they can ping each Phone.

I'm at a lose....

 

[zx10guy]

I'm confused. Are you talking about the Cisco IP phone model 7960? If so, I've never heard of them working by themselves without some sort of call manager. Usually the Cisco phones are connected to a Cisco Call Manager or Call Manager Express device if they are running on their native SCCP protocol or if the phones have been re-flashed to operate on SIP, some other call manager like those from Avaya or open source products like Asterisk or Trixbox.

 

[pfiltz]

Our Customer in Colorado, sent us both phones. The phones are being connected via the internet through their ISP. RockyNet.com.

They're running SIP, because I can see that in the Networking Menu Options on the phone, and yes, both phones are Cisco 7960's

I brought the phone that works in the other building to mine this a.m., reconfigured the IP addy's and it wouldn't work. I took mine back to the other building and reconfigured it's addresses to match that buildings modem IP addresses, and it worked.

AT&T all though, has given up on trying to figure out why, and now are just telling me, that since I can surf the web in my building, then as far as their concerned, everything is OK.

Footnote: Our customers ISP "Rockynet" in Colorado, keeps telling me that on the data from my building looks to be Malformed in some weird way. They can also telnet into the phone, and ping it, yet, we can't connect to our customers phone.

Just weird.

 

[zx10guy]

You have to have a call manager some where. I don't know if the menu options changes from when change from SCCP to SIP operation on these phones. But if it's the same, you need to push the button on the front panel that says Settings, then go to the option Device configuration, and then CallManager Configuration.

Your phones have to be contacted some call manager on your network. If there is no call manager at the affected building, then the phones are registering with a call manager at a remote location. If this is the case, I hope you're doing this over a secure tunnel as you're exposing all your phone conversations to the wide internet.

 

[pfiltz]

Thanks.

The phones were supplied to us by our customer. They use them all over the world. We deal with "their" ISP, who has to have things setup on their end for this to work. There is no call manager on my end. We're just end user's in the sense.

There is no call manager in any of the menu options, but I do see an option for SIP config.

I can't figure out why this phone won't work here, but when I take it to our other building, and change the IP addy, it works.

 

[zx10guy]

Because how ever the call manager the phones are registering up to has set call policies and profiles. That is why you need to find out where/which call manager these phones are registering with and figure out your problem from there. It's not a phone problem. It's a configuration issue with the call manager or how things are set up to route the phone communication to the call manager. The phones are pretty basic in their operation and configuration.

 

[pfiltz]

Thanks for the info.

I'll pass this on to the engineer at Rockynet, and our customers. I'm at the end of my rope on this problem. I've done all that I can do.

Of course, the ISP provider keeps telling me, and our customer, it's a problem on my end. So I'm stuck in the middle between them, and AT&T.

Thanks for the info.

 

[zx10guy]

The ISP is probably right. If you're getting internet connectivity and everything else you use the ISP connection for works, then it's extremely likely an issue with the VoIP system setup.

I've only done a small simple test with SIP calls through the internet a long time ago. I used a SIP softphone which registered with a Trixbox call manager sitting in my home network. I connected through a Sprint cellular broadband card and was able to connect and make calls. So in the SIP configuration, you have to point the phone to some sort of call manager. The phones depend on the call manager for all call routing. Again, I hope who ever has this phone system setup is doing the VoIP phone to call manager connections over a secure tunnel as you're exposing your phone conversations to anyone on the internet sniffing traffic. SIP communication is not secure and is as wide open as sending information in clear text.

 

[pfiltz]

Thanks.

Not sure who the call mgr is since I'm basically a end user. This was all provided to us by the customer. With regard to security, well the conversations on these VOIP is nothing more than information about orders and materials, and what not. Nothing real big.

I'll ask the ISP at the other end to double check their settings for each phone since at this point, it's out of my hands now.

We've been trouble shooting this for 3 weeks now.

 

[zx10guy]

So who is providing these phones? Is it the ISP or someone else you're dealing with? From what you've been saying, the phone system is not being provided by the ISP but by some other customer you are working with. If that is the case, like I said, the ISP really has nothing to do with this.

 

[pfiltz]

The phones are being supplied by "our" customer. Our customer uses an internet provider called RockyNet out of Colorado. That's where our customer is based out of.

That's who I've been talking to. Our customer, and "their" ISP [rockynet].

Our Internet Provider AT&T has nothing to do with these phone's just short of making sure, we have a DSL modem for our usual business. Surfing, email, etc...

 

[zx10guy]

I just checked on their website www.rockynet.com and they give no indication they are providing VoIP services. They do indicate colocation services and I suspect your customer's servers, network, and data center equipment are housed there. These ISP/colocation companies just give you a raw internet circuit based on the pipe you purchase from them along with a block of IPs. That's it.

You need to talk to your "customer" and figure out what VoIP system they are running and who is maintaining it. From what I can see, it's not RockyNet.

 

[pfiltz]

Thanks... I'll call them this a.m. and inquire as to who "their" call center might be, or if they deal with anyone else than Rockynet.

 

[zx10guy]

To clarify, it's not their call center. It's what is their call manager for their VoIP system or who is providing their VoIP services which would have the call manager. The call manager is a box which the phones register in to. The call manager is responsible for call routing, profiles, and policies. Cisco has an appliance called Cisco Call Manager as part of the Unified Communications portfolio. Avaya has their own flavor. The open source products like Asterisk or Trixbox are custom builds based on Linux/CentOS which install into a server where you would either install NICs or FXO/FXS cards to connect up to a PSTN telco line.

The reason why I know some about this is because I've worked with the Cisco Call Manager appliance at a previous job and at home I have a Cisco 1861 router which has Call Manager Express and Unity Express (voice mail) built in to it with 7961, 7960, and 7920 VoIP phones running with it. I also played with Trixbox on a PC with a Digium FXO/FXS card.

 

[pfiltz]

Understood.

I'm trying to contact our Customer this morning to find out more information about who all the player's are