VOIP Tech Chat → Re: [Voip.ms] Toronto server down again ?

To answer this question, one must ask other questions:

1) Are some servers failing more often than others? If so, what is the root cause? And if so, should those servers be withdrawn?

1a) The same question, in regard to companies managing the various server locations.

2) Is the rate of server failure overall comparable to industry standards, or higher? If is higher, what are the root cause issues? If it is comparable, is the problem simply that failover between malfing servers in different cities is harder than failover between malfing servers in the same facility?

3) Similarly, are there more effective solutions for managing servers in multiple cities?

4) What is an optimal number of locations to serve North America, considering the challenges of remote supervision, the latency factor, expense, redundancy, and capacity?

I'm sure that Voip.MS [is] looking at the mid-range and long-term issues, not just putting out fires.

 
In lieu of THEM withdrawing a server or several, and/or establishing auto-geo-redundancy, were there not a few posts made earlier this year (or late 2012) where it was discussed that a subscriber who deployed certain of the OBI ATA models could enter multiple SIP server names into it in a sequence, and have the ATA manage to which server it would register ? - Or did I just dream up that scenario now ?

And would such a solution only be useful for outbound calls ?

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It also occurred to me that you of all people here might appreciate the value, significance, and consequentiality of what's in a 'pen name', as you have so recently changed yours.

Dave, to take the redundancy question a step further, why stick with just voip.ms? If your device can failover between SIP registrations, why not failover to a different provider entirely?

So prefer to have your outgoing calls go via voip.ms, but if you can't reach your voip.ms POP, then send out over CallCentric or Anveo. I am toying with a way to do this with my Gigaset phone.. it seems like it may be able to fail over to a fixed line if voip is down. Gonna try sticking an ATA on what it thinks is the fixed line, configured to use a different service

You can do something similar for inbound. You can configure your voip.ms account to failover to a SIP URI if it cannot connect to your device. Set it up so that it forwards your call off to your CallCentric or Anveo account, in the hopes that they can deliver the call to your device instead.

This obviously requires the voip.ms service is working well enough that it can bounce the call off, and you MAY wind up paying extra for having two different services process your call -- but wouldn't you rather have your phone ringing, even if it cost a little more?

And you may NOT have to pay more -- CallCentric in particular makes a great fallback because they do not charge you for calls that from their point of view don't involve the PSTN.

You have a good chance of success I think. I did this with an SPA3102 with it's FXS port connected to an SPA2102.

 
VERRRRRY Interesting !

Sounds like that ought to work, and it just might be the most compelling reason to date to swap out my trusty ol' PAP2T in favour of one of these OBI devices, besides the fact that SOME OBI models allow configuring for more that 2 VoIP providers in general.

If it works, then I'm going to try and get the 2nd device on a different internet connection. I can buy one of those little data sticks and have it go out over expensive mobile bandwidth. Not ideal for regular use, but perhaps a lifesaver when my wired connection is down.

Hello,

1. Once the secondary ATA (SPA-2102 or OBi100/110) is connected via RJ11 cable to the FXS (PHONE) port of SPA-3102, then exactly how do you configure the PSTN Tab of SPA-3102 to allow for other VOIP service provider(s)?

2. Then how do we configure the secondary ATA such that both devices work well together?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking.

What I had was a SPA3102 to which I connected my phone. The VoIP side of the SPA3102 was configured to allow me to call or be called via provider A. The FXS port of the SPA3102 was then connected to a phone port of the SPA2102. The SPA2102 was configured to allow me to call or be called via provider B. The dial plan of the SPA3102 took care of directing outbound calls to the appropriate provider, and inbound calls from either provider rang my phone.

Hello,

Originally I wasn't sure how your setup works and what exactly software configuration entails. Now I understand everything thanks to your clear explanation.

In my case I have SPA-3102 as main ATA subscribed to voip.ms. I also got a spare OBi110 that could be used the same way as your SPA-2102. I have not done anything with the dial plan that originally comes with SPA-3102.

Again, thank you for your help.