outgoing call - automatic cut off time 5 minutes

[rakhee]

Hi All,

Just now I recieved my Magic jack and I installed it. I was testing it and found that any outgoing call I make gets disconnected automatically after 5 mins.. This is so strange. Can anyone provide me a solution for this problem.

Thx

[az2008]

Just now I recieved my Magic jack and I installed it. I was testing it and found that any outgoing call I make gets disconnected automatically after 5 mins.. This is so strange. Can anyone provide me a solution for this problem.

It happens at 5 minutes exactly, for all calls?

If you're using a handset, have you tried using a headset with the softphone?

If you connect to your router wirelessly, have you tried connecting with a wire?

Have you tried bypassing your router, connecting directly to the modem? (be aware that this exposes you to risks without a software firewall, and/or if you do it for too long).

Mark

[Bjoe638]

Yes, i've been experiencing the same problem. my outgoing call is dropped at exactly 5 minutes. There's no solution to the problem as of yet, but i believe they are working on the problem. All you can do now is to ask them to refresh your account on their end.

[gnowk]

Yes, i've been experiencing the same problem. my outgoing call is dropped at exactly 5 minutes. There's no solution to the problem as of yet, but i believe they are working on the problem. All you can do now is to ask them to refresh your account on their end.

This happened to me as well with my outgoing calls to Canada. Outgoing calls to US are fine though.

My area code is 206 and my proxy is the Seattle one. Not sure if that matters.

What do they do when they refresh your account on their end?

[Contessa]

Hello everyone,

If you're calling US and Canada numbers, it's easy to solve this problem.

- Open up the ports in your Windows, Router, allow mJ connection in your antivirus' firewall and other security programs.

Note: Firewalls block mJ's connection

If you're calling International numbers and the call drops every 5mins but works fine in local calls,

- Contact an mJ tech supervisor so that he can report it to the engineering department. Make sure to give all details (number you're calling, country, if this happens everytime, and if this happens in all international number you are trying to call).

BTW, make sure you reach a supervisor (Escalations skill). And the supervisor should be either Cassy, Drew, Tessa, Evert, Journey, Destiny, Paul, Paula, or Diana. If you reach a supervisor that is not in the list, just get out of the chat and try again.

[az2008]

Note: Firewalls block mJ's connection

That's not true. It seems that a small number of people have buggy firewalls that block MJ's connection. So far, these appear to be newer Linksys routers with buggy firmware.

MagicJack itself does not initiate any connections from the MJ server to your PC. All connections are initiated from the PC to the MJ server. So, opening ports on a firewall should not be necessary.

Regarding the problem specific to some Linksys routers, the solution is to:

1. Upgrade to the latest Linksys firmware if it is available.

2. Switch to one of the open-source firmwares (Tomato, DD-WRT, etc.).

3. Use "tcpview" (google for it) to identify the port (on the LAN side of the router) that magicjack.exe is connected to. Then setup a port-fowarding rule in the router to open just that port.

... - This has to be done each time you start MJ.
... - If you detect that a range of ports is always used, you could setup port-forwarding for that range, and perhaps not have to perform this step each time MJ starts.
... - Keep in mind that the port being "opened" is really a port on the LAN side of the router, not the WAN side. The port isn't being opened to forwarded WAN traffic to the LAN side. It's just being done to trick the Linksys firmware into handling the LAN traffic. It really is opening a WAN port to forward internally, but there really isn't any traffic coming into that WAN port.
... - This trick comes from http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/post30271.html#30271. It's not been confirmed yet.

Mark

[Contessa]

Hmm I wonder how come it's not true.
Solved 90% of the same problem by opening the ports ^^

[az2008]

Hmm I wonder how come it's not true.
Solved 90% of the same problem by opening the ports ^^

The vast majority of MJ users don't have to disable their firewall/router?

Mark

[Rahim]

I am connected to the internet through Linksys. I am using MJ for more than 6 months now and the problem (outgoing call drops after 5 minutes)just started to appear couple of weeks ago and could not resolve it!

I checked my firewall and confirmed that MJ is allowed. Anyone has confirmed solution?

[az2008]

I am connected to the internet through Linksys. I am using MJ for more than 6 months now and the problem (outgoing call drops after 5 minutes)just started to appear couple of weeks ago and could not resolve it!

I checked my firewall and confirmed that MJ is allowed. Anyone has confirmed solution?

Let's start here, about 5 posts up: http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/post30247.html#30247

Mark

[Bjoe638]

I've contacted the support numerous times, and Im pretty sure it's not the firewall even though the agents at MJ make it appear like it's a problem with the firewall. I opened up all my ports and still had trouble. All they do on their end is refresh your account but make you do stuff to your computer to look like it's trouble on your end and not theirs.

