sipdroid/2talk/pbxes - not sure about setup on android

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robjg63

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Topic # 111131 25-Oct-2012 10:03

Hi - I decided to have a little play with SIP on my android phone.
Signed up for a 2 talk account and have had it running on my PC. Can make and receive calls to a PC no problem.
What I really wanted to do was have a play with using it on my phone (Samsumg galaxy ace with 2.3.3 android on 2degrees).

Tried csipsimple - it seemed to have some issues with making/receiving calls. Generally worked on wifi - but 3G no good - incoming just wouldnt work.

So I tried sipdroid. I manged to get it working (mostly)- but with 3G on the battery was pretty much dead half way through the day. Apparently thats generally an issue with the fact that SIP needs the 3g on all the time to receive. Anyway - sipdroid suggest that if you configure sipdroid to use pbxes.org and have your sip line routed through them, the battery life on 3g should be fine. They claim to have implemented some battery saving routines.

Pbxes.org has quite cryptic setup - but I found a tutorial on setting up a SIP trunk - which I have done.
Thats pointing to sip.2talk.co.nz with my credentials.
I added an outbound route that uses the trunk I created.

On the phone I have sipdroid using pbxes.org and i can make a call over 3g (and so far the battery hasnt dropped).

What I am not sure of is how I am supposed to configure incoming calls to the phone.

Would I have to edit my 2talk configuration to get calls to go via pbxes.org?
I cant quite think how this part works.

Has anyone used sipdroid/pbxes.org on an android phone and got it working?
As I said the main reason I am pursuing the sipdroid/pbxes.org option is to try and get a usable battery life.

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DonGould

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Reply # 706136 25-Oct-2012 10:21

no, remove all the pbxes.org stuff, just set up a new account with the 2talk details.

You need to use the stun server.

D

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robjg63

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Reply # 706194 25-Oct-2012 11:46

Thanks Don.
I had tried having sipdroid using the 2talk settings directly - and it sort of worked - though incoming calls often wouldnt actually come in to my phone (stun server set or not). I think the problem is that the 3G radio has to be running red hot to be able to always receive calls and consequently this kills the battery really quick.

The sipdroid guy said that using pbxes should resolve the battery drain issue:
http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/wiki/FAQ#How_much_will_Sipdroid_drain_the_battery?_%28Constantly_running_In
and here:
http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/wiki/NewStandbyTechnique

So I am trying to see if this is actually the case.
As I said - I can make outgoing calls ok.
I am not quite sure what I need to do to set up pbxes to route incoming calls from 2talk.

I am assuming that somehow this is the key to actually keeping the battery from draining so quickly... Or are they talking cr*p?

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DonGould

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Reply # 706198 25-Oct-2012 11:50

I don't understand why using pbx would be any less draining on the bat.

You won't get calls over 2deg without stun.

Tell me how I do screen grabs off my phone and I'll post some pics of my set up.

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robjg63

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Reply # 706207 25-Oct-2012 12:04

What sort of phone?
I think screenshot keys varies amongst manufacturers and versions of android.

I think the problem (which is noted elsewhere on the internet) is that for incoming calls the 3G radio needs to be running all the time. I did tweak it under sipdroid at one point. I gather it normally sleeps when the phone does.

Somehow the wifi radio can run while the phone sleeps - I have had pandora running for hours on end with very little battery drain.

But trying to keep the 3G running all the time seems like a real battery burner - I didnt specifically understand why they reckon they had it sussed using pbxes - but figured it was worth a go.....

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

DonGould

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Reply # 706240 25-Oct-2012 12:46

LG p450

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robjg63

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Reply # 706413 25-Oct-2012 17:35

Hmm might have cracked it...

Upgraded to 2talk+ and changed the setting sin pbxes.org - that made no difference.

Checked the logs in 2talk and pbxes.org - both showed incoming calls - but nothing actually rang the phone.

Found a post about creating an inbound rule with blank trunk name and CID - I had always given them names before - not exactly a lot of documentation to go on in there.

Now I find that my andorid phone will ring when I call in from another phone - progress at last.

Now to see what battery life is like - had been fiddling with sipdroid settings - dont think I have forced the 3G on 100% - will check that a bit more.....

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

ajobbins

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Reply # 706429 25-Oct-2012 17:52

I use Csipsimple on my Galaxy SIII with a 2talk trunk and it works fine (Including without STUN).

It happily makes and receives call, including over 3G and have minimal impact on battery life. I used Bria (paid) before that, but that wouldn't let the phone go into sleep and therefore drained battery. Csipsimple seems quite happy to allow the phone to sleep, but is still able to wake on an incoming call.

Calls over 3G are generally pretty good, but can get a bit choppy if you are moving around or don't have great signal.

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chevrolux

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Reply # 706430 25-Oct-2012 17:54

There is no difference with using 2Talk directly and going through the pbxes.org service in terms of how your soft phone work. It still has to register with something. If anything I would expect it to be worse as I guess these PBXs are hosted offshore so latency will be high.
Bria has a few power saving options to do with the the Wifi and GSM radios. What kind of phone is it? I run Bria on a S3 full time all day on a mix of GSM and wifi and at the end of the day still have 50-odd% battery left.

Edit: Sorry, actually Bria just has 'keep alive' (for want of a better term) settings for the wifi radio. So i was talking out my a** there lol. I was thinking of juice defender which just manages the two radios. So when one is connected the other is turned off etc.

ajobbins

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Reply # 706432 25-Oct-2012 17:59

Also, what mobile network are you on?

And what APN are you using?

You might be using an APN that is NATed and causing issues.

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robjg63

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Reply # 706501 25-Oct-2012 20:25

ajobbins: Also, what mobile network are you on?

And what APN are you using?

You might be using an APN that is NATed and causing issues.

Im on 2degrees - bog standard APN settings from 2degrees.

The battery life of a Galaxy Ace and and SIII are considerably different - my wife has the SIII - it has HUGE battery life - the Ace - not so good.....

I dont know how sipdroid using pbxes.org could improve the battery life - but it actually makes my phone warm when the 3G is on permanently and I use 2talk directly - or when I used csipsimple. The 3G had to be set to be on all the time for incoming to work.

On the sipdroid FAQ page it says this:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How much will Sipdroid drain the battery? (Constantly running Internet connection?)When using pbxes.org the expected stand-by times are the same as without Sipdroid running in the background (we observed about three days of stand-by time). See article for background.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 'article' they refer to is this link: http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/wiki/NewStandbyTechnique

I'm just trying it out sipdroid via pbxes.org to see how battery life goes.

Feel free to view their newstandbytechnique article and rubbish their claims if you wish - you may be correct.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler