(OT) Need Some Expert Network Advice

Fri Jan 28 12:46:46 MST 2011

Thanks to everyone for their help on this problem. After replacing my phone,
learning some of wireshark's features (way cool stuff), I have been able to
get wifi calling working from my office network. I have to change some
settings in both my wireless access point and my router.....I need some
feedback if these changes are opening my network up for problems.

To recap, my network has a Motorola cable modem connected to a Linksys
BEFSX-41 router, and then I have a Linksys WRT54G Wireless router configured
as a WiFi access point. Lots of switches to connect the LAN to various
computers.

1. On the WRT54G access point, I had to disable MAC filtering. I had it
setup as only permitting certain devices based on MAC address. When enabled,
I can't connect to the T-Mobile network for WiFi calls.

2. On the BEFSX-41 router I had to disable the 'firewall protection, which
means I have disabled SPI. If this is enabled, then my phone can't connect
to T-Mobile for WiFi calls. I still have these setting enabled:
Block Anonymous Internet Requests
Filter Multicast
Filter IDENT (Port 113)

I don't think #1 is a big issue, but #2 scares me. If either one is a major
security problem, can you suggest any way I can isolate the phone in someway
to shore up the security for the rest of the network.

Thanks!

Mark

On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 8:13 PM, Joseph Sinclair
<plug-discussion at stcaz.net>wrote:

