Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

Hello everyone.

I have a SOHO account and it has a few “Bugs” that I can’t get rid of.

I have two Canadian DID numbers registered as trunks. The numbers were bought from Localphone.com and the Localphone accounts are registered only at PBXes and nowhere else.
Each DID is configured for two inboud routes:
1. If I call from my mobile phones then I get => CallThru
2. If everyone else calls the DID the call is forwarded to a mobile phone number (that’s is configured as a classic extension)
Basically the DID acts as a gateway depending on Caller ID. I have two separate DIDs that are linked to two separate mobile phone numbers, each mobile phone is tied to an individual DID.

The problem is I have a lot of problems with these DIDs and the routing and I can’t figure out the cause; is it PBXes, is it Localphone? These are the symptoms:

- A LOT of times when people call a DID they instantly get a quick busy tone, but no one is using the DID. Usually the call goes thru with a second or even a third call attempt . In some occasions the busy tone persists until a “reset” the DID by doing a CallThru.
- Another symptom is someone is calling the DID, it rings, but the call is not routed to my mobile phone (the extension). It rings “somewhere” at PBXes probably, but it is not routed accordingly.
- When attempting a CallThru I get a busy tone; sometimes I have to keep trying for 10 minutes until I can get a dial tone. Occasionally I get the message " All circuits are busy" (I don't know if it's from PBXes or another place). I couldn’t find a pattern why this is happening, sometimes everything works fine, and sometimes it just doesn’t work.
- Again when attempting a CallThru it rings, but it keeps ringing and nothing happens, the CallThru is not triggered, I don’t get a dial tone.

I don’t know why all this is happening and I really don’t know where to start to troubleshoot the problem. All I know is that I also use CallThru from regular phones via SIP Broker numbers and it works EVERY time I call. This leads me to believe that all these problems that I have are somehow related with Localphne trunks registered at PBXes....something is not working right. I would change the DID providers but it doesn’t make sense to pay setup fees all over again to discover that it still doesn’t work.

So anybody at PBXes, can you please check the Localphone <> PBXes "connection" and see if you can pinpoint where things are not working? Thank you !

Claudiu

This post has been edited 5 time(s), it was last edited by 181 on 15.02.2010 at 00:09.

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

I am not sure the issue you are describing is related to LocalPhone's Canadian numbers, the LocalPhone SIP Proxy in general, or the PBXes SIP Proxy.

There are two DIDs (one US, one Swedish) on a LocalPhone account, linked to a PBXes account with one setup as Callthru. The other one is setup to forward calls to a Swedish and a German mobile phone, not at the same time of course.

How many registrations are visible on your LocalPhone VoIP section?

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

You say forwared to your mobilephone. This means that you must have an outbound route.

Which trunk are you using to call your mobile ?

Have you tried registering a softphone as extension and than call those number. There will be no forward than and you can see what happens.

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

I’m not sure where the problems come from either, that’s why it is tricky to troublshot.
My DIDs are setup for either CallThru or forward to a mobile phone at the same time; it all depends on the incoming Caller ID at that DID.
In my Localphone account I have only 1 Active Device (PBXes) per each SIP ID (I have a SIP ID and password for each DID).

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/9831/capturehj.jpg

Apparently everything is working OK, but it is not. This morning for example, I called one DID and instantly I got a busy tone. It came so fast that there is a possibility that the called never even made thru the local telephone exchange center. The second try everything was ok, the DID rang and it was forwarded successfully. Usually when a call will be successful it will take a while to connect, if not the busy tone is instant a milisecond after I press the call button.
I strongly suspect the company that owns the DID numbers ( GT GROUP TELECOM ) might have some issues with my assigned DIDs, but I don’t know how to check. And unfortunately Localphone can provide local DID numbers only from GT Group Telecom.

@bobmats
My only outbound route is Voxalot. It is registered as a trunk and all outbound calls are made using the dial plans configured in my Voxalot account. I have no reason to suspect the outbound route; everything has been working perfectly for over 6 months with CallThru if I call from regular phones via SIP Broker numbers. The problems arise only with DID Callthru.

This post has been edited 7 time(s), it was last edited by 181 on 15.02.2010 at 19:07.

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

In order to troubleshoot this further, you should break each call down to its' components. This is where bobmats' suggestion comes in handy.

If inbound calls to your DIDs ring and get answered properly, via a SIP extension (soft-phone, ATA, IP-phone), the DIDs and the originating SIP Proxies (Group Telecom's, LocalPhone's & PBXes') are in the clear.

Logically then, the issue must lie between the SIP Proxies of PBXes and Voxalot's. But I doubt Voxalot has it's own PSTN termination, it most probably sends the call to another ITSP so it can be terminated to the PSTN.

If however inbound calls fail to ring or to get answered properly via a SIP extension, then you can go back to LocalPhone and see if there is something they can do about it.

Overall the picture isn't as clear as we would have liked, but you need to split the call in two parts, in order to determine whether the call suffers from an issue on its' origination or its' termination part.

Let us know of the outcome.

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

Please explain how you can setup your localphone account.

Do you have a trunk on pbxes that registers at localphone.

alternatively you might forward your calls from localphone to a sipnumber, for example yourusername-localphone@pbxes.com

You wil need to setup and inbound routing for this.

Yourtrunkname will forexample be:

username-localphone. This way you can setup localphone to forward to username-localphone@pbxes.com

If you can setup localphone to recognise your caller id, you can also forward this to another special inbound callthru account.

Try this if localphone allows you to forward to a sipnumber. This way you don't need to register a trunk at localphone.

As difora says you will have to do some checking to see where the problem is.

