VOIP Over Mobile Internet

[fred]

Very quiet on uk.telecom.voip so asking here instead.

I've been using VOIP for ages through a Siemens Gigaset S685 IP base and it
works well. Now hacked off with BT & cost plus broadband price increases
I'm looking at moving entirely to a mobile broadband setup through a TP-
Link Archer MR500 4G modem router which I already have set up and am
testing.

Has anyone run VOIP over a mobile internet connection and run into
problems? I am set up to divert to mobile in case of failure.

It's a city location and I have line of sight to the mast so signal
strength is fine and speeds are more than I am likely ever to need.

[[e-mail]]

Post by fred
Very quiet on uk.telecom.voip so asking here instead.
I've been using VOIP for ages through a Siemens Gigaset S685 IP base and it
works well. Now hacked off with BT & cost plus broadband price increases
I'm looking at moving entirely to a mobile broadband setup through a TP-
Link Archer MR500 4G modem router which I already have set up and am
testing.
Has anyone run VOIP over a mobile internet connection and run into
problems? I am set up to divert to mobile in case of failure.
It's a city location and I have line of sight to the mast so signal
strength is fine and speeds are more than I am likely ever to need.

Should not be a problem, a friend does something similar and I have run VoIP directly in mobiles over 3/4/5G since 2009, indeed the first time was accidental - I had set my then Nokia N79 up to run Voip over Wi-Fi. I avoided running it over 3G because my then O2 contract had unlimited data, but a restriction of no telephony nor tethering. As it happened I was on a bus from the airport when I passed a tower block. My VoIP number rang and I answered. I thought it was pretty clever of the phone to pick up on a BT Fon node so quickly, but as the bus continued down the road, so did the call. It turned out that if the phone was restarted for any reason (like getting off a plane) then if there was no Wi-Fi the VoIP connection was made over 3G and would stay there unless you went out of coverage.

[Graham J]

Post by fred
Very quiet on uk.telecom.voip so asking here instead.
I've been using VOIP for ages through a Siemens Gigaset S685 IP base and it
works well. Now hacked off with BT & cost plus broadband price increases
I'm looking at moving entirely to a mobile broadband setup through a TP-
Link Archer MR500 4G modem router which I already have set up and am
testing.
Has anyone run VOIP over a mobile internet connection and run into
problems? I am set up to divert to mobile in case of failure.
It's a city location and I have line of sight to the mast so signal
strength is fine and speeds are more than I am likely ever to need.

VoIP will probably work fine. About 10 years ago I set up an account
with <https://www.voipfone.co.uk/> and used it to make calls to/from a
very remote location using a Tooway satellite link, see:

<https://www.toowayhome.com/>

... so speed and latency are not a problem.

However, you may find the mobile internet connection gives you other
problems, because (unless you pay for a static IP) your access will be
through CGNAT so your IP address will be shared with many (hundreds of)
other users, and will sometimes get blacklisted.

If you then try to access services (such as email or websites) that
block access from blacklisted IPs then it's no good for you.

Maybe a better solution is to get broadband from somebody other than BT.
We know that (unless you are in Hull) the FTTP/FTTC/ADSL
infrastructure is generally supplied and maintained by Openreach, but if
you buy from a reseller such as A&A or Zen then they will be prepared to
beat Openreach about the head on your behalf to resolve problems.

Some areas now have FTTP from the likes of City Fibre, County Broadband,
or other independent providers.

[Andy Burns]

Post by fred
Has anyone run VOIP over a mobile internet connection and run into
problems?

Things to beware of (or avoid) which could cause problems are SIMs that
provide IPv4 behind CGNAT, and IPv6-only SIMs.

[Brian Gregory]

Post by Andy Burns

Post by fred
Has anyone run VOIP over a mobile internet connection and run into
problems?

Things to beware of (or avoid) which could cause problems are SIMs that
provide IPv4 behind CGNAT, and IPv6-only SIMs.

It seems to me that most simple VoIP providers these days set their end
up so everything works fine through NAT. You just need to turn off SIP
ALG, don't use a STUN server and make your end send keep alive packets
at suitable intervals.

For IPv6 only, you'd have to ask the provider and choose the right
equipment at your end but it works fine apart from that.

