Trixbox Astersik server – some success with other stuff.

Last weekend I cleaned up some network issues at home. In short I had run into some issues becasue I was running and BIND DNS server that was being used by my webserver plus the webserver had entries in its hosts file plus I am running m0n0wall which handled DNS resolution for other clients on the network. It was all very confusing but I think its sorted now.

So, now that my network is decent I got stuck into Trixbox. The issues I had were as follows:-
1. Couldn’t received call on my Ekiga SIP client running on my laptop in the man cave, strangely I could call other external extension from Ekiga but not receive calls. It was just always engaged.
2. I couldn’t seem to get my SPA3102 to act as a VOIP to PSTN gateway or PSTN to VOIP Gateway.
3. Couldn’t get Sipdroid runinng on my ADP1 to register with my Trixbox to then beable to act as an extension and receiv calls etc.

Point 1 must have something to do with Ekiga, I say this becasue I installed X-Lite last night and could make and receive calls fine with it. Anyone know why Ekiga will not receive calls, despite it registering fine and being able to make calls fine???

Point 2 was a little more tricky. It turned out that the other day I moved my modem into the man cave as there was a phone line extension there. The ADSL worked fine but strangely when ever I called my land line it was engaged, this as a result frustrated my attempts to get Asterisk answer PSTN calls and vica-versa. This isn’t so bad becasue know one knows what the number is but its a worry. It turns out I had to move the modem back up stairs to where I had installed an ADSL filter splitter. Writing about this now leads me to belive that perhaps the problem is from the way the phone extensions were installed and having a filter/splitter upstairs and only using it for PSTN then having another filter/splitter down stairs and only using that for ADSL is causing the problem. I’ll buy an in-line filter for my phone only and plug the modem back in the man-cave without a filter and see if that solves the problem.

So anyway, I re-set the SPA3102 back to factory default and re-entered the various setting to ensure the thing woirked in Australia again and also sounded like and Australian phone. I re-set it up a–la Trixbox without the tears and now…..it works! Sweet.

Point 3, I admit, II buckled and signed up with PBXes. It hurts me to do this and I’m still annoyed but at this moment its the easiest way to achieve what I would like, ie, Sipdroid working. IN the end I opened a new account at Pennytel and set up Pennytel as a trunk at PBXes. Whats cool is that I also have an account with Pennytel so Pennytel to Pennyytel calls are free. Thsi way, if my fike wants to speak with me and Sipdroid is regiustered to PBXes OK she just calls me Pennytel account number and its a FREE call, of course this depends on if Sipdroid is using 3G or if its on Wi-Fi.

Modem fixed

Oh the trials and tribulations of fixing ones own electronics.

Having purchased $10 worth on new capacitors from RS components yesterday, today i finally was able to remove the old ones and put the new one in.

The tricky bit was removing the solder from the holes where the old capacitors were. Unfortunatley my lack of experience resulted in one of the hole fill with solder and my iron could not melt it all again to be able to suck it out with a solder sucker. In the end I resorted to a 0.6mm fine drill and a steady hand to drill the solder from the hole on about 5 holes in the end.

It would appear its worked well with good up and down speeds. Amazing.

I’ll see how it goes tonight, I’m worried I will wake to a molten plastic mess.

Modem problem

If anyone has noticed, I’ve had dramas with my connection over the last week or so. My trusty old Speedtouch 536 finally died. I opened it up and the capacitors have all bulged or leaked or both.

I was lucky enough to borrow a modem off a friend, unfortunately I didn’t read the manual when I plugged it in and some of the settings were wrong resulting in it dropping off all the time. Fixed it last night, nice and stable now.

I’m looking at getting a Cisco modem and using the 536 as a backup (after I replace the capacitors).