No Audio with RTP Relay ON, after 1st Call

JRayfield

1. Brekeke Product Name and Version:

Brekeke SIP Server (BSS), Version 3

2. Java version:

Not sure.

3. OS type and the version:

Windows 7 Pro

4. UA (phone), gateway or other hardware/software involved:

3CX IP PBX Connected to BSS

5. Your problem:

I'm evaluating the BSS for use as a SIP proxy server for my ITSP business.

I've found that if I try to set RTP Relay to 'on' (either in the Configuration or in a Dial Plan), that I only have audio for the first call after BSS has been restarted. If I set RTP Relay to "false" in a Dial Plan, then everything works fine, for multiple calls.

In other words:

1. RTP Relay set to 'ON' or "AUTO" in Configuration or $RTP = false in Dial Plan.

2. Restart BSS

3. Make call from phone on 3CX IP PBX.

4. Call works fine.

5. Make second call from phone on 3CX IP PBX.

6. Call connects, but no audio either direction. Packet capture at BSS shows RTP data packets flowing from 3CX to BSS, but nothing the other direction (from BSS to 3CX) and no audio heard on either side of connection.

7. Set $RTP = false in dial plan.

8. Make multiple calls from phone on 3CX IP PBX and all calls works fine. Packet capture at BSS shows no RTP data flowing between BSS and 3CX IP PBX.

I need suggestions on where to look for the problem (and fix). Something is changing when I restart BSS and then again after I make/complete the first call (after having restarted BSS).

John Rayfield, Jr.

taitan · Brekeke Master Guru Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 237

Which audio codec are you using?
Can you try g711?

JRayfield · Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:46 pm Post subject:

I already am. I have G.711u set for the preferred codec to use. The second one listed is G.711a.

It's so odd that I can restart BSS and then make one call, with RTP Relay ON, and audio is fine. After that call, I have no audio on any calls until I restart BSS, and then I can get one call again with audio and then no calls with audio until restarting BSS again.

While I'm not 100% certain, this does not sound like a configuration problem. I don't even have to change the configuration at all, just restart BSS, and then I can get one call with audio.

John Rayfield, Jr.

JRayfield · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 9:37 am Post subject:

I was partially correct. It was not a configuration problem. It was a 'bug' in software, but not in BSS.

It turned out that it was a problem with firmware (a bug) in my router. I downgraded to an older version of firmware and that appears to have fixed the problem.

I'm using a Netgear FVS318G, which works very well, if it has good firmware in it. The most recent is 3.1.1.14. That is BAD firmware.

The firmware that works correctly is 3.0.8.12. It works very nicely.

John Rayfield, Jr.
Rayfield Communications

taitan · Brekeke Master Guru Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 237

http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/23819/~/fvs318g-firmware-version-3.1.1-14

It seems the netgear's firmware has a couple of bugs in sip handling.

JRayfield · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2014 11:14 am Post subject:

Thanks for finding that. Interesting. I like the Netgear products, but those bugs and "limitations" look pretty serious to me. If that was my product, I sure wouldn't have released that firmware to the public. It's just 'broke', in my opinion (and I've spent thousands of hours writing code for commercial products and testing code for some very large companies).

I may start looking for an alternative to the Netgear routers.

John