No dial tone in South Africa

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 16, 2005 Posts: 7

Hello. Am trying to use Vonage from South Africa over my ADSL here (I'm an American expat and wanted to try to use it to keep touch with folks back home)...

I've connected the Linksys RT31PT router and the internet works fine, but there's the phone light won't go on and there's no dial tone. Have tried rebooting everything, unplugging and replugging and no luck. From the posts about other people's experiences, I'm guessing it could be one of two things:

1) Problem with a connection between the two routers. The setup is like this --

Internet to
Maconi ADSL Router POTS (that's the way it was set up when installed and I think I have to keep that thing) to
Linksys RT31P2 to
laptop/phone

2) Blocked ports by Telkom, our monopoly national carrier. VoIP becomes legal on Feb 1, though, so things may change.

So....any suggestions about how I can check to see if its the second problem and not the first? My technical knowledge is limited, but I follow directions pretty well...Any advice would be much appreciated.

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 1:56 pm Post subject:

sounds like it's not establishing a connection with vonage's servers, which could very well be port blocking. I don't know of a good way of testing this though, besides calling your isp. but if voip is currently illegal, that's probably not the route to take.
what happens if you use click2call? can you even sign in?
http://vonage.com/features.php?feature=click_2_call
http://www.vonage.com/downloads/vonageclick2call.exe

also, what are you getting for line status on the RT31P2? (go to 192.168.15.1, log in with user admin password admin, then click status)

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 16, 2005 Posts: 7

I am able to sign in on click2call.

The voice status on the router is completely blank. It says Voice Version 2.0.10 (Llc), but there's nothing after registration status or call status for either phone port.

I don't mind calling my isp to ask about whether ports are blocked (the isps here are at war with Telkom, so I sincerely doubt they'd turn me in). But what ports need to be open for Vonage to work?

Tnxs

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 2:17 pm Post subject:

that's an old voice version. I've never even seen that. if the device did establish a connection to vonage's server, it would likely be updated to 2.0.11 (if not 2.0.12). also, your firmware version is at the top right of every screen. 1.24.xx is the latest version that was pushed to everyone. 1.26.01 is a newer one (that goes with voice version 2.0.12) that only a few people with specific problems seem to get.

http://vonage.com/help_knowledgeBase_article.php?article=89
5060 – 5061 (UDP)
10000 – 20000 (UDP)

anyhow, long story short, your device has evidently never connected to vonage's servers, so port blocking is likely, especially since the RT31P2 is plugged directly into the modem.
what error do you get if you try to dial a number with click2call?

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 16, 2005 Posts: 7

When I try to dial using click2call, it says the call has been successfully initiated.

Will ask my isp tomorrow about those ports (and if they are blocked maybe wait until Feb 1 to see if things change), but in the meantime, is there anyway around the block?

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 2:43 pm Post subject:

if it is port blocking, then it would be hard to get around. I've seen a couple posts of vonage changing the ports, but you would need to know what ports are open. and wouldn't vonage need to be able to access the device in the first place to change the ports? or is it done on their end? not sure about that.

Posts: 646 · Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 3:32 pm Post subject:

Does your DSL use PPPoE? If so, you should be using the PPPoE client on the router, not software on your computer.

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 3:36 pm Post subject:

I see your point paul, but if the internet works through the router, doesn't it stand to reason that the phone should also? in other words, if the router was set for say, dhcp instead of pppoe, I wouldn't think internet or phone would work. but I've never used dsl either.

Posts: 646 · Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 3:42 pm Post subject:

If he's running a PPPoE client on his computer, then the Internet could be "skipping over the router" and going directly to the computer. I think I remember reading that the RT31P2 has PPPoE passthrough.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 16, 2005 Posts: 7

I tried setting up the PPPoE a few days ago, but couldn't get even the internet to work (though it is possible that I did something wrong). I also doubt that's the problem though, since I've been using a Linksys wireless router with the same network setup and that always worked fine.