Lose Internet Access When On Phone With Hub Behind Router

[tgakk]

I just got Ooma and wanted to put it behind my router for ease of management. My router does QOS and I've had other VOIP services I've been able to use fine without QOS enabled with the VOIP's device behind my router. I was easily able to get Ooma working with this setup. However, I quickly noticed that if I was on the phone, I lost internet access. The second I hung up and refreshed a page, the internet would work fine again. Any ideas on how to resolve this issue?

I did move the Ooma hub in front of the router between the modem and the router and can now talk and have internet access at the same time. That would be fine, but I'm having problems forwarding ports to my router and then from my router to my machine. I need this to work because I'm hosting a website locally for the moment while I'm developing it and need other people outside of my LAN to be able to access it. Locally, if I try to hit my website by using its domain name (which DNS has pointing at my local machine), it just goes to the ooma status page. I don't see where I can change what port Ooma listens on locally to avoid that. I've tried having my site listen on a new port in IIS and that works locally, but the forwarding still isn't working.

The way I'm setting up forwarding is that I go to setup.ooma.com and set up a rule that forwards requests to port 8414 to my router's address (the address was assigned by the Ooma hub). Then on the router I have a rule that forwards that requests to that port to the appropriate machine behind the router. This was all working fine before I put my router behind the Ooma hub. I have also opened up the firewall port on my machine running IIS, so all should be well, but it just times out when i go to http://www.myhost.com:8414.

Ideally, I'd like to have the Ooma hub behind my router, but I'm not sure why I lose internet access completely when I'm on the phone. It isn't just that the internet gets slower, it times out on every page I try to hit. I have lots of other devices on my network behind my router and they all work fine if being used at the same time and I have lots of bandwidth.

If anyone has any ideas why I lose internet access with the hub behind my router and what I can do to fix it, that would be great. If not, can someone tell my why doing port forwarding from my ooma hub to my router to my machine isn't working, or how I can get the ooma hub to listen on a different port than port 80? I've never had a problem with port forwarding from my router to my machine. It just seems like the Ooma hub isn't forwarding the request to the router even though I know I have the right address that the Ooma hub designated for my router and the rule is setup correctly.

[scottlindner]

Are you using DSL? If so, put a DSL filter between the phone line in the wall and the Wall port on the Ooma Hub. I know this wouldn't make sense since it works when you put the Ooma Hub in front of your router. I am still mulling over your situation and the DSL possibility is my only thought so far.

Scott

[Groundhound]

I just got Ooma and wanted to put it behind my router for ease of management. My router does QOS and I've had other VOIP services I've been able to use fine without QOS enabled with the VOIP's device behind my router. I was easily able to get Ooma working with this setup. However, I quickly noticed that if I was on the phone, I lost internet access. The second I hung up and refreshed a page, the internet would work fine again. Any ideas on how to resolve this issue?

Since your call is not dropped, your Internet is still up, your computer just loses access. How is your computer connected to your router (wireless or wired)? What kind of router do you have?
edit: assuming "on the phone" means being on your ooma line.

[scottlindner]

I wonder if it could be an IP address conflict?

[WayneDsr]

IP Address conflict as Scott says or wireless internet and cordless phone interference. What kind of phone are you using?

Wayne

EDIT: The more I think about it, the more it sounds like an IP conflict.

[tgakk]

Thanks for the replies. My router uses DHCP and my computer is hardwired to the router (no wireless) and I agree, obviously my computer just is unable to hit the internet when I'm using my phone, not that my internet it down or my phone wouldn't work. I'm using Comcast cable for my internet service. Since my router is using dhcp, it probably isn't an ip conflict. DHCP has quite a range of available IPs on my router. And, if it were a conflict, I'm assuming the Ooma hub wouldn't release the ip immediately after I hang up the phone, or no phone calls would come in if my computer had the same IP. The phones I'm using are just some Uniden phones where it has a base station with 3 satellite handsets that aren't wired into my wall (the base station takes care of it). Maybe I had it wired from my router into the Ooma hub backwards (like the cable going into the Modem port as opposed to Home or something). I'll try switching it around and report back.

Thanks again for the help and I appreciate the quick responses!

[tgakk]

So I tried putting the hub behind my router again and I have a cable from my router to the MODEM port on the back of the Ooma hub. If I plug it in to the HOME port from my router, it never turns blue and I don't get service. So, it must be the MODEM port. However, if I'm on the phone, I can't surf the web still. I'm kind of baffled. My router is using DD-WRT and doesn't have any QOS enabled currently. Another interesting twist is that I tried surfing the web from a different computer I have behind my router while on the phone and it works great.

I'm leaning towards a port conflict, but I'm not sure how to resolve it. As I mentioned, I'm temporarily hosting a website from my machine using IIS and port 80 and have all the appropriate ports forwarded from my router to the right machine doing the hosting. I tried shutting down IIS, but I still have the same issue of it shutting down my internet when I'm on the phone. Anyone know what ports Ooma is using and why it would be conflicting on one machine as opposed to another machine behind the same network?

[bw1]

If your router supports it, have you tried tomato:

http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

[scottlindner]

If your router supports it, have you tried tomato:

http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

+1

[scottlindner]

So I tried putting the hub behind my router again and I have a cable from my router to the MODEM port on the back of the Ooma hub. If I plug it in to the HOME port from my router, it never turns blue and I don't get service. So, it must be the MODEM port. However, if I'm on the phone, I can't surf the web still. I'm kind of baffled. My router is using DD-WRT and doesn't have any QOS enabled currently. Another interesting twist is that I tried surfing the web from a different computer I have behind my router while on the phone and it works great.

I'm leaning towards a port conflict, but I'm not sure how to resolve it. As I mentioned, I'm temporarily hosting a website from my machine using IIS and port 80 and have all the appropriate ports forwarded from my router to the right machine doing the hosting. I tried shutting down IIS, but I still have the same issue of it shutting down my internet when I'm on the phone. Anyone know what ports Ooma is using and why it would be conflicting on one machine as opposed to another machine behind the same network?

I know this must be maddening.

On the machine that is loosing connection, before the call could you open a Command Prompt and type "ipconfig /all" to see what your settings are. Look for IP address and gateway address. Then during the outtage do the same. Did it change? Check in DD-WRT to see what IP address is assigned to the Ooma Hub.

Final check. Either in another Command Prompt during the same test, or run a second test type the following before the call and see what it does throughout the call process, "ping -t -w 2 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" where the IP address is your router's address (the gateway address) prior to making the call. Tell us what happens throughout the process.

Scott