A simple tip for Vonage users - Static IPs!

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 11, 2007 Posts: 18

Hi Everyone,

If your Vonage device is behind a router, be it is your modem with router capabilities or a third party router - make sure you have proper port forwarding in place (see http://portforward.com for help, or contact tech support for assistance), and make sure your Vonage device is a STATIC IP if possible! In most cases, it clears up the line and you will have much better call quality.

Regardless of what you might read, we will be here for years to come - and will only get better.

Thank you for choosing Vonage!

Vonage Tech Support.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 11, 2007 Posts: 5

Hi,
Will port forwarding solve my problem.
When i first installed vonage (Motorola Vt2142 attached to Comcast cable modem SB5120) everyhting worked fine apart from the occasional drop in audio from my end. I would put this down to some bandwidth tweaking that i should have done. Suddenly, people that i called were not able to hear me at all anf the Phone 1 line was flashing green on my adapter no matter how many times i did a complete restart, even if i had not yet connected my phone or even had my phone powered up before connecting it.
I tried testyourvoip.com and got the following error:

"Your computer couldn't call our location on the standard SIP port (5060). Generally, this failure is caused by a firewall blocking our calls. We are going to re-run the test over a commonly available port (6000) to diagnose the problem."

I tried Vonage tech support and they suggested that i contact Comcast and ask them if any ports had been blocked from the following list:

SIP ports 5060 through 5061 using UDP protocol
NTP port 123 using UDP protocol
TFTP port 69 using UDP protocol
DNS port 53 using UDP protocol
RTP ports 10,000 through 20,000 using UDP protocol

I contacted Comcast and was given the most awful runaround of my life being passed from one tech to the next for such pathetic excuses as not being able to open a simple tracert screenshot attachment therefore ignoring all the other straightforward questions in my e-mail. When i responded to that they tried to discourage me by saying i needed to phone them instead. Of course, i replied and refreshed their memory that the problem was making my ability to reach other people by telephone impossible then finally i was given the list of current ports blocked but was told that other ports could be blocked without notice. Here they are:

67
68
135
137
138
139
445
512
520
1080

Ok, anybody out there, please tell me there is a solution to this, do i need port forwarding so i can get around these scumbags or is there something really simple going on that i can't see. Any help would be appreciated. I also gave Vonage tech support an update on what Comcast told me and have yet to reeive a reply.

The tracert yahoo.com test i tried to tell Comcast about consistently gave a "request timed out" error at hop 6. Hops 3-5 were all comcast.net addresses. The vonage bandwidth test gave me a download speed of 21.7Mbps and an upload speed of 370 kbps.
I am hoping all of this is incredibly simple.
TIA

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:41 am Post subject:

I use Comcast and have had no problems with my Vonage line. That's not to say that they may not be blocking in other areas, but it would be most unusual.

I assume you are using the VT2142 as your router? (Cable modem -> Blue Port on VT2142, Yellow Port on Vt2142 -> PC)? If so, there's nothing to port forward TO... your Vonage device is your router and it already has all the necessary ports preconfigured - forwarding any of the Vonage ports would only confuse it. If you are using a different router in front of the VT2142, consider putting the VT2142 first.

How fast is the phone light blinking? According to the manual for your adapter, a blinking green light means the phone is ringing or off hook - is it possible that your phone handset has a problem? Have you tried a different telephone handset?

Posts: 163 · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:50 am Post subject:

Seems that OP is trying to get people to click on his link and/or get people to use his port forwarding service.

PORT FORWARDING IS NOT NECESSARY WITH VONAGE

and whats up with von_db saying he is Vonage Tech Support.?

I do not believe it at all.

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 11, 2007 Posts: 18

I have nothing to do with this site, I just figured I would try to help the masses. And to quote my other post:

Quote:

Sorry you've been misinformed gentlemen, but certain modem/gateways with router capabilities, as well as select third party routers your device connects to the internet through need to have port forwarding in place or you will have dropped calls, one way audio, choppy audio etc. Just because you may have had success with your setup does not mean droves of people are dismayed with the service because they do not know how to set up port forwarding with their devices.

And yes, I work in Holmdel, NJ. There's an Indy car in the cafe, and during xmas we had an orange xmas trees made of old phones. The holiday party rocked. The co. is cool and for the most part people are excited about the future. I like going to work; we're doing our best and strive to do better.

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Nov 16, 2005 Posts: 37

The only reason you would want to use a static IP on the internal network is to ensure the port forwarding consistently points to the Vonage adapter. Using DHCP may assign the Vonage IP address to a different device, thereby breaking the port forwarding.

However, port forwarding has nothing to do with voice quality.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 11, 2007 Posts: 5

Ok, so it looks like port forwarding might not be the answer for me in this case.
But can anyone explain why upon installation of my vonage adapter i would get a solid green Phone 2 light and flashing green Phone 1 light in the absence of any telephone plugged in, powered on or even in the same room. If a flashing Phone 1 light indicates a busy line or that the phone is off the hook, then where is the signal coming from?
Would appreciate any suggestions you may have.

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 11, 2007 Posts: 18

Celeron wrote:

The only reason you would want to use a static IP on the internal network is to ensure the port forwarding consistently points to the Vonage adapter. Using DHCP may assign the Vonage IP address to a different device, thereby breaking the port forwarding.

However, port forwarding has nothing to do with voice quality.

Actually, regardless of the obvious reasons you might think to use a static IP, regardless of any port forwarding, after dealing with hundreds of cases with hundreds of test calls, like I said, in most cases simply setting a static IP on your Vonage device will clear up the line, plain and simple. That slight static or buzzing noise you might be hearing in the background will most likely go away by setting your device to a static IP.

Believe it or not - I have no reason to lie. I'm just here to help. Don't ask me why it works, it just does.

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 11, 2007 Posts: 18

mike31 wrote:

Ok, so it looks like port forwarding might not be the answer for me in this case.
But can anyone explain why upon installation of my vonage adapter i would get a solid green Phone 2 light and flashing green Phone 1 light in the absence of any telephone plugged in, powered on or even in the same room. If a flashing Phone 1 light indicates a busy line or that the phone is off the hook, then where is the signal coming from?
Would appreciate any suggestions you may have.

Traceroute results with clear indications that a hop on your ISP's network is troublesome sent to your ISP tends to give your complaint more weight and will be taken more seriously. Phone lights simply means your service is ready - flashing phone lights typically mean you have voicemail on most adapters. A phone line does not need to be plugged in for you to see the phone lights go on.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 11, 2007 Posts: 5

Ok, i understand about voicemail causing the phone 1 light to flash but i have my voicemail disabled on my vonage account and this thing still flashes even after another reboot of cable modem and adapter.
I had a live chat with Comcast tech support about packet loss and was running Pingplotter. Miraculously, the problem only corrected itself when they conducted their own test. As soon as i mention VoIP , the problem came back. They then said i had another router and to come back when i had disconnected it. At the time i had only my modem connected, not the adapter. I tried again with a different take, same story, traceroute and pingplotter looked ok only when they were testing the system and assuring me everything was
green on their end. They sent another warning about having other routers connected to my computer.
I have the impression i have been red flagged by my ISP after the Vonage adapter was detected.

I also wonder if there settings that need to be adjusted in the adapter by logging in (username: router, password:router).
Does anyone have the settings for their VT2142 adapter?

I am now considering Skype as Vonage tech support won't even respond anymore and i am no closer to figuring this out.

Just to recap, i have one way audio and flashing phone 1 light (i disabled voicemail).