atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems ESI Telephones & Systems Remote Phone using ATT Uverse

I have a customer using a remote ip phone at their home and has been using ATT Uverse. The phone was working fine until the customer upgraded the internet speed at the home. The phone now goes offline after placing a call or calling another phone on the system. They have 3 other remote ip phones that work fine on the system. I have brought the phone to our office and to my home and it works fine with no issues. Does anyone have suggestions?

Well .... if it worked before, and works at other remote locations it certainly points to the circuit being the issue.

I know some providers are blocking VOIP on their circuits.

Tech support can monitor it and give you some insight on where the packets are dropping.

Ask AT&T to provide you with a QOS study and ASK them, point blank, if they are blocking or attempting to block VOIP. Have some good data to construct a resolution.

Rcaman

I am going to go to customer site and run a wireshark to see if I can see anything. She has had a Tech out from ATT and they claim that they are not blocking anything. I am using uverse at my home and the phone worked fine. She was working fine until they ugraded there speed. Do you think that we will really get an someone from att to admit they are blocking voip?

If they do a QOS report, they won't have to "admit" anything. The proof will be there in the report.

Rcaman

The customer contacted ATT and their reply was that they cannot do a QOS Audit. They do not have the ability to do one of these. They can only do a ping and trace route. Any ideas on how to get one of these done?

OK. You basically have a moron at AT&T. The network providers must do QOS audits on their systems as a requirement of their provisioning by the FCC. So, the statement is ludicrous.

Let's see if we can do it ourselves. First, what is the router and switch at the KSU? Next, what is the router and switch at the problem location?

One thing you might try, for no apparent reason other than it's Tuesday, replace the POE adapter at the remote site.

Rcaman

The KSU site is ATT fiber with cisco switches that ATT has installed and configured. The modem/router at the home is a Motorola NVG589. Early in the game I did give here a new phone and POE adapter that she is still using. I did experience the issue for myself yesterday. I went to the home and ran debug on the system while using the phone. If you pressed prog/help on the phone the phone just keeps on walking you thru the help menu even after you press a digit. So it appears that the phone is still connected and communicates somewhat.

Click Here for information regarding setting up that router to use VoIP. It turns out only certain versions of that router support VoIP and there are also codec selections that should match.

Rcaman

Would these Voip settings be just for the lines that can be used off of the modem?

I don't understand the question. Are there different phone system VoIP connections to the remote router? The router setup has just one VoIP section and any changes there will affect all VoIP devices connected to that router.

Rcaman

Our experience with U-verse and remote sites is that you must use public static IP's.

Good call Mdaniel. I forget that people don't request static IPs when ordering service. We do it out of habit. Although ESI does work with dynamic addressing, for reliable service always use static addressing.

Rcaman

I have the EXACT SAME ISSUE. My wife has an ESI remote IP phone that started having issues after we made some changes to our ATT service. We have their "Max" internet and they have been out three times to test the lines, change out modems, and nothing is working. Her phone techs have tested three phones now that all work in other locations but not here....

There was talk about requesting static IPs. Did that work? DO you do that through ATT or do that in the router settings? Have you guys been able to solve the problem?
Please let me know what worked.
Thanks
DDavlin

PM Sent. Just for general information, the user must request Static WAN IP addressing form the ISP. Usually, this costs a bit more, but it resolves a host of problems.

Rcaman

Below are more of the converstaion

from Rcaman

The WAN IP address from AT&T needs to be static. You will pay more for this but it resolves the issue. Also, make sure port forwarding is turned on and working for the port and internal IP address of the phone. AT&T has problems with their routers maintaining a port forward rule. It may take two or three routers before they get one to work.

Rcaman

FROM DDavlin

AWESOME, thanks so much for the help. I called AT&T and they have to come out for some reason, but the static IPs should be good to go on Tuesday.

I may have more questions Tuesday, but hopefully this gets back up and running.

FROM Rcaman

They have to come out and change the router again. They could remotely change the IP address to static but if they can't talk to the router that you have now, they have to change it.

Rcaman

From DDav

AT&T came out today and set up the static IPs. I was not home. I just got back and my wife's remote IP phone is still having the same issues. IPs are set up, we have the host association set up correctly, but still the same issues. The phone goes off line and shows "connecting to remote host". or "disconnecting / reconnecting". ATT did NOT change out the router. Any ideas?

FROM Rcaman

Ask AT&T if that router will provide a QOS report. If it can not, ask them to provide a QOS report from their hub.

The QOS report (Quality Of Service) is a report that shows how long the link was established, when it went down and for what reason. Usually, when AT&T switches to static addressing, they also switch out the router and everything starts to work OK. I have run into a few AT&T Uverse problems that ended up being a bad module in a SLiC 96 in a concentrator. Who actually is responsible for the local connection? If you have a LEC involved, you may need to have the circuit verified by the LEC first.

Rcaman

FROM DDavlin

I am a farm and ranch appraiser, so I am a bit behind on my technical terminology. Not sure what a LEC is or what a SLiC 96 is..
As for "who is responsible for the local connection?" I have to assumed that it is AT&T. Every time they send someone out (which has been about five times now) it is always an AT&T guy.

I will try to get with them and get them to do a QOS report. They did not replace my router. It is the same one that we have had all along.

I called in earlier after we got the static IPs and they guy changed some settings as far as the IP allocation of the port that the phone is on. He changed it to "DHCP" but I was thinking it needed to be on "Fixed Allocation" instead of DHCP.

Again, the phone works some times. Other times it just says "connecting to remote host". or "disconnecting / reconnecting".

I am thinking that there is some sort of firewall setting that is not right or something to do with IP Passthrough or packet filtering... Something just isn't lining up right.

From Rcaman

LEC is Local Exchange Carrier. Could be AT&T or Verizon or South West Bell. Since you said you are on a farm, it's a very good bet you are served by a SLiC 96 or other form of high capacity line concentrator. The LEC uses these kinds of devices to put hundreds of lines and services on two pair of wires. This is commonly done in rural areas as the cost of installing fiber or more copper is prohibitive.

From what you are describing and now knowing you may be "out there" my opinion is that the service they are providing you is marginal at best. For the ESI remote phone to work consistently, you need at least a 512 Kb bandwidth service. That's not a "peak" bandwidth but a consistent bandwidth. Since the phone was working previously and just started failing after AT&T "upgraded" you, have AT&T go back in their records and find out what level of service they were providing you and ask them for the equal or better with Uverse. This may be something as simple as provisioning the AT&T router for more bandwidth for the ESI circuit.

Rcaman

From DDavlin

Okay,
I was on the phone with a tech yesterday that made some changes, the phone worked for a couple hours at idle, but when my wife started making calls, it disconnected again. Same issue.

I said I am a farm and ranch appraiser, but I don't live on a farm. I am in a smaller town south of Dallas, TX. It may be what you are talking about with being in a more rural area.

I will keep you posted. I really appreciate all of your input. Again, I will keep posting until we find a solution.

DDAVLIN

A tech from ATT said we are not in a SLiC 96. He said that is way outdated.

If it is using DHCP you don't have a static IP address.

DDavlin, please stop posting PM conversations of you and someone from this board that is willing to try and help you for FREE.

Please remember that the public forums here are for user end questions and what you are asking for is installer questions.

Please contact your nearest ESI dealer for further assistance.