SIP client setup for callcentric, callwithus, and voicestick

[Andrei Alexandrescu (See Website For Email)]

Hello,


Hope this is the right forum, if not please advise.

I own a ZyXel P-660R-ELNK DSL modem connected to a Netgear WGR615V
unlocked router. After some fiddling, I managed to make the whole thing
work with Callcentric a few months ago, and have been quite happy since.
The original settings that I believe are salient were:

ZyXel
=====
RIP direction: both
RIP version: RIP-2B
NAT mode: SUA only
SIP ALG: enabled
UPnP: disabled
Security, filtering etc.: no special measures taken

Netgear
=======
SIP proxy: callcentric.com
SIP control port: 5060
SIP local port: 5060
SIP message TOS Value: 68 hex
Starting RTP Port: 16384
RTP Data TOS Value: b8 hex
Use Outbound SIP proxy: yes
Outbound SIP proxy address: callcentric.com
Outbound SIP proxy port: 5060
VAD: no
STUN: no
Register expire time: 30 sec
Registration head start time: 0 sec
DNS server: yes
Primary DNS: 208.67.222.222
Secondary DNS: 208.67.220.220

It all works fine. Now, yesterday I found out that callwithus.com has
better rates for my calling patterns, so I signed up. My new settings were:

ZyXel
=====
unchanged

Netgear
=======
As per http://www.callwithus.com/configuration

The main change from Callcentric was the use of STUN. I tried my account
a number of times (with rebooting the router and the modem, the works),
no avail. I wrote CallWithUs' support and they said they receive no
registration attempts from my account.

I hypothesized that the use of STUN somehow does not go well with the
modem. Could that be the case? To confirm that, I also signed up with
voicestick.com. They don't use STUN. They also are very shy about
publishing their SIP client configuration. I fished one from this forum,
which looks like this:

ZyXel
=====
unchanged

Netgear
=======
SIP proxy: 206.165.50.116
SIP control port: 5060
SIP local port: 5060
SIP message TOS Value: 68 hex
Starting RTP Port: 16384
RTP Data TOS Value: b8 hex
Use Outbound SIP proxy: yes
Outbound SIP proxy address: 206.165.50.116
Outbound SIP proxy port: 5060
VAD: no
STUN: no
Register expire time: 30 sec
Registration head start time: 0 sec
DNS server: yes
Primary DNS: 208.67.222.222
Secondary DNS: 208.67.220.220

However, that didn't work either! So now I'm back to my Callcentric
setup which again works, and I can't understand how neither of the
others work. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!


Andrei

[Balwinder S Dheeman]

Post by Andrei Alexandrescu (See Website For Email)
Hope this is the right forum, if not please advise.
I own a ZyXel P-660R-ELNK DSL modem connected to a Netgear WGR615V
unlocked router. After some fiddling, I managed to make the whole thing
work with Callcentric a few months ago, and have been quite happy since.
ZyXel
=====
RIP direction: both
RIP version: RIP-2B
NAT mode: SUA only
SIP ALG: enabled
UPnP: disabled
Security, filtering etc.: no special measures taken
Netgear
=======
SIP proxy: callcentric.com
SIP control port: 5060
SIP local port: 5060
SIP message TOS Value: 68 hex
Starting RTP Port: 16384
RTP Data TOS Value: b8 hex
Use Outbound SIP proxy: yes
Outbound SIP proxy address: callcentric.com
Outbound SIP proxy port: 5060
VAD: no
STUN: no
Register expire time: 30 sec
Registration head start time: 0 sec
DNS server: yes
Primary DNS: 208.67.222.222
Secondary DNS: 208.67.220.220
It all works fine. Now, yesterday I found out that callwithus.com has
ZyXel
=====
unchanged
Netgear
=======
As per http://www.callwithus.com/configuration
The main change from Callcentric was the use of STUN. I tried my account
a number of times (with rebooting the router and the modem, the works),
no avail. I wrote CallWithUs' support and they said they receive no
registration attempts from my account.
I hypothesized that the use of STUN somehow does not go well with the
modem. Could that be the case? To confirm that, I also signed up with
voicestick.com. They don't use STUN. They also are very shy about
publishing their SIP client configuration. I fished one from this forum,
ZyXel
=====
unchanged
Netgear
=======
SIP proxy: 206.165.50.116
SIP control port: 5060
SIP local port: 5060
SIP message TOS Value: 68 hex
Starting RTP Port: 16384
RTP Data TOS Value: b8 hex
Use Outbound SIP proxy: yes
Outbound SIP proxy address: 206.165.50.116
Outbound SIP proxy port: 5060
VAD: no
STUN: no
Register expire time: 30 sec
Registration head start time: 0 sec
DNS server: yes
Primary DNS: 208.67.222.222
Secondary DNS: 208.67.220.220
However, that didn't work either! So now I'm back to my Callcentric
setup which again works, and I can't understand how neither of the
others work. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

I think, your best bet is to try both the services which did not work
with YATE Client (either QT4 or GTK2 version, see http://YATE.null.ro/).
Run this soft-phone from command prompt or a xterm in a verbose/bebug
mode and figure out the problem by looking at the messages.

Hope that helps.

[Andrei Alexandrescu (See Website For Email)]

Post by Balwinder S Dheeman
I think, your best bet is to try both the services which did not work
with YATE Client (either QT4 or GTK2 version, see http://YATE.null.ro/).
Run this soft-phone from command prompt or a xterm in a verbose/bebug
mode and figure out the problem by looking at the messages.
Hope that helps.

Thanks Balwinder, this software looks quite what the doctor prescribed;
my router has no debugging ability. Incidentally I'm originally Romanian
:o).

Andrei