Comcast and VoIP

[Wally1775]

Anyone else experiencing recurring issues with Comcast and remote IP phones? Seems like every customer I have on Comcast has this problem. Their phones will suddenly just lose their voice path. It is like the UDP voice stream is just being filtered out. The phone is registered and call setup and control happens without a problem, just no voice. Usually we have Comcast flash the modem and everything is fine, but on this latest round that started last week we can't seem to get it fixed. Some of these customers have VPN's built with SG's, some with Kentrox, some with Netgear's, it seems that Comcast is the only common denominator.

Just wondering if anyone else is living this nightmare with me.

 

[IPOfficeGuru]

We had the same issues.
The odd thing is that once the telecommuter subscribed to the Comcast Digital Voice (VoIP) service, the problems went away. More than likely some QoS features were added to the subscribers broadband account.

 

[Wally1775]

I am so frustrated. Nothing I do will recover this voice path. And of course Comcast swears they are not filtering anything. I guess their theory is that I am filtering out my own voice stream - that would make sense right?

Full wide open VPN, no dial tone, and nothing changed in the configuration. WTF else can I check? Better yet, how the heck do I prove it is not us? Any ideas? I am tired of sinking resources into an issue that it appears I am powerless to fix. I would love nothing more than to be wrong about it though.

 

[aarenot]

Try setting the IP phone up in house on their network. If the issue goes away, then it is outside your control, and you do not need to sink any more resources into it. You are not responsible for the QoS on their network, and certainly not for outside their network on the public internet. If you did not sell them the IS now is the time to offer that to them via your ISP, or ISP you resell. If you have another ISP connection neabry, trying that could prove your point to your customer, if it works fine.
We set them up in house, then tell them what they need for remote, and leave that to them. We will help them adjust in conference with them if they have issues, but once it works inside, we have proven it is not our issue.

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[Wally1775]

If only it were that easy. We sold them the VPN solution as well, so it puts us in the middle. All of their IP Phones on non-Comcast connections work fine, it is just this one that constantly has a problem. It is an SG200 at the main site, and SG5's deployed around the country for one customer. And for another customer it is a Kentrox Q2300 at the main site, with Netgear VPN routers deplotyed around the country. Again, same thing - all of their non-Comcast connected phones are fine. And to prove the point, I have connected from a different location with the same equipment and everything works no problem.

 

[aarenot]

It appears that even though you have sold the VPN solution and possibly the network gear that the issue requires no continnued resources on your part. If it does, it is as a consultant to advise that the comcast ISP does not support the VPN QoS required to support the IP Phones.

You may want to adress this with Comcast if they have a channel for technical support issues, beyond that your responsibility is done. One remaning thing you may try is to have the customer engage digital voice services on the ISP in question as IPOfficeGuru stated. That could highlight the issue as an ISP problem. another opton would be to request the customer wchange their remote ISP from Comcast. As it appears, it is an ISP issue for supporting QoS, which is out of your control.





You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.