> Something like Wireshark (or other similar tool) on the local network might
> help you diagnose the root of the problem you have with T-Mobile WiFi
> calling at home.
> You'll be "drinking from the firehose" when you monitor the detail traffic
> for your network, but if you can filter down to just the packets to/from
> your phone you may be able to see what kind of network issues it's having
> and figure out how to make it work more reliably.
>
> Mark Phillips wrote:
> > The Gizmo5 service is gone...Google acquired them in Thursday, November
> 12,
> > 2009. It is being rolled into google voice; not yet released.
> >
> > I am trying to understand how google voice can help me make calls over
> WiFi.
> > I don't really want another phone number. Is that the only way to connect
> my
> > phone for WiFi calling? Is there no way to diagnose why my network setup
> > won't allow WiFi calling from my phone?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 9:44 AM, Lisa Kachold <lisakachold at obnosis.com
> >wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Mark and Jordan,
> >>
> >> On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 9:33 AM, Jordan Aberle <jordan.aberle at gmail.com
> >wrote:
> >>
> >>> Have you tried this?
> >>>
> >>> http://tinyurl.com/luwroy
> >>>
> >> This is HOT!
> >>
> >> Excerpt:
> >>
> >> The one big thing Google Voice doesn't offer, besides automated
> >> telemarketer taunting, is free voice-over-internet phone calling through
> >> your cellphone. On an Android phone, however, you can use the Gizmo5
> >> service <http://gizmo5.com/>, Google Voice, and a free application to
> call
> >> anyone for free.
> >>
> >> A free, open-source, and unofficial Android app, Guava<
> http://gizmo5.com/guava.html?loc=guava>,
> >> gives any Android phone the ability to make and take calls over Gizmo5's
> >> VoIP service, connected through a Google Voice phone number. It works
> over
> >> Wi-Fi, 3G, or, for the daring, EDGE. You probably won't want to use
> Guava as
> >> your primary phone call manager, as the call quality varies with your
> >> connection and really works best over Wi-Fi. That said, if you're
> running up
> >> against your minute allotment, or find yourself in a basement-like spot
> with
> >> decent Wi-Fi but really bad cell coverage, Guava is a great little tool
> to
> >> have at your disposal.
> >>
> >> It's also worth noting that, depending on who your carrier is, making a
> >> VoIP call over an EDGE or 3G network may violate your contract's terms
> of
> >> service. A little "hard" data use now and then likely won't be noticed,
> but
> >> if you plan on using Guava heavily with your cellular data plan, you
> should
> >> check and read into what's tolerated and what's not before embarking on
> your
> >> bold data-only adventure.
> >> Mark, will you let us know how it goes?
> >>
> >>> On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 9:01 AM, Mark Phillips
> >>> <mark at phillipsmarketing.biz> wrote:
> >>>> This is not totally off topic.....Android is based on Linux....;-)
> >>>>
> >>>> I need some advice from an expert in networks to give me some advice
> on
> >>>> getting my phone to make WiFi calls....
> >>>>
> >>>> Anyway, I have a T-Mobile MyTouch 4g phone. It is supposed to be able
> to
> >>>> make calls over WiFi, which do not use an plan minutes...ie "free"
> >>> calls. I
> >>>> depend on this phone for my business, and I have a wireless network at
> >>> the
> >>>> office, so I don't have to pay for gillions of minutes. This worked
> >>> great
> >>>> when I had my Blackberrys - I could talk all day in the office and not
> >>> use
> >>>> any minutes. All of this is above board with T-Mobile - I actually pay
> a
> >>> low
> >>>> monthly fee for unlimited WiFi calling.
> >>>>
> >>>> Anyway, much to my chagrin, I discovered yesterday that I had gone way
> >>> over
> >>>> my plan minutes. I checked with T-Mobile, and none of my calls had
> gone
> >>> over
> >>>> WiFi. The agent refunded all the charges for the over-plan minutes and
> >>> gave
> >>>> me extra minutes to get through the rest of the month. She sent me to
> >>>> technical support, and we could not get my phone to make calls over my
> >>> WiFi
> >>>> network. Even though the phone says I am connected to WiFi. So, I went
> >>> to
> >>>> the T-Mobile corporate store in Fashion Square, and the manager (she
> has
> >>> the
> >>>> same phone) and I tried to connect to the mall WiFi, and we could
> >>> connect to
> >>>> the mall WiFi, but could not make WiFi calls. Same error - could not
> >>> connect
> >>>> to T-Mobile network.  I then tried to make a WiFi call at Starbucks,
> and
> >>> it
> >>>> worked! It also worked at Barnes and Noble after I agreed to the free
> >>>> Internet terms and services (didn't work before then).
> >>>>
> >>>> I googled for issues with WiFi calls with this phone, and found a lot
> of
> >>>> them. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The error message
> >>> that
> >>>> pops up says the phone cannot connect to the T-Mobile network.
> T-Mobile
> >>> is
> >>>> aware of the issue, but does not have a fix or ETA for one.
> >>>>
> >>>> One posting had this to say about the WiFi calling.....
> >>>>
> >>>> The WiFi Calling app is Kineto's WiFi Calling app branded for
> T-Mobile.
> >>>  The
> >>>> WiFi Calling app is an implementation of 3GPP GAN, which allows
> >>> something on
> >>>> the Internet to get into a cellular network and do stuff (in this
> case,
> >>> make
> >>>> and receive calls).If you care to pull up the most recent version of
> the
> >>>> spec, linked above, you'll find that "registering" (ie, logging into
> >>> home
> >>>> base) involves these steps (get a glass of warm milk and see 8.4.1.6)
> >>> ...
> >>>> 1) Performing a DNS query to get the address of thing it's trying to
> >>> connect
> >>>> to (if necessary)
> >>>>
> >>>> 2) Setting up an IPSec tunnel to thing resolved in step 1 (called a
> >>> SEGW)
> >>>>  3) Resolving and connecting to (using TCP over the tunnel setup in
> step
> >>> 2)
> >>>> yet another thing called a GANC
> >>>>
> >>>> 4) Sending the GANC a "register request", which includes your phone's
> >>> IMSI,
> >>>> information about the cell you're currently connected to, or last
> >>> connected
> >>>> to if no longer connected, and other stuff
> >> This is a capacity and QoS issue on the other side.  Get another app.
> >>
> >>
> >>>> 5) Getting back a response that the GANC is happy with you and all is
> >>> well
> >>>> I started to think that perhaps I have a router issue on my network. I
> >>> have
> >>>> a Linksys WRT54G wireless access point going through a BEFSX-41
> Linksys
> >>>> router to my cable modem. I checked the routers, and IPsec is enabled
> >>> for
> >>>> both. The WRT54G uses MAC filter to allow only certain devices to
> >>> connect,
> >>>> and WPA Personal, AES algorithm, and a shared key of 64 characters in
> >>> it.
> >>>> The WRT54G says I am connected to the phone when I enable WiFi on the
> >>> phone.
> >>>> This is a long way to get to my question...thanks for staying with me.
> >>> is
> >>>> there a way to look at what the phone is doing when I try to enable
> WiFi
> >>>> calling to see where it fails? A wireless sniffer?? Does any of the
> >>> above
> >>>> give you network gurus an idea of what may be wrong and if it could be
> >>> in
> >>>> issue with my router?
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks for any help you can provide....I would hate to go back to a
> >>>> Blackberry as I really like Android now!
> >>>>
> >>>> Mark
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >> (503) 754-4452
> >> (623) 688-3392
> >>
> >>  http://www.obnosis.com
> >>
> >>
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