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Loss of connection to the Digital Voice Service -- 3rd Hub -- No Joy

I'm posting this for 2 reasons: 1) to share with the verizon and wider world; 2) i'm desperate for help so anyone with any experience (good or bad) I'd welcome your input!

I am on my 3rd Verizon hub unit, and each has had the same peculiar behavior that I have not seen described elsewhere on this forum or anywhere on the net for that matter. I have spent quite a long time with tech support and seem to have really climbed the food chain there thanks to a kind soul by the name of Matt Schuler, and the good folks at Verizon he contacted on my behalf. And while this has been a friggin' nightmare and a huge time vampire, I must say that Vz TS has been very responsive.

I can set up, grab an IP via my wireless signal no problem. I can make and receive calls with excellent quality. I can use all the cool net based tools. Then, without fail, anywhere from 10-50 minutes later, I get a "red phone" icon, and any attempt at a voice call yields the "We are connecting to the Digital Voice Service. This may take a few minutes..." message. Even though I have lost voice ability, I can still use all of the net based tools, movie trailers, text messages, search for phone numbers and get maps, etc.

I want to stress, I never lose connection to my home network. I still have an IP for the Hub. I can get into my Linksys router software and see the Hub connected. From my wireless Thinkpad, I can still ping the hub with zero packet loss even with the red phone icon. In all respects, the Hub is up on my home network. And it can do everything -- except carry a voice.

I am on Bellsouth twisted copper DSL, a Motorola 2210 modem and a Linksys WRT 54GL modem. I have anywhere between 3-6 computers, 1-2 network printers, and 2 TiVos connected to this network all without a problem (wish everything worked as well as a TiVo!). I have had Bellsouth out to my house and declare my DSL fit (they replaced an old Alcatel modem at the time, so the 2210 is brand new). I replaced my Netgear router even though it was only about 18 months old; the Linksys is brand new. Never ported my phone number over -- thought I'd see if it would work first ...

Any help greatly appreciated. Buyer beware ...

Paul

Comments

Hubuser

Some DSL providers log you off after a few minutes and unless you have activity on your network, you may remain logged off until there is activity, such as opening a browser on a computer. We had this problem and got a router that constantly monitors the DSL connection and reconnects immediately when it is disconnected. We have no problems with the Verizon Hub on our router.

MagicMan

Although the hub is on a single 'data pipe', that pipe is really split into 2....path for voice traffice and path for data traffic. I have learned the red phone monitors the voice path. It sounds like the voice path isn't staing up. There was a similar thread elsewhere here that talks about the router's resetting. Something in the router or modem is interrupting the voice path.

First off, log into the hub web page (verizonwirelss/hub then click on grey sign in button). When you log in, you will see a 'help' link on the left and also direcly under support. Click on it, then click on setup help and look for router help. Make sure the linksys is set up the way they describe.

Make sure the router firmware is the latest. There was some chatter on some voip sites about old versions of the wrt54g routers having problems with SIP (voip) registration. If your router is new, that probably isn't a problem but it may not hurt to put the latest firmware in it. Go to www.linksys.com and click on the support pages to get the download instructions.

The setup help page also recommends making sure your firewall in the router is set to medium or low as well as some other thing to check.

I wonder if the Moto modem or the bellsouth routers are interfering with the sip packets some hoe.

Not sure if any of this will work. My hub is working fine but i'm using a different setup.

Bonozon

>> It sounds like the voice path isn't staing up. <<

You can say that again. Yes, the Linksys had the latest firmware. My VZ TS rep was kind enough to get on a 3 way call with Linksys in order to make sure we had the correct setting for port forwarding. Even after setting port 5080 and range 16384 to 16482 open for the IP assigned to the Hub device - and with the Hub hardwired to the modem -- I could not keep a green phone.

Next project was taking the Linksys out of the equation. Connected via ethernet direct to the Motorola modem, I had a solid green phone for 12+ hours.

I reverted to the Netgear WPN824. Set up went easier than the first time and I with a stable network, I opened up port forwarding just as on the linksys, and fired up the hub. Placing any voice call not only did not work, and quickly got me a red phone -- it trashed my network and I could no longer surf. Power cycling the modem and router quickly restored things. I repeated this 2 additional times, and each of the 3 instances resulted in the same. Bummer.

