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NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

NetFixer to Melissa2009B

Premium Member

to Melissa2009B

Re: [Connectivity] Trying to use PhonePower on Comcast HSI - not

That sounds like familiar advice. Unfortunately, I don't think that your Comcast gateway has a remote access feature that is accessible to anyone but a Comcast CSR (I know that my SMC gateway was only accessible remotely by Comcast), so PhonePower's "assistance" will likely mean that you will need to make the changes in your gateway's firewall yourself. It's not really that difficult, and even if you screw something up, a factory default reset will allow you to start over (just make sure that you have the WiFi security passphrase saved somewhere in case you do need to do a factory default reset on the gateway). Seriously, the worst thing that can happen is that the firewall changes don't help with the VoIP problems.

gwbuffalo
join:2001-12-08
Mokena, IL

gwbuffalo

Member

said by NetFixer:

That sounds like familiar advice.

It is familiar advice, it is exactly what I told her four days ago when you replied with "...the problems you are describing don't sound like anything that port forwarding would fix..." I guess they were exactly the kinds of problems that port forwarding / getting out from behind the firewall will fix!

Melissa, you need to complete two simple steps to get this to work. I have no doubt in my mind that anyone even with ZERO networking experience could easily complete both.

STEP 1: Configure your PhonePower device to have a static IP address.

»www.phonepower.com/wiki/ ··· _Address

One you complete those instructions, your static IP will be 192.168.1.200

STEP 2: Put that static IP address into the Arris' DMZ.

»screenshots.portforward. ··· /DMZ.htm

Arris control panel -> Advanced -> DMZ

Click "Enable" and enter the static IP you just set on the PhonePower box 192.168.1.200

If you did it correctly, then your phone issues should now be resolved.

With that said, as someone else pointed out that Arris is really only used for people that have Comcast's VoIP service and in the long run you may just want to buy a DOCSIS 3 modem (about $80 at places like Amazon or Costco) and dump the $7 a month rental fee that Comcast charges and break out the router that you have. The nice thing about your router is that it most likely out of the box has remote access features so people can help you change settings remotely.

NetFixer
From My Cold Dead Hands
Premium Member
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
Netgear CM500
Pace 5268AC
TRENDnet TEW-829DRU

2 edits

NetFixer

Premium Member

said by gwbuffalo:

said by NetFixer:

That sounds like familiar advice.

It is familiar advice, it is exactly what I told her four days ago when you replied with "...the problems you are describing don't sound like anything that port forwarding would fix..." I guess they were exactly the kinds of problems that port forwarding / getting out from behind the firewall will fix!

And unless the PhonePower ATA is not properly establishing a session, it is still my opinion that DMZ or port forwarding will not fix the OP's VoIP problems. Her problem sounds more like a QoS or rate limiting problem to me than it does a SIP problem. However, on the off chance that the PhonePower ATA's SIP logic is defective, it certainly can't hurt to try using a DMZ or port forwarding just to see if it might help.

If the OP can find the courage to try to setup port forwarding, or a DMZ, then perhaps she can also see if her cable gateway box also has QoS and/or rate limiting settings. Based on the reported symptoms, I suspect that if the OP runs the ICSI Netalyzr test to verify if she has excessive buffering, and then runs the ShaperProbe test and sets up outbound rate limiting to a value just slightly higher than the base upstream bandwidth shown by ShaperProbe, that might have a chance to correct her VoIP problems. If I did not do that, my Vonage service would have the same long transmission delays that the OP describes (and my Vonage adapter is not behind a router or firewall). In the OP's case (since she is also doing video streaming over the gateway's WiFi), she might possibly need both rate limiting to compensate for excessive upstream buffering, and QoS to give her PhonePower ATA priority over other traffic (this is of course assuming that her Comcast supplied gateway gives the customer access to those settings...Comcast has a tendency to lock down their gateway boxes).