[fred]

Post by fred
Has anyone run VOIP over a mobile internet connection and run into
problems? I am set up to divert to mobile in case of failure.

Thanks for the messages of support, reassurance and caution. The connection
is being provided by a '3' MVNO and is working well so far for general use
although with few calls made or received yet, more call trials planned for
the weekend. I've trialed mobile broadband (w/o VOIP) with the same
provider before for a rurally situated family member with no prospect of LL
broadband and it has worked well for their intensive use over 3 or so years
with no negative reports that I could relate to blacklisting or other.

I did wonder if I might lose my IP address on each occasion that the mobile
connection timed out (whatever the tech term for that is) but it appears to
be sticky except on reboot of the router. Dynamic IP is not a problem for
my kind of use.

Overall I think this is a positive but I will run the trial for a few weeks
more before I transfer the number thereby ceasing the line.

With BT & my BB provider stiffing me for 14 & 16% price rises respectively
on the back of many previous above inflation price rises I feel this is
worth a punt. I can always revert to CityFibre or similar if it doesn't
work out.

Thanks for the education on CGNAT.

[Davey]

On Thu, 18 May 2023 20:46:40 GMT

Post by fred
With BT & my BB provider stiffing me for 14 & 16% price rises
respectively on the back of many previous above inflation price rises
I feel this is worth a punt. I can always revert to CityFibre or
similar if it doesn't work out.

That and BT's opaque manner of changing the price of their service,
always half way through a payment term, and then providing an obscure
bill which resembled a "Take away the number you first thought of"
version of a three-card trick, were the final straw that broke the
camels' back and drove me to Zen for all my telephony and broadband
services. And so far, there have been no price rises, although I know
that doesn't apply now for new contracts.
Ditch BT at the earliest opportunity.

[Java Jive]

Post by Davey
"Take away the number you first thought of"

Perhaps not a good analogy, because those algebraic 'tricks' are
entirely understandable, though they rely on having a good short-term
memory, so, while I was very good at doing them when I was young, I'd
probably fail miserably now.

Basically, you let the person choose any number, in your own mind let it
be 'x', and then you lead them through a series of arithmetic (in their
case) or algebraic (in yours) manipulations designed to achieve the
result wanted, which usually is either "... and you're left with
<optionally a constant times> the number you first thought of!" or "...
and you're left with <a given number>". If the former, the
manipulations must eventually restore the running result to 'x' or the
required multiple thereof, if the latter, somehow the manipulations must
subtract 'x' or a known multiple thereof from the running result.

Of course, you mustn't make it too difficult, because otherwise the
other person gets muddled, makes a mistake, and tries to claim that you
made the mistake!

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

Post by fred
Very quiet on uk.telecom.voip so asking here instead.
I've been using VOIP for ages through a Siemens Gigaset S685 IP base and it
works well. Now hacked off with BT & cost plus broadband price increases
I'm looking at moving entirely to a mobile broadband setup through a TP-
Link Archer MR500 4G modem router which I already have set up and am
testing.
Has anyone run VOIP over a mobile internet connection and run into
problems? I am set up to divert to mobile in case of failure.
It's a city location and I have line of sight to the mast so signal
strength is fine and speeds are more than I am likely ever to need.

I set up VOIP over mobile data using a Vodafone PAYG 4G data dongle
plugged into a Draytek voip router.(to reduce the amount of "boxes"
required)
Set it up as I've done with all my other accounts using voipfone with a
geographic number for incoming calls and a Betamax (voipcheap.co.uk) for
outbound calls.

This was to provide a "telephone line" in my mothers' carehome room that
she could use her existing POTS telephone with.

Occasionally the router needs re-booting when something in the chain
gets locked up or confused but on the whole it's been a very effective.

Cheers
Pete

[Graham J]

www.GymRatZ.co.uk wrote:

[snip]

Post by www.GymRatZ.co.uk
I set up VOIP over mobile data using a Vodafone PAYG 4G data dongle
plugged into a Draytek voip router.(to reduce the amount of "boxes"
required)
Set it up as I've done with all my other accounts using voipfone with a
geographic number for incoming calls and a Betamax (voipcheap.co.uk) for
outbound calls.
This was to provide a "telephone line" in my mothers' carehome room that
she could use her existing POTS telephone with.
Occasionally the router needs re-booting when something in the chain
gets locked up or confused but on the whole it's been a very effective.

