Troubleshooting One-way Audio in VoIP by taking these steps.
Fixing
one-way audio issues in VoIP is best done one step at a time. Start
by eliminating any double NAT possibilities by disabling NAT on any secondary
routers that may be present on the LAN. This should be good basic LAN network design anyway and multiple instances of
NAT will cause problems both in VoIP and elsewhere.
One-way audio can occur
in either direction, however, in-bound audio failure (Lack of audio from the
outside caller reaching the inside network (LAN) phone.) is likely the most
common. Many of these cases routers and firewalls cause audio not passing.
Typically, the voice traffic (RTP) is not being passed to the correct SIP port
for its journey inside the premise network.
Certain routers have been known to produce SIP issues, although many of
them have corrected issues with later models and later firmware. SIP ALG
or SIP transformations are notorious for causing issues with VoIP and can
be disabled on most routers for better VoIP quality.
You'll find below
a link to a guide to where to find these settings in some routers. SIP
transformations are known to corrupt some of the SIP headers resulting in
issues with transferring voice traffic correctly.
Follow these basic steps to isolate the cause of one-way audio:
- Connect the ATA/IAD or other SIP device directly to the first device on the LAN, such as the modem. Check for normal operation and good two-way audio. If you experience one-way audio or do not receive dial tone, then the issue will most likely be SIP unfriendly NAT or a firewall present that is not allowing the correct VoIP packets to cross.
- Try setting up port forwarding or IP tunneling. This will transmit the needed packets directly to the IAD/ATA device. Typically, you would forward UDP ports 5060, 5061 and a range of higher UDP ports for the voice RTP transmission, like 10,000-20,000. You should discuss which port ranges are used by your VoIP provider and use what they recommend.
- Placing the IAD/ATA in a DMZ or perimeter zone on the router will prevent it from having it's packets changed. *
- Place the IAD/ATA outside of any firewall and NAT, giving it a public IP address. *
- Enable and configure QOS (Quality of Service) to prioritize for Voice traffic.
*Note: These options could place the VOIP ATA in a venerable place for unwanted remote access. Use caution if ever leaving your VoIP PBX exposed to easy outside access.
If, after trying the above steps, you get good two-way audio voice, then the next step would be to
work inwards into your LAN to determining where the voice transmission is being
blocked. Once found, you
should be able to configure the device to allow needed VoIP packets to pass without breaking or changing the correct SIP
information.
Some routers/firewalls use SIP transformations. This setting has been known to play havoc
with some SIP headers and should be tried both off and on to see which way would be best for your VoIP. Typically
we recommend that it be turned off, as with SonicWall devices. Past experience
has shown them to cause problems. Other
settings which should be looked at are in devices that do packet inspection.
Often, they are the cause for some instances of
one-way audio.
Locating the cause of one-way audio in VoIP.
Look for these existing issues, which can be the cause of one-way audio:
- More than one router with DHCP enabled, which would typically be between the VoIP router/ATA and the public IP.
- Firewall
- DSL modems/routers that are not in bridged mode.
- SIP ALG (Application Layer Gateway) or SIP Transformations enabled on the router. Disable these stateful packet inspections which can play havoc which NAT transversal.
Turning Off SIP ALG (also called SIP Transformations) on some routers.