Mexico - isp blocked ports what can i do ?

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 08, 2005 Posts: 12

There's your problem. Your packet loss and jitter are so extremely high that there's absolutely no way you would be able to use VoIP services on that broadband connection.

Looks like you need to call TelMex and complain about the severity of the latency, packet loss, and jitter on your DSL line. I'm sure dealing with the TelMex bureaucracy is not easy, but it's your only option at this point.

Posts: 12 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 08, 2005 Posts: 12

Well, that confirms it. My friend in Mexico just got back in town and I had him run the VoIP test and it confirmed the problem. Looks like TelMex has reduced upload speeds to the point that VoIP won't work. Traceroute analysis shows latency jumping real high once you hit the TelMex routers.

From You to Boston:
1.0 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.58 14.4%
Latency 0.43 10.9%
Packet Discards 0.06 1.5%
Packet Loss 2.92 73.2%

Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 668 ms
Packet Discards 1.7%
Packet Loss 86.9%
Loss Periods Min: 20 ms
Avg: 240 ms
Max: 720 ms
Burst Loss

Jitter Min: 1 ms
Avg: 92 ms
Max: 399 ms

Signaling Quality Post-Dial Delay 559 ms
Call Setup Time 572 ms
Media Delay 3001 ms

From Boston to You:
3.4 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.58 35.4%
Latency 0.86 53.0%
Packet Discards 0.19 11.5%
Packet Loss 0.00 0.0%

Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 668 ms
Packet Discards 0.5%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 20 ms
Random Loss

Jitter Min: 0 ms
Avg: 2 ms
Max: 47 ms

Signaling Quality Post-Pickup Delay 2417 ms
Call Setup Time 2400 ms
Media Delay 2449 ms

Posts: 16 · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:16 pm Post subject: nothing

I think we folks in Mexico are screwed on voip. Best to consider looking into alternatives.

Posts: 6 · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:15 pm Post subject: Mexico problem

I still don't see how Telmex could be blocking the VoIP on a part time basis... The problem seems to effect UDP packets rather than TCP/IP - probably due to the fact that UDP has no error correction. My upload speed is the same on all tests that I have run as to what it was before the VoIP outage... I now not only have VoIP problems, but also have great difficulty connecting to my VPN which uses UDP to set-up...

I will check out the suggestion to change DNS servers on my router and see if there is anything different...

Posts: 16 · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 8:44 pm Post subject:

Hi there,
I'd be very anxious to know if you have sucessful results with doing that. I seem to think you won't. I think prodigy has been very clever to do what they have done. I in fact spoke with a couple of techs at prodigy and they both told me that prodigy was not blocking any ports at all. They made that very clear to me. However I think they have done something to intermitanantly block the upload speeds....I'm no tech, but it not only has happened to voip lines....but I was just visiting another friend last night at his restaurant and he uses Net2phone and another pc based calling service. He also is experiencing the same problems with his service---and he's not using voip. He's the second peroson I've talked with that has a pc based phone and they can hear people clearly, but the people he calls can't hear him---it's choppy etc...just like the voip problem we're experiencing.

Anyway....for whatever that is worth.

Posts: 6 · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 10:55 pm Post subject: Still not convinced

While I know that there are a lot of people in Mexico that are quite proficient at IT, I still think that selectively slowing packets is not a trivial action. If I were going to block VoIP from down here, I would block the IP addresses of the VoIP providers - that would provide a solid and quite simple block...

I have run some simple repeated pings under Linux to several of the nodes that I picked-up on the route to the Vonage servers, and I get more packet loss i the USA than in Mexico!! I got as much as 33% packet loss to the SBC nodes enroute to Vonage... I ran trace timing on a small numbet of packets thru to Vonage and although it was TCP/IP packets, saw no timing degradation anywhere on the route.

VoIP is very complex to implement, especially at the packet reassembly, since packets need to be reassembled in the correct order to give intelligible audio... After reading other threads on this forum, I feel that somewhere on the Internet (maybe Mexico or most probably in the US) there was a software update that has caused the packet reassembly to be screwed-up such that outgoing audio is severly clipped. The VoIP digitized audio has to be reassembled and put out over the PSTN to get to the receiver and my guess is still that the problem is not intentional.

I would put the problem back in Vonage's doorstep to show where the packet loss occurs. I think that they have the capability to analyze the packet loss problem much more than we users. Their silence on this subject makes it more likely that it is THEIR problem!!

Posts: 16 · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 8:35 am Post subject: packet loss

Yes, I agree with you, but then I think of the other folks having probems with their pc based phone systems such as Net2 phone etc....These folks also (just recently) are having the same audio problems.

What I certainly agree with is that Vonage could invest a minor amount of time to locate what and where the problem is and either make a change or notify us of the problems....but they simply tell us to contact the isp which is just a simple way of brushing us off and reveiling how little they care about us as a customer. That to me is a huge issue.....hey if we can't use voip right now and have to wait for another time or another isp or whatever, no problem, but vonage has been a real let down in the customer support area on this one and after checking several posts/forums....that seems to be be a common thread with them---lacking customer satisfaction in the customer care dept.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 16, 2005 Posts: 2

IT ALL BEGAN 2 WEEKS AGO ON A FRIDAY NIGHT, PRIOR TO THAT MY VONAGE WORKED PERFECTLY. SINCE THEN I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEMS AS PEOPLE WHO HAVE POSTED....I HEAR PEOPLE BUT THEY CANT HEAR ME, MY VOICE IS BROKEN UP. I HAVE SPENT HOURS ON PHONE W/ VONAGE RUNNING EVERY SINGLE TEST POSSIBLE AND HAVE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT TELMEX/PRODIGY FOR SURE IS CAUSING MAJOR PACKET LOSS AND LATENCY IN EXCESS OF 5,000MS. DOES ANYONE KNOW OF ANYWAY TO GET AROUND THIS? I AM ON HOLD W/ PRODIGY RIGHT NOW AND I AM GOING TO RIP THEM TO SHREDS AND TELL THEM THAT THIS IS ILLEGAL....WE NEED TO ALL CALL THEM AND DO THE SAME, STRENGTH IN NUMBERS I SAY....

Posts: 16 · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 4:39 pm Post subject:

Question is......

What do we say to Proidgy?? I don't think telling them that my voice over ip system is not working properly would be the magic response. If there was some other kind of upload or ?? that we could complain to them about that would legitimately affect us, then that would likely be better and get them to respond. Because I don't think Carlos Slim would care any more or less that we are experiencing telephone problems. In fact, he might then be assured that he's destroying our communication efforts and then assume that we have to use his telephones and telephone access. I on the otherhand will only use a calling card or international call back service.

But the whole issue it to get service back to working Right! So I think calling prodigy and telling them that we are having problems with some kind of upload---not being a tech---I don't know what else this would affect, but I'm sure someone out there must know.

Seems odd that a company vested in technology like Telmex/Prodigy---and believe me they are on the cutting edge of technoligy R&D.....that they would sabatoge such advancements on the internet. Hey....we all have to pay the excessively high dsl rates...that alone should be a victory for Prodigy/Telmex. I don't think most Mexicans have a US credit card and US mailing address. In fact maybe some tiny % might have this.

What else could this be affecting besides voip???? So we can call Prodigy and bombard them with complaints.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 16, 2005 Posts: 2

I JUST POSTED THE SAME PROBLEM...AND JUST GOT OFF PHONE WITH PRODIGY INFINITUM OWNED BY TELMEX...THEY ADMITTED THEY HAVE LOWERED UPLOAD SPEED TO STOP PEOPLE FROM USING VOIP !!! WHAT CAN WE DO????