On Monday 05 May 2003 12:30 pm, Francois BERGERET wrote:> What kind of VoIP ?
> SIP, H.323 or proprietary protocol ?
> With a specific H.323 tracking module ?
> Could you, please, give us your DNAT rules to work with it ?
>
> More informations appreciated...
The VOIP I am using comes from Vonage.com out of New Jersey. They are also
marketed by earthlink.net as Earthlink''s Unlimited Phone.
As best as I can tell, they use H323. They dont give out a whole lot of
technical information. Their device is a Cisco ATA 186 which they recommend
you hook into a router going into your broadband, which in my case is cable.
I chose Vonage cause they offer two plans, one for all the local stuff plus
500 minutes of long distance each month for about 26 bucks US. They also
have an unlimited version which includes calls to Canada for about $40 usd
per month. And the beauty of all this is it bypasses the local telephone
system.
The ATA which stands for Analog Telephone Thingie, has two input holes for
your telephone. You can run all your home phones into it so long as you are
disconnected from the local phone lines and its attendant 60 volts. Plugging
that into the ATA will fry it.
Vonage provides the ATA 186 which you can study by going to the Cisco site and
reading all the good information they provide. Vonage has a bit set in the
ATA which prevents you from doing Static IP. Now how did I learn that????
if your ATA gets reset to factory default, you can access it via your web
browser via port 80, and the tech can give you the 4, count ''em, 4
little
parameters which you can set via the browser so It will talk to Vonage and
download all the required configuration. One of the parameters will then
lock the ATA out of your browser. I should have been paying attention when
he told me what to do but having been up all night, I was kinda dopey. But
what the heck, they are real friendly and should the thing get reset I know
who to call.
Back to the good info. You must have DHCP set up on your linux box. The
Cisco info says you can set it up for static IP but the current config used
by Vonage says no, although I''m sure if you spoke nicely to the tech he
might
be persuaded to let you go the static ip route. DHCP is to nice, once it is
setup, to make me even consider going back to Static IP''s.
So here is the rest of my story as told to another interested Linux user:
I have a small network using SuSE 8.1 as my main machine, router and firewall.
I have two NICs, eth0 to the net, eth1 to the loc. I use the Shorewall two
interface setup almost virginal, just like wife of 20 some years. I start by
rejecting or dropping everything and enabling Masquerading. Then I open the
ports I need to use Vonage.
Originally I was setup using static IP''s for my subnet. Although Cisco
docs
say you can set the ATA 186 for static IP''s , dont believe it. Vonage
has
set the ATA 186 with a password which wont allow you to change to static.
So I set up as DHCP so all my subhosts can merely jump in and request an IP.
Worked pretty simple. Of course you will have to open some ports to get the
DHCP going right but that is another story. Once the DHCP is going you need
to open up some ports for VOIP via the Rules file.The ports vonage is
concerned with are all UDP and are 5060, 5061, 69, 123, and the range 10100
through 10500.
I added the following to my Rules file:
ACCEPT loc net udp 5060
ACCEPT net loc udp 5060
ACCEPT loc net udp 123
ACCEPT net loc udp 123
ACCEPT loc net udp 5061
ACCEPT net loc udp 5061
ACCEPT loc fw udp 69
ACCEPT fw loc udp 69
ACCEPT net loc udp 10100:10500
ACCEPT loc net udp 10100:10500
and it fired up and went on line without a hitch.
I havent taken any great pains to see if all the open ports/routes are
absolutely necessary. I suspect I did a bit of overkill just to get up and
running. The Tech I spoke to said I needed to be able to send data both ways
over each port. I intend to check that out eventually. I suspect some of the
ports can be limited to the FW - loc circuit, we''ll see. For now it
is
letting me call in and out.
Audio quality is very good. Occasionally I can hear a little delay or echo but
for the price and knowing I just cut out Ma Bell, the dirty mother, it is
well worth it. One other thing, to call out you must use 11 digit dialing
i.e., all calls are like dialing longdistance. 1+ the area code + the
number. We have been forced into 10 digit dialing for several years now so
one more doesnt make any difference.
I have been calling local and long distance today and really like the sound
quality. I have bad ear bones and the usual telephone is sometimes muffled.
Not so with Vonage. Nice, crisp and clear and that is noticed by the people
I have been callling.
I will continue to put the thing through its paces and if I find anything new
I will let you know.
Hope this answers most of your questions. If not, ask away.
Regards,
Richard
BTW, if you decide to use Vonage, tell them I sent you and they will give both
of us a free month of telephone usage. That could be worth 40 bucks if you
get the unlimited plan.
ra.