User can't answer calls

[gsiner]

Hey everyone,
I'm new to using Switchvox as the person who used to take care of it left the company so now I'm taking care of it. I've gotten it mostly all figured out except one weird issue I ran into setting up a new user. I looked around the forums and knowledge bases, but didn't find a solution. I setup 2 users and 1 was fine, no issues at all, the problem is just with this one user.

They work out of their home. They can call out without any problems. The issue is if someone calls them using an internal extension or through their external number it rings through, but when they pick up the phone or hit speaker, it doesn't answer. They can decline the call and have it go to VM ok, they just can't answer. When picking up the receiver the timer on the phone starts counting like it's picked up, but it keeps on ringing.

It's a polycom 650. I've run through the factory reset (hold 468*, use code on reboot go into setup menu to point to external address for PBX) but they are still having problems. I looked through the programming and don't see anything that could be causing this. Any ideas?

[Josh_E]

Almost certainly this is network related. A firewall or other network component on either end blocking or modifying data packets used to signal that the phone has attempted to answer.

I would start by making sure all of the necessary ports are open to the PBX. This document should provide all the necessary ports:

http://www1.digium.com/en/products/swit ... ur-network


Are there other remote phones? If so, do they experience the same problem?

[gsiner]

We do have other remote phones and they are all working properly. They're all setup the exact same way. It's just this one user.

I thought it might be her local network, but she's gone into her router (the one provided by her ISP) and disabled the spi filtering and enabled all traffic to and from the phone. We even tried disabling the firewall totally and letting all traffic through temporarily. That didn't work either.

Looking through the PBX I made sure her external network was on the access control list as well.

What was odd to me was that outgoing calls are fine. She can dial outgoing numbers and with no issues at all. Just when they are coming in that she has the problem.

[utpbx]

When you say that both remote users are set up exactly the same, are they both using the same ISP? Are they both using the same router running the same firmware and configured exactly the same? I too think you've got a network issue going on at the one home. Maybe you could try connecting your computer directly to the internet temporarily (bypassing the router), and try registering a softphone client like X-lite.

[gsiner]

I think it's a network issues as well, I just don't know how to resolve. Unfortunately this is a non-technical user so I'm not going to be able to walk them through plugging their PC directly up to their internet connection and testing.

I did remote in and make some changes to the firewall on their router (dlink DIR-615) I setup their phone with a static IP and setup port forwarding for the ports listed in the link josh_E sent:

Used by Remote Phones
UDP 5060 SIP signaling port needed for phones outside your network
UDP 10000-20000 RTP audio ports needed for phones outside your network
SIP UDP 4000-4999 UDPTL ports for T.38 faxing over SIP

so any incoming traffic on those ports is sent to the phone. I also added the TCP equivalent just in case. I made sure any outgoing traffic from the phone is allowed. Still the same issue.

For incoming calls does anyone know what port(s) are being used as opposed to outgoing? My guess is that outgoing works because the phone is making the connection so the firewall let's it through. For incoming I would assume with opening the ports above would do the trick, but apparently not. Not sure what to look at next.

Thanks for all the help so far guys!

[utpbx]

For what it's worth, I just replaced the DIR-615 I had at my house for a number of reasons, one being problems with my switchvox extension. One of the problems I had was when someone would call my extension, I would "answer" the call, but I couldn't hear anybody on the other end. They could hear me, but I couldn't hear them. A flash hook usually corrected the problem and I could hear the caller on the other end. I didn't have this problem on every call, but it was getting worse and worse, and coupled with the other problems I was having with the router, I decided to replace it.

To the best of my knowledge, the problem I was having has gone away (and so have all the other non-voip related issues I was having). Granted, I just switched it out on Monday, but so far, so good.

[gsiner]

Oh ok, just out of curiosity what did you replace it with? Are there any recommended routers? I'd hate to have them go buy a new one with the same issues. Thanks!

[utpbx]

Sorry, I don't remember the exact model number and I'm not at home right now. It was some dual band Belkin model they had at Costco. Another person at our office switched out their d-link router for a Cisco Valet about 6 months ago. They highly recommend it.

[gsiner]

The user just swapped to a Cisco Valet Pro actually, but now the phone doesn't connect at all. I setup port forwarding and disabled the SPI firewall just like the d-link, but the phone doesn't get to the server. I can see it has an IP in the router, but it's not able to get to the pbx. Anyone know if there's anything special with those routers?

[utpbx]

Hmm. Not sure about the Valet Pro. I'm actually taking back the Belkin router to Costco today and was going to get the Valet. What made you decided to go with the Pro?