After some research, I noticed the following settings suggested by Callcentric:

session-timers=refuse
session-expires=180
session-minse=90
session-refresher=uas

I’ve placed this in the [general] section of sip.conf, because calls from Callcentric arrive from multiple servers and the way Asterisk handles SRV records, only one of the servers ends up mapping into the per-carrier context at any given time. It doesn’t seem to have an adverse effect on calls from other carriers. (It is just turning off functionality new to 1.6, and setting some sensible defaults.)

The fix is controversial: I’m disabling STUN.

gconftool-2 -s /apps/ekiga/general/nat/stun_server --type=string

However, this means Ekiga won’t work from less “intelligent” networks anymore. Since I’m considering Ekiga for my laptop, this might be a problem. Maybe I should try X-Lite under Wine.

The only way to change the settings in the SIP profiles seems to be to delete everything and re-enter the data. If I try to change anything, the phone just gives an error message about being unable to save the data, because “all profiles in the same realm must use the same account information”. I’m not quite sure why that is happening. It could be because I’m using “None” as the realm in the registrar server settings. It might be “conflicting” with the (unused) SIP profile provided by my cellular service provider.

References:

• http://forum.voxilla.com/voip-wiki/using-nokia-e-series-phones-asterisk-24215.html

First navigate to the advanced voice administration pages on your device:

• Linksys SPA3102: Admin Login > Advanced > Voice
• Linksys SPA942: Admin Login > Advanced

The following settings work well for me:

I found this quite surprising, as I’ve been a satisfied Vonage customer for many years. I only discontinued the service several months after moving to Finland, when it was clear I was not using it enough to justify the cost.

Based on my experience today, though, it seems the horror stories are quite true.

I called the Vonage support number and explained that I’m no longer a customer but would like to use the adapter in my own network, and would need to have the adapter unlocked. The support technician answered (more than once) that I could “simply unplug all cables from the adapter and it would not disturb the network.” Obviously this did not answer my inquiry at all.

I wasn’t sure if the tech even understood my question (his English wasn’t very fluent), explained this to him, and asked to speak to a supervisor. He offered to transfer the call to technical support instead of the supervisor, and I agreed to this. It’s just that nobody ever picked up the call after that…

I guess all this nonsense was just tactics right from the beginning to get rid of me with my questions. I would have preferred a direct answer like “sorry, we don’t provide unlocking for the adapters” or whatever the case is. I wonder if that is against consumer laws in the USA, so they try to just avoid answering anything at all. What other reason could there be for not being direct with customers?

Unfortunately my ATA-186 is of the later revision where the eeprom chip is soldered on the motherboard. Even if I had eeprom programming hardware, it would take some careful soldering to retrieve the chip without damaging it (or the motherboard).

One more item for the next electronics recycling pickup…