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

As far as I can tell, LocalPhone does not support SIP URI calls, so a registration as a Trunk from PBXes is required.

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

@bobmats
Yes, Localphone is registered as a trunk (actually 2 trunks as I have two DIDs with them) and for each trunk I have two inbound routes: one is for CallThru and the other is for forwarding to a classic extension (mobile phone).
The idea of all this is because from my mobile phone I have unlimited local calling with one local number and this number is a Localphone DID. All my mobile phone calls go thru this DID so that’s why I’m concerned with the DID “reliability”. Everyone that calls me on my mobile phone actually call the DID number, not my real phone number...and they report A LOT of busy tones and it is not good (or it rings, but my mobile phone doesn't ring). Plus I also get a lot of busy tones when I call the DID for CallThru.

@Diafora
Voxalot doesn’t have PSTN termination; I use a Betamax clone for termination to Canadian numbers. I have a few overseas DIDs registered at Voxalot (before I started using PBXes) that are forwarded to Canadian PSTN numbers via Betamax and everything is working perfectly so I have no reason to suspect Betamax. I know Betamax is not everyone’s favourite VoIP company, but it is OK for my needs.

Anyway, I have done what you suggested in order to better troubleshoot the problem, I pointed one DID to a Sip URI, not to the classic extension. The SIP URI was my Voxalot account and I had X-Lite opened and pointing to Voxalot. So in this case Voxalot was out of the equation as an outbound route.
It wasn’t easy to catch the right moment, but I managed to recreate all symptoms that happen with a classic extension: busy tones nonstop for 5 minutes, X-Lite / Voxalot didn’t ring. So I think it is clear that the call never even made to PBXes. The busy tones were instantaneous. CallThru didn’t work either (for the other inbound route), again I was presented with a busy tone. After 5 minutes things magically got back to normal, X-Lite / Voxalot rang so the calls were getting to PBXes.

So, as I suspected, the problem is not PBXes or Voxalot as an outbound route, it is LocalPhone or GT GROUP TELECOM who “owns” the DIDs sold by Localphone.
So any ideas on what I should do next ?

P.S. Diafora can you please change my user name to Claudiu? I don't why I ended up with this nick name. Thank you.

EDIT: I forgot to mention in my first post, but with CallThru I also get this message: “This call cannot be completed as dialled. Please try your call again later”. Is this message coming from PBXes server? It happens only with CallThru (via DID or SIP Broker numbers) and couldn’t figure out what causes it. Sometimes I get it when dialling extensions (100, 200), sometimes when dialling out via an outbound route. I have to keep trying a few times and eventually the call gets through, but not always. The only thing I could notice is that it happens when another line is in use in my PBXes account, but this is not the only case, sometimes it just happens without anyone using any other trunks / accounts.

This post has been edited 11 time(s), it was last edited by 181 on 18.02.2010 at 17:47.

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

If your did number gives you this many problems I would suggest to get another number from another company.

I use a number from les.net and works well.

Have you also tried connecting a softphone direct to the localphone trunk and replicate the problem.

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

Even after having read your lengthy post, I am still not sure where the issue lies. Just to clear something up, what city are your Canadian LocalPhone DIDs from?

Regarding your request, I can't change any username. Sorry.

I am not sure if I understood correctly what you wrote, but are the LocalPhone SIP IDs provisioned as trunks directly on your PBXes account, or via Voxalot?

Can you test with X-Lite setup as a PBXes extension, to eliminate completely any Voxalot intermediate step?

Regarding Les.Net is not the only game in town, but his DIDs definitely work properly with PBXes. Lately though, he has introduced policies (technical & business related) which don't sit well with a lot of his faithful users.

Regarding GT (Group Telecom), being part of Bell Canada doesn't do a lot for their flexibility to resolve issues, but I would be hard pressed to believe their actual DIDs have an issue. I suspect something on their back-end connection with LocalPhone which lets these issues to surface.

Let me know the answers to my questions and we will see how to go forward.

RE: Problems with CallThru and Localphone DIDs

Zitat:

Originally posted by Diafora Even after having read your lengthy post, I am still not sure where the issue lies. Just to clear something up, what city are your Canadian LocalPhone DIDs from?

Halifax, 902 phone area code. Actually the area code is the same for the whole Nova Scotia province.

Zitat:

I am not sure if I understood correctly what you wrote, but are the LocalPhone SIP IDs provisioned as trunks directly on your PBXes account, or via Voxalot?

Yes, my LocalPhone SIP Ids are trunks in my PBXes account. I mentioned Voxalot because I have some overseas DIDs registered there that use the same outbound termination providers as PBXes, but LocalPhone is PBXes only.

Zitat:

Can you test with X-Lite setup as a PBXes extension, to eliminate completely any Voxalot intermediate step?

OK, I will test with X-Lite as an extension and I will also test with LocalPhone directly registered in X-Lite. But it is difficult to catch the right moment when the numbers present only busy tones...

Zitat:

Regarding Les.Net is not the only game in town, but his DIDs definitely work properly with PBXes. Lately though, he has introduced policies (technical & business related) which don't sit well with a lot of his faithful users.

Les pricing is bad. They charge 8.88 $ / month for an unmetered DID, Localphone charges only 3 $. Other options are Voip.ms 5.95 $ or DIDWW.com with 5 $ / month. I will try and resolve this with Localphone, they've been good with support in the past, maybe they have other solutions.

Diafora please see my previous post regarding the "This call cannot be completed as dialled. Please try your call again later"; is it coming from PBXes?

This post has been edited 4 time(s), it was last edited by 181 on 19.02.2010 at 04:33.