Finding out the SIP password

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 5

I am about to do some traveling. I really really do not want to lug around my Motorola box and a POTS phone with me as I travel, and I want to take my Vonage number with me. I have KPhone for Linux which is a SIP phone. I called tech support to ask how to use it. They told me to buy a SoftPhone. This is stupid. I DO NOT WANT to get a second phone line. That utterly defeats my entire reason for getting Vonage. I got it so that I could take it with me when I travel. They are treating me in a way that reminds me of how good old SBC used to treat me. Vonage is now implying that I need a "primary" number and that shouldn't move around. If this is how Vonage wants to treat me then I will be forced to cancel my service.

So my question is: How do I find out my SIP configuration information? Obiously it's all in the Motorola. It seems like I have a few options. First, is there a reasonable way to break in to the Motorola? Second, if that is not possible, then would it be possible to find the password and config info using a sniffer like Ethereal? I ask because I would need to buy a hub to try it, and I don't want to do that if it won't work.

I'm really frustrated by being treated this way. If they are going to treat me the way SBC treated me, I'm going to treat them the way I treated SBC, namely, I stopped using their service.

If this isn't possible in some way I'm switching to Lingo. They have better rates and they don't have some bizarr fetish for using their own hardware devices.

HELLO VONAGE MANAGEMENT, if anyone is reading this, you're going to be replaced by Lingo if you do this.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 5

Ok, I found out some more and called several tech support people at Vonage. They all insist that my primary number must ring through to my hardware Motorola device. I can pay $10/mo extra to get a softphone number (with only 500 min), which is utterly useless to me because I want unlimitted calling and I want my calls to come in on my main number. I have a feeling that they are doing this because of regulatory pressure to have a physical address associated with a phone. Whatever, they work for me, not for regulators, and the whole point of VoIP was/is to bypass idiotic American regulators.

So... it looks like Lingo is also a no-go because they also want to ship me a Lingo device, and which is exactly what I don't want.

So I found another one called Broadvoice. It looks excellent. Better rates than Vonage, and also free unlimited calls to most of Europe, so it's a fantastic deal all around. And they encourage me to use my softphone. What more could I ask? Encrypted calls would be the only thing.

I think I will switch unless someone shows me a way to extract my password from my Vonage router.

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 8:12 am Post subject:

I don't think it will help, but here are the sip settings
vonage-forum.com/ftopic3346.html" target="_blank">http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic3346.html
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/2004-August/059912.html

Posts: 605 · Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 9:53 am Post subject:

I would personally rather see you switch to broadvoice then cry on the forums. Hope you enjoy their weekly outages.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 5

reebok wrote:

I don't think it will help, but here are the sip settings
vonage-forum.com/ftopic3346.html" target="_blank">http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic3346.html
http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/2004-August/059912.html

That's exactly what I need to know, minus the password. I assume that the password is NOT my Vonage website password, but rather some other SIP password.

It's possible that that password is transmitted in the clear by the router when it boots up. I'm going to try to rig this thing up with Ethereal to see if I can sniff it out somehow. If it works I'll post details.

Posts: 230 · Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 3:40 pm Post subject:

the password is encrypted with MD5. You are not going to get the password.

You could how ever setup an asterisk server at home with an FXO card and plug you Vonage ATA into and register your SIP phones to work with asterisk.

PM me for more details.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 5

Thanks for the info on that. Alas, I don't want a PBX (yet). I really just want to take my Vonage number with me and have it on my laptop. Too bad, Vonage doesn't want me to do that. I'll switch to Broadvoice, which actively encourages users to "BYOD" or use software phones. It also has lower rates and more free international calling (I think 21 countries instead of just US and Canada). On the downside, I have heard some bad things about their service quality and support. I must say, Vonage has always given me good call quality and perfectly reasonable customer support so I'm not excited about switching (and losing my phone number) but this thing with "you must use this stupid box that we sent you" is a deal-killer. My entire reason for getting Vonage was so that it would be easy to take it on the road. If I have to lug around a Motorola box, a power adapter and a POTS phone, that's not very portable.

Their concept of having people pay $10/mo extra to get 500 minute of softphone is just stupid. Broadvoice has a plan that's less than that, without needing to have a "main line". Skype has Skypeout which is cheaper than that. SkypeIn gives me a worldwide portable inbound number for about $40 per YEAR. If Skype had a flatrate SkypeOut plan this would be a no-brainer decision. Unfortunately the SkypeOut rates are not spectacular for domestic calling.

Is Vonage becoming the new PacBell? It seems that way. They are fighting against innovation and against their customers. It's a feeling I remember from back when I used PacBell.

Posts: 4751 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4751

LinuxUser wrote:

My entire reason for getting Vonage was so that it would be easy to take it on the road. If I have to lug around a Motorola box, a power adapter and a POTS phone, that's not very portable.

I gather that you don't consider carrying the Motorola around and plugging a motel phone into it a reasonable compromise?

Posts: 423 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Oct 03, 2005 Posts: 423

amazing how some of this stuff comes as such a surprise when people get vonage for the first time - How is it that I knew all about 911, how i was going to hook up my phones, my computers, what features I had, how I could move the device around, what I would and would not be charged for, and how I could find out all about the other things I didn't know about Vonage, BEFORE it even arrived at my house? Am I psychic? No, I actually READ SOME STUFF before I ordered it!

I might be onto something here, guys keep a lid on this one...sometimes, if you read information before you get into something, you know more about it!

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 12, 2005 Posts: 5

Hey, LinuxUser, did you find out your parameters? I'm trying to do a similar thing, except that I want to call from my laptop from a remote site to my home, and I don't know the SIP's username...

I agree that Vonage is letting very little information out and insists on doing it "its way". It bothers me too. Although I'm happy with the service, customer service **** (after waiting 20 minutes on the phone it disconnected. Twice.).

ColdGin, you should actually take the time to read the guy's question instead of posting caned, useless answers. The answer to his question is NOWHERE on the vonage site.

M.