I’ve been trying to get AT&T’s Flexible Reach service up and running for some time now. The data part is working great – I’m seeing upload and download speeds of 35 Mb/s and 48 Mb/s on 50 Mb/s fiber, and the speed appears to be limited by my firewall, not AT&T’s network.
Getting the VoIP part has been harder, and we’ve come to kind of an impasse. We can receive incoming calls, but can’t make outgoing ones. Looking at the SIP packets flowing across the firewall using the Sonicwall Dashboard, I can see the PBX issuing an “Invite” packet to the AT&T SIP server, the SIP server coming back with a “Trying” packet, and immediately following that with a “Forbidden” packet. The PBX issues an “Ack” packet, and we’re done.
The firewall is running NAT, and the LAN side has the IP address range 10.10.24.0/24. The AT&T tech is saying that she can’t ping the PBX at 10.10.24.2. To me, that’s not surprising, since that address is non-routable on public IP networks, but she thinks it’s an indication that the firewall is improperly configured.
I say that the packets that I’m seeing are indications that the PBX and the SIP server are communicating, and would like her to find out why the SIP server is issuing the “Forbidden” packet.
The AT&T tech is not impressed with what the firewall is saying about the SIP packets, because she has no Sonicwall experience.
I can’t get the Sonicwall to answer ping requests. I don’t know if it’s the firewall or AT&T’s router that’s the problem.
On Saturday, I hatched a plan to break the logjam. I would buy a sacrificial laptop, load it with Wireshark, and place it on the WAN side of the firewall with an IP address adjacent to that of the firewall WAN port.
Then we’ll try and ping the sacrificial PC. If that doesn’t work, we’ll know the AT&T router needs some work. If it does, we will set up Wireshark to track the SIP packets that flow back and forth between the WAN port on the firewall and the AT&T router, and see if they look the same as they do in the firewall dashboard. If they do, then presumably AT&T will pay attention to them, since Wireshark is pretty much an industry standard for this kind of thing.
I had time to do the testing on Tuesday.
I could have run out and bought a laptop, but instead I found a nice cheap Dell on the Amazon web site. For $5.99 extra (I’m a Premier member) I could have it on Monday (yesterday). I clicked the button. Yesterday morning, I checked the estimated delivery date on the Amazon web site. Still Monday, When the UPS guy didn’t show, I checked again. Still Monday. Hmm. I put the UPS tracking number into Google, and saw that the package had been picked up Monday morning, and was set for an on-time delivery on Tuesday.
I guess UPS and Amazon have different definitions of “on-time”. Seems sort of Clintonesque.
Let’s step back for a minute. I read a lot about “same day delivery.” Sounds good. However, in my experience, Amazon can’t reliably manage next-day delivery. At least 9 out of 10 times, they get it right. That lulls me into trusting them. Then there’s that tenth time. Reminds me of the Animal House line: “You [messed] up; you believed me.”
I filled out a complaint on the Amazon web site. I got an email back promptly, kind of apologizing without saying what they were apologizing for, and pointing vague fingers at the carrier (that would be UPS). They did offer to refund the $5.99 I paid for next day delivery, reducing the charge to zero, which is what Amazon usually charges for second-day delivery. Whee. [Update: two weeks after the order was placed, and still no refund.]
I fired back a reply, saying that if I’d known it was going to take an extra day, I’d have ordered the computer from someone else, or run down and picked one up locally. The reply bounced. I went to the Amazon website again, and tried to figure out a way to have a conversation with the rep who sent me the email. I failed.
So, I have two gripes with Amazon. The late delivery, and the totally unsatisfying way they have of not letting you have a two-way conversation with them. Yes, I could call and complain, but that’s never made me feel any better.
The computer just arrived. I need to get to work.
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