[Bjoe638]

Next time you get a dropped call at 5 mins or so, just try putting the other person on hold and then immediately off hold... it seems to have worked for me. just make sure the other person you're talking to doesn't hang up while you put them on hold.

[Contessa]

Hmm I wonder how come it's not true.
Solved 90% of the same problem by opening the ports ^^

The vast majority of MJ users don't have to disable their firewall/router?

Mark

That's what keeping me confused too. I have a lot of customers saying mJ worked fine for months without changing anything in his computer/router. But then after we opened the ports, voila! worked fine again. From my experience, opening the ports solve 90% of static, breaking up line, and dropped calls. Well, there's no harm in trying. If it worked then great! If not, then try another step.

@ Rahim

Did you opened up the ports correctly? The protocol should be on UDP

[az2008]

That's what keeping me confused too. I have a lot of customers saying mJ worked fine for months without changing anything in his computer/router. But then after we opened the ports, voila! worked fine again. From my experience, opening the ports solve 90% of static, breaking up line, and dropped calls. Well, there's no harm in trying. If it worked then great! If not, then try another step.

I don't have a problem with suggesting people try opening ports. I'm just worried that lurkers will get the impression that MJ requires ports to be open in order to operate successfully. The vast concensus is that it doesn't.

But, there does appear to be some buggy router firmware out there which may not be able to handle VOIP traffic well. Opening ports may trick it into handling it.

The next question would be whether all ports need to be open. Or, only some. If someone does open ports, especially *all* ports (which seems to be what you're suggesting) they should be warned that they must run a software firewall or they'll be subject to viruses, spambots, spyware, etc.

When suggesting that ports should be opened, I think there needs to be more context provided (that it's a hack for ineffective routers, and that the hack may be implemented more or less efficiently, and depending on how it's implemented, there's more or less risk involved.).

So far I haven't heard anyone say that removing the router (opening ports) fixed "choppy voice." I'd like confirmation of that.

Mark

[Rahim]

Contessa... ok, interestingly enough, the problem was solved after I rebooted my Linksys router! It had been a while since I did reboot and thought to give it a try since you mentioned it. I tried few calls since the reboot couple of days ago and all of them stayed many minutes more than 5!!

I agree with Mark (az2008) analysis... just saying "opening the ports" is not good enough to resolve such an issue that; 1) did not exist, 2) expose ourselves by disabling such firewall function. If we have to open ports, then it has to be specified. For example open the range of UDP ports used by RTP as specified in the RFC (I do not recall the range).

[az2008]

For example open the range of UDP ports used by RTP as specified in the RFC (I do not recall the range).

I just browsed through the RFC for RTP and didn't see any port ranges. I get the impression it can be anything. MJ was using 10000-20000. But, recently that changed to 10000-30000. I suppose it could go higher. Although you'd think the performance of a box to handle that many voice connections would be limited.

There's just no report of MJ initiating the opening of a port from the MJ server to the MJ softphone. There's no reason to "open ports" as average users understand the term (port forwarding, from the WAN side of the router to the LAN side).

The only time someone would need to open ports is if they restricted LAN-to-WAN access. But, they would know they did this because it's not the default configuration of any consumer-grade router I've seen. (It's what you would expect in an business setting).

And then there are routers with buggy firmware which may need port forwarding (WAN to LAN) just to trick them into working. There's no real WAN-to-LAN connections occurring. In this case, there's one unconfirmed report that identifying the port the MJ softphone is connected to on the router, and configuring the router to forward that port (WAN to LAN) caused that Linksys router to work. It didn't really forward any WAN-initiated connection. It just tricked the buggy firmware into working. (Without exposing the LAN to excessive port forwarding).

Mark

[kbaggs]

I have had the same issue. After 5 min the call goes dead. The person on teh other end can still hear me, but I can't hear them. I am in Canada. I am on a hard wired phone and the computer is hard wired to the router.

[Kenny2469]

I'm also in Canada.. Had this problem last week, it resolved itself, and now it's back... 5 minutes to the "T" and dead...

[taijiman]

After a bit of surfing, I went to http://www.magicjack.com/techchat/
and after an initial bit of confusion, I explained that I was on a Mac, and they provided me with an link to a software upgrade. This appears to have solved my problem.

I also seem to have call waiting, a feature I didn't know about.

The MagicJack did not work very well for me initially. But I was then on a wireless connection to a busy LAN. Now I have my own high speed cable connection with a wired connection to a modem via wired router, and I'm using an old cordless phone.

The sound is great, and my clients don't know that I'm on a web phone.

[jeffrbrown]

This is an intermittent problem for me. The last time it happened, I rebooted my PC and it went away. Its very annoying.

You get what you pay for.

[CaBooSe]

same problem here in canad after 5 minutes other person hears me i dont hear them anymore....