Next part of the science project was to go Netgear/wired. Recycled everything and plugged the Hub into the Netgear via ethernet. Curiously, the Hub did not disable the wireless radio on recycle and connected wirlessly first. I changed it to wired, it connected, and pulled in a green phone. I ran like that successfully without even as much as a hiccup for 48 hours.

Next part to the experiment will be to play with the wireless security settings. Sure was nice when it worked - but a wired setup in my teenager's room is not going to cut it! Any Netgear gurus out there?

MagicMan, every time I try and register my hub at verizonwireless/hub or verizonwireless/welcome -- I put in the hub phone number, and get a "page can't be found" message that references the "my account" path. Weird thing is, I've been using the verizon mywirelessaccount to manage/pay bills for years, still do, and never have a problem. Starting to feel HubCursed ...

Bonozon

Does anyone have any information about routers designed specifically for VoIP? TIA ...

(Changing the security key to WEP 128 bit as per Vz TS did nothing -- I got the same result: any attempt at voice com when the Hub is connected wirelessly results in a quick dropped call, a red phone, and then nothing on my network can access the internet. I must power cycle the modem and router to get devices back up. Hub is a fancy paper weight at this point. My TS contact seems to have gone underground on me ... and the clock is ticking on my 30 days.)

jmcohen23

it could be the modem. this was a problem when I had comcast. I would occasionally lose connection (even during activity), and had to reset it. sometimes the modem gets old and needs to be replaced (from what I have been told).

I just recently switched to FIOS (don't have the hub yet thought), and VZ gave me a router/modem combo, and I have yet to lose a connection.

See if VZ will give you one of those bad boys.

Bonozon

Can't be the modem, cause when I plug the Hub directly into the modem, or even directly into the Netgear router via ethernet, it's rock solid stable. Spoke to VZ again today, and supposedly they're sending me a router ... hopefully I'll be following in your footsteps!

MagicMan

That's odd about the Linksys. They are usually pretty reliable.

While you're waiting for the new router, try setting the linksys QOS on High for the hub mac address. That should give priority to any hub traffic. It really shouldn't matter unless there is other traffic on your network but it's worth a try while you're waiting.

There was some chatter elsewhere about sysid's with a space, dash or underscore causing connection problems. You don't have any of that in there, do you? If so, have just an alphanumeric sysid and see if that helps. Reboot everything after changing your sysid.

Message Edited by MagicMan on 05-01-2009 10:15 PM

Message Edited by MagicMan on 05-01-2009 10:16 PM

MagicMan

People on the connections thread are reporting vz seems to have fixed the connection problem with the update that went out last week. Maybe that fixes this problem too.

hubba

Hello World - Bonozon here ... couldn't get back on forum under that account; "disabled" is all I could get. 24 hours later no response from tech support; go figure. I seem to have a bit of a VZ curse on me LOL ... So here under new account and screen name to leave the follow up ...

Anyway, all's well that ends well is the bottom line. Nothing ever worked with the Linksys or the Netgear routers; could never get reliable voice connection. The Verizon router arrived, I installed it, and right away the Hub connected, stayed connected and has run like a champ ever since. Not sure why the VZ router would make any difference, but it certainly did. I notice that the Firewall is turned off by default. I acutally set it to "low" and all still works. Only thing that might make sense is if VZ configures the router with all protections turned off to minimize possibility of having something blocked. The interface software for the VZ router seems a little "squirrley." For instance, it shows multiple wireless devices constantly losing connection, but that's not what I see or experience from the end device ... and I never saw that using the Netgear or Linksys devices ...

Only hiccup I've had was when I went ahead and had the line ported over. Same time I got notification that the port was complete, sure enough -- red phone on the hub and no connection to voice service. I had a brief moment of panic as I rebooted the hub, but it connected --and has remained connected ever since.

A couple issues with features, for instance, I can't get reverse lookup to work. I constantly get a "network unavailable" or similar message. Also, attempting to block calls daily from 6-8 PM has yielded some strange results that are less than successful. But no issues with voice connection, or quality of service for that matter.

Finally, while it was a huge PITA doing all the troubleshooting, I have to say that VZ TS really hung in there with me. And while I wish they had sent the router out sooner, it was a pretty amazing level of support. And "Navi" ... if you're out there man, thanks for everything! The guy who assumed ownership of the case wasn't nearly as cool as you!

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