VoicePulse Connect

[dobbs]

I've got a few VoicePulse connect (connect.voicepulse.com) trunks working well with my own PBXiaF installation. I had used their FreePBX module, and it worked; however, the module no loger installs IAX2 connections - only SIP. SIP should have been fine with my public IP, but alas, no. After a day or so, I had repeated instances where my registrations would fail. A quick reset would fix it, but that fix was temporary and the problem persisted. I never have that problem with IAX, so I simply ditched the module and just set up the trunks manually. It's been working great.

 

[arbitrageur]

I also use voicepulse connect, but I am only using it for outgoing (so I avoid the monthly recurring line fee, since I have a POTS line on the FXO port of a SPA-3102, anonymous SIP, and ENUM to take calls in from).

I used the trixbox/freepbx module, which works well and provides the current balance and other APIs.

Are there some real clear advantages to using IAX instead of SIP with them? I understand your registrations were failing, but I haven't had that problem since I don't reg for inbound calls with them.

-Greg

 

[dobbs]

It looks like VoicePulse issues now include SIP trunks too. IAX trunks went down this afternoon. I followed directions to "upgrade" to the newer SIP-only servers and had inbound calls working for a mere three hours before that failed. Now, even after several reboots, all inbound service has stopped working from VoicePulse. This is the note still on the home page after login:

NOTICE: 3/24/2008 5:00PM ET We are aware of an issue affecting one of our carriers which is resulting in high latency between our customers and our connect01,2,3 gateways. If you are still using these gateways, we highly recommend moving to the newer nyc/sfo gateways. There are multiple changes that must be made to successfully move to nyc/sfo, so please read the sample configs!

I asked point-blank about a month ago if they were planning to phase-out IAX connections. This is the response I received then:

"We currently have no plans to discontinue IAX service. We recommend SIP trunks, but if you are having problems with SIP you should probably stick with IAX."

I guess plans change.

 

[kenn10]

I had too many issues with IAX through Voicepulse Connect a year or more in the past and moved to SIP at that time. I've had no real issues since then. I guess I've been fortunate not to experience your issues. Personally, I have found customer service to be more than responsive with calls and follow up calls to insure the issues are corrected.

At the risk of sounding harsh, I'd be curious as to why IAX is better than SIP for anyone unless they have unresolved or poorly planned network or firewall issues. SIP is the new standard and we need to move forward.

 

[troycarpenter]

The latest freebpx module set up NYC as my primary and SFO as my backup. The complicated part is using SRV lookups. I've had no problems in the past month since switching to the NYC and SFO servers.

 

[dobbs]

Well, in my searching for a solution in the past, I found many others having the same issue. The new SFO and NYC servers are currently SIP only.

And as I said, there's no network issue. This box has a direct public IP with no firewall other than iptables.

 

[dad311]

Well, in my searching for a solution in the past, I found many others having the same issue. The new SFO and NYC servers are currently SIP only.

And as I said, there's no network issue. This box has a direct public IP with no firewall other than iptables.

I've got a few VoicePulse connect (connect.voicepulse.com) trunks working well with my own PBXiaF installation. I had used their FreePBX module, and it worked; however, the module no loger installs IAX2 connections - only SIP. SIP should have been fine with my public IP, but alas, no. After a day or so, I had repeated instances where my registrations would fail. A quick reset would fix it, but that fix was temporary and the problem persisted. I never have that problem with IAX, so I simply ditched the module and just set up the trunks manually. It's been working great.

I talked to VoicePulse yesterday about SIP registrations failing. VoicePulse said it was a Asterisk 1.4.x bug and they are trying to reproduce/fix the problem. Some customers are adding asterisk -rx SIP reload to the crontab to run during the day as a work around.

 

[dobbs]

I talked to VoicePulse yesterday about SIP registrations failing. VoicePulse said it was a Asterisk 1.4.x bug and they are trying to reproduce/fix the problem. Some customers are adding asterisk -rx SIP reload to the crontab to run during the day as a work around.

I'm opting to reload their older .03 application (get it here: http://connect.voicepulse.com/files/voicepulse-0.3.0.tar.gz) and configure with IAX again now that it's working. The .03 app does offer the choice of SIP as well, but it probably won't support their recent srvlookup requirements. In fact, I suspect their SIP stability issue may stem from that vs. an Asterisk bug.

 

[wardmundy]

There may be a bug, but don't be too quick in blaming it on Asterisk. Lots of other providers provide reliable SIP service with Asterisk 1.4 without losing connections. We use Vitelity, les.net, AxVoice, and TelaSIP all day every day without losing connectivity so... Buyer Beware.

 

[VoicePulse]

SIP registration bug found

We have identified the issue causing some customers to lose registration until Asterisk is restarted.

This is due to the combination of a normal network event on our end and Bug #12323 in Asterisk. This combination has not occurred on a large scale before because most other ITSPs are still letting customers connect directly to Asterisk without using load-balancing or clustering.

While we wait for Asterisk to be patched, we are working on preventing the 408 messages from reaching Asterisk clients to avoid encountering this bug.

 

[dobbs]

Has anyone else here lost inbound DIDs from VoicePulse this afternoon? This happened at least once a week ago - SIP trunks show registered but inbound calls won't connect or even hit asterisk. Rebooting doesn't help. I've reopened my ticket from last week.

 

[dad311]

Mine seems to be working ok. Can you ping your domain name/address? Is your router port forwarding?

 

[dobbs]

It's a public IP. I've even tried both IAX and SIP (rebooting, etc...). I had this issue (not quite the same as their SIP registration issue) at least one time last week, although things were stable for a few days. Everything shows registered, but the calls don't connect or even hit asterisk. Outbound calls work fine. The box pings fine from outside addresses. This has to be something on their server(s) or network. Inbound calls were working fine until about 4:00 PM central time.

 

[dobbs]

Definitely a problem on their network. I've done nothing to my server or network for the past hour - just kept checking by calling my DID every fifteen minutes or so. Now, after being down all afternoon, it's working again.

This has me even more concerned than I was last week though. Neither IAX or SIP solved my problem.

 

[dad311]

If your the only one, maybe your ISP was blocking the port.

 

[dobbs]

While I wouldn't put that past Comcast, I was able to test the ports while the number wasn't connecting and everything was wide-open and showing as registered. Also, everything else was working perfectly - outbound SIP and IAX extensions, remote extensions, an extension-to-extension calls.

I suspect that there are some kinks in the way VoicePulse's server cluster (whether virtual or actual) is juggling DIDs.

 

[grumpy]

I had a similar problem with LES.net on Tuesday afternoon. My local DID was not available or was ringing busy on incomming, worked fine for outgoing. My toll free from LES.net was unaffected. Tuesday evening all worked fine.

 

[dobbs]

A rep from VoicePulse called me (twice actually) and told me the issue was an "upstream" problem with my DID routing - upstream of their server cluster. So it's possible that the same DID provisioner could cause routing issues across more than one provider.

I have to give VoicePulse a hand - having a rep call to make sure each ticket is resolved is great.

 

[dad311]

Have had very good luck with Voice Pulse customer service. They always seem to follow-up quickly on trouble tickets.