kd6cae
P2p Shouldn't Be A Crime
join:2001-08-27
Lancaster, CA
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·DSL EXTREME
| calls via Callcentric limited to 2 hours?
Hope someone will read this and can respond. I've been a Callcentric member since early April, and I love the service. I got it as a backup to my skype out, so that when folks call me I'll see their caller ID, something that doesn't always happen on skype.
Anyway, last night, while chatting with a friend of mine, the call without warning dropped, and at first I thought it was my internet connection. I quickly realized it was not, as nothing else I was doing was disrupted. I called my friend again and finished our call, but then I had a look at the duration of the call that dropped, and it showed 120 minutes. So today, I as a test, called my skype in number from my callcentric line, and kept the call connected. Sure enough, at exactly 2 hours, the call was dropped, just as my call last night was. I use an asterisk box for the callCentric connection. I subscribe to the North America unlimited plan, as well as having a dirt cheap DID incoming phone number. The asterisk box shows no errors when the call suddenly drops. It's as if the other side just hung up normally, which in both cases did not happen.
I want to run some other tests, such as determining if inbound calls to my DID also only last 2 hours per call. Has anyone else using callCentric that had a need to yak on the phone for a long while discovered that their call dropps suddenly after exactly 2 hours?
Or is there some hidden timer I should look at in my asterisk box that could be causing this? Other direct ip to IP calls I make to other asterisk boxes via IAX2 do not have this problem. Thoughts or ideas greatly appreciated. |
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priller
join:2000-10-20
Gainesville, VA
 ·voip.ms
·Callcentric
·Vonage
·callwithus
|
My gut feeling is that it's not Callcentric dropping the call. Their customer service is very responsive and it wouldn't hurt to ask.
This does sound like a timer running down. This can be happening on your firewall. Depending on what you have, you may be able to see the timers in the configuration. Could be a NAT translation expiring or SIP inspection timer. If not, try a search on your make/model to see if others have seen the same problem. |
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kd6cae
P2p Shouldn't Be A Crime
join:2001-08-27
Lancaster, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| After yet a third test today using a softphone directly connected to the internet with no firewall in place, I've been in contact with Callcentric, since just as before my call dropped after exactly 120 minutes.
Here is callCentric's response, which I gotta say was quite quick.
"There is a timer that drops all calls automatically after 120 minutes, this is primarily to prevent stuck calls from draining an accounts balance. At this time there is no way to change this and stuck calls are not common however when one does happen it can last until you either figure out what's wrong or we cancel the call which can be hours."
I'm glad to know that the issue is in fact a callcentric one, however it would be nice if they included something about this on their web site. Perhaps they could implement a feature where the timer would be on by default, but the customer could have the option of turning it off, or even adjusting it to meet their call durations. I love everything about callCentric, except this, which there's no mention of anywhere on their site. This is a CallCentric feature I don't like, mainly because there's no way for the customer to have control of it. So if you ever plan to be on the phone longer than 2 hours, callCentric is not for you it would appear. |
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wthrornot
@jillyred.net
| I don't think they're the only ones... see this thread:
»[General] [Future-Nine]
both future nine and axvoice seem to do the same either directly or because the carriers they use do the same. |
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kd6cae
P2p Shouldn't Be A Crime
join:2001-08-27
Lancaster, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| Wow this is very disturbing. So is there no VOIP provider that can accept sip that will allow calls greater than 120 minutes? I wonder if there's any way to know what upstream carriers providers connect with? Skype for example, though not a sip provider, does seem to allow for calls of many hours, as I had a chat with a friend for nearly 10.5 hours one time just to test it. I can see the reasoning for such a timer, but having it be customer controlable would be nice, as 2 hours seems a bit short. I'd personally set it to like 4 hours or something like that, or have an option to turn the timer off per call. I guess my next test will have to be to make an internal callcentric call and see if the timer exists that way, or if it's only when going out to PSTN. |
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priller
join:2000-10-20
Gainesville, VA
·voip.ms
·Callcentric
·Vonage
·callwithus
| reply to kd6cae
said by kd6cae  : I'm glad to know that the issue is in fact a callcentric one, however it would be nice if they included something about this on their web site. »www.callcentric.com/faq/11#210
Is there a limit on how long any call I make will last?
All calls, inbound and outbound, are limited to 120 minutes (One Hundred and Twenty Minutes). The main reasons behind this policy is to protect against mis-billing and fraud.
We are also limited by the industry standard 120 minute/2 hour call limit. Most carriers, both international and domestic, set this limit on their network for similar fraud/billing reasons and as such we also limit calls on the Callcentric network to the 120 minute standard for interoperability reasons.
If you are disconnected on a call you may simply place your call again. |
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