You could program the Draytek to reboot itself automatically, perhaps at
2am daily?

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

<snip>

Post by Graham J

Post by www.GymRatZ.co.uk
Occasionally the router needs re-booting when something in the chain
gets locked up or confused but on the whole it's been a very effective.

You could program the Draytek to reboot itself automatically, perhaps at
2am daily?

Indeed I could but a quick phone call to the carehome and one of the
staff would just switch switch off the power for a few seconds.

As it is now, the phone is no longer used, the tolls of old age and
creeping dementia so I'll be taking it out and re-purposing the router
to replace an older one that can't keep up with even the relatively
modest speeds of full-fibre I had fitted in the office last year to
replace ADSL.

The Draytek graveyard shelf awaits the next addition.
:)

[fred]

Post by www.GymRatZ.co.uk
I set up VOIP over mobile data using a Vodafone PAYG 4G data dongle
plugged into a Draytek voip router.(to reduce the amount of "boxes"
required)
Set it up as I've done with all my other accounts using voipfone with
a geographic number for incoming calls and a Betamax (voipcheap.co.uk)
for outbound calls.
This was to provide a "telephone line" in my mothers' carehome room
that she could use her existing POTS telephone with.
Occasionally the router needs re-booting when something in the chain
gets locked up or confused but on the whole it's been a very
effective.
Cheers
Pete

Useful info thank you. On the reboot situation, my TP-Link MR500 can do
timed daily re-boots which I have enabled for stability and to get a fresh
IP address each day. Your Draytek may offer the same.

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

Post by fred
Useful info thank you. On the reboot situation, my TP-Link MR500 can do
timed daily re-boots which I have enabled for stability and to get a fresh
IP address each day. Your Draytek may offer the same.

Good idea rebooting the TPLink.

Way back in the "early" days when I started using VoIP, after I switched
back to ADSL2+ from a voip-useless cable connection when Virgin took
over Telewest/Blueyonder, I did have my original Draytek 2800vg unit(s)
re-booting automatically in the early hours of the morning but was
advised against this by... must have been Zen or BE(there) tech support
that they could see the router was being re-booted every 24 hours which
was causing stabillity issues as the line would then drop in speed and
have to re-train, never achieving full speed.
Since then I haven't used the feature.

A quick call to the carehome office and they'd switch the wall socket
off/on which ensured router and ageing DECT base station (kept for
dementia familliarity) could all be kicked at the same time.
:)

[Woody]

Post by fred

Post by www.GymRatZ.co.uk
I set up VOIP over mobile data using a Vodafone PAYG 4G data dongle
plugged into a Draytek voip router.(to reduce the amount of "boxes"
required)
Set it up as I've done with all my other accounts using voipfone with
a geographic number for incoming calls and a Betamax (voipcheap.co.uk)
for outbound calls.
This was to provide a "telephone line" in my mothers' carehome room
that she could use her existing POTS telephone with.
Occasionally the router needs re-booting when something in the chain
gets locked up or confused but on the whole it's been a very
effective.
Cheers
Pete

Useful info thank you. On the reboot situation, my TP-Link MR500 can do
timed daily re-boots which I have enabled for stability and to get a fresh
IP address each day. Your Draytek may offer the same.

If the router is just rebooted it is very likely that it will be
allotted the same IP address. My VM line has had the same external IP
address for maybe 15 years. Even when a drunken idiot piled his car into
the street cab at the top of the road and we were off line for almost
four days it still came back with the same address. Oh, and I do not
have a static address - VM only supply those on business circuits and
then at a cost!

[fred]

Post by Woody
If the router is just rebooted it is very likely that it will be
allotted the same IP address. My VM line has had the same external IP
address for maybe 15 years. Even when a drunken idiot piled his car
into the street cab at the top of the road and we were off line for
almost four days it still came back with the same address. Oh, and I
do not have a static address - VM only supply those on business
circuits and then at a cost!

Yes, often the case for wired connections but dependent on provider eg. Sky
ADSL BB will give you an new IP address on every reboot, most others appear
to be 'sticky'. In the case of mobile internet, such as my new connection,
it is more common to get a new addy every reboot which is kind of
understandable.