Nodephone VOIP with Huawei E5186s-61a

[edthecow]

Hi - my setup is: Obi1062 (a phone) -> wifi -> Huawei E5186s-61a -> Optus ltebroadband (mobile post-paid data-shared i.e.not home mobile broadband) -> Nodephone (voip service provider).

The setup works *almost* completely correctly (i.e. registration, dialing out, receiving calls in) except that there is no received RTP traffic (only transmitted packets using G711A) which means that I can talk to the other end but I can't hear what they are saying i.e. one way audio. This is the same when I call out or get a call in.

However, if I connect Obi1062 (a phone) -> wifi -> Fritzbox -> TPG -> Nodephone all works 100% so it seems likely to be something particular to the "Optus AND Nodephone" combination.

I've read a lot of posts and tested their advice on:

1. SIP ALG needing to be ON (in modem) but that stops calls from working so it has to be OFF.
2. using TCP for SIP (in phone) but that stops SIP registration from working so it has to be UDP.
3. changing the (phone) local SIP port and RTC port ranges but that made no difference so left them as default settings.
4. using a public STUN server (phone) but that made no difference so left it as default OFF.
5. setting the NAT translation from Symetric to Cone (modem) but neither made a difference so left as Cone.
6. port forwarding but the Optus provided Huawei E5186s-61a (modem) doesn't really have that option, it has something sort of similar which I turned on and off for port 5060 but neither setting made a difference.
7. putting the Phone in the DMZ (modem) which I did that but it didn't make a difference.
8. changing the RTC packet size (phone) but I couldn't find that setting so haven't been able to test it.
9. changing to Telstra but I don't have that option.

The last one came up a few times in Whirlpool forums, i.e. that Optus has deliberately stopped VOIP from working, but there was also some who claimed it worked on both home broadband and mobile broadband so I'll keep trying for now.

 Are there any more suggestions?

[Toomey]

Sorry I wouldn't be able to offer any advice from our end as using third party hardware is out of our support scope I'm afraid.

[edthecow]

Hi - thanks for replying, but for the moment please forget about everything I wrote above and instead consider this question:

I have Optus wireless broadband (very happy with) and an Optus supplied modem (e5186s) which has the default settings of SIP ALG enabled and cone NAT. Is there anything that Optus can do (e.g. specific APN, or back end configuration setting) so that VOIP will work?

p.s. I have tested by replacing the e5186 with a Vodoafone prepaid 3G modem and it worked straight away with no changes to the phone which points the finger at either Optus wireless or the Optus modem as being the problem needed to fix.

[Shauna]

Hey edthecow, the modem you are talking about Huawei E5186s-61a is an Home Wireless Broadband modem which we only provide for broadband service and not VOIP, I`m afraid. Here is the user guide of the modem if that help keeping in mind we do not support VOIP. Kartik

[edthecow]

Hi Shauna/Kartik - thanks for replying and for the link to the page with the link to the quick setip guide.

I'm a little fuzzy if by "keeping in mind we do not support VOIP" you mean VOIP is not supported on (a) Optus Home Wireless (b) that particular model of Modem, or (c) Both.

Which ever it is, could you please let me know, and please update your website with that information? Thanks, Tony.

[Shauna]

Hey @edthecow, not a problem at all. I am not too tech savvy with modems but the user guides might be able to confirm if it is supports or not. Even if the modem supports, VOIP Is not supported on Optus Home Wireless service. Our website confirms we only offer $70 - 200GB broadband. Since there is no mention of a VOIP this confirms it is not offered with this service. Kartik

[edthecow]

Ok, it's been a year so I thought I'd update this entry with what I've found.

I can use my Optus home mobile boardand service and a VOIP service (specifically nodephone, but also mynetphone) but only by placing the router in bridge mode (which is not something I could enable with the Huawei E5186s-61a so I got a Dovnado and plugged the 3G dongle with Optus SIM in to it).

So my working solution is Optus AND *bridged modem* AND Nodephone. I hope this help someone else.