Broadband and VOIP settings Contact Energy Broadband

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#2744323 15-Jul-2021 06:38

Hi based on your use of the fritz and the built in dect base station, I strongly recommend you go to 2talk or Hero where you will easily be able to configure the fritz to connect via its built-in Ata to directly feed the dect base.

Cyril

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#2744369 15-Jul-2021 09:04

Phazir50:

In response to 'why?' the answer is entirely price based. Price is important to me.

Unfortunately that's not a good reason to choose a provider (and others on here will agree with me) - because then you end up with issues like this (ie, my phone doesn't work and they won't support me).

yitz

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#2744482 15-Jul-2021 11:39

Is Hero still no local calling?

Phazir50

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#2761607 17-Aug-2021 16:18

(Not sure if previous reply worked)

Update on where I got to with Contact Broadband and VOIP:

Using FritzBox 7490 (ex 2 Degrees) as router for all LAN and WiFi connections, including WiFi connection to Apple Time Capsule in another building (yes it is slow but speed is not important just for backups). FritzBox 7490 accesses internet through the NF18ACV supplied by Contact. Speed and reliability is as good as originally on 2 Degrees.

Using NF18ACV modem from Contact as modem only.

Using NF18ACV modem from Contact for VOIP. Issues: Contact will only configure ONE telephone outlet on the modem so I cannot use 2 cordless phones. Originally, with 2 Degrees I had one cordless using the DECT base station in the FritzBox and one plugged into the Fritzbox. So now I have a cordless phone I cannot use.

Question: Is there any way I can configure the FritzBox to connect to the VOIP from Contact? I believe I have the account credentials, username and password but there are a lot of Contact specific parameters lurking in the customised firmware, so I am not confident of finding an answer. Some ISPs provide configurations for several modem models, but not so Contact Broadband, apparently.

Cheers

(No thanks to the respondents who replied with somewhat condescending remarks. Not everyone is in a position to afford fancy IT set ups and expensive ISP services 😡)

farcus

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#2761669 17-Aug-2021 17:11

Phazir50:

Question: Is there any way I can configure the FritzBox to connect to the VOIP from Contact? I believe I have the account credentials, username and password but there are a lot of Contact specific parameters lurking in the customised firmware, so I

only if Contact hand over their voip settings - which it sounds like they wont.
If you need more than one handset why not just get something like this . . . .

cyril7

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#2761678 17-Aug-2021 17:27

As farcus is says, don't expect contact to give you access to details. So I repeat again, look at 2talk or Hero.

Cyril

allan

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#2761826 17-Aug-2021 20:54

I'm a bit confused about your use case for the second cordless phone.

Is this just a second handset on the same number, or is this using a completely separate number being used? If it's the former, you should be able to join the second handset to the primary base-station and get what you want. I've done this with Panasonic cordless phones, even although they were not purchased as a pair originally. Although I do recall that I had to do a bit of searching online to find the right codes to key in to get it set up.

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sbiddle

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#2761828 17-Aug-2021 20:57

NF18 has two individual voice ports. There simply is no way to configure both phone ports for the same service - if you want two ports a $2 phone double splitter fixes that.

At the end of the day Contact deliver an end to end managed voice solution. That's clearly not what you want, so you're best to move your voice service to a company that offers a DIY service like you're after.

Phazir50

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#2761885 18-Aug-2021 01:35

Hello All and thanks for the replies.

In a previous life with 2 Degrees as our ISP, we had the following phone set up:

FritzBox 7490 modem / router in our study.
1 x Panasonic DECT phone, using the FritzBox 7490 internal base station utility and located in our master bedroom.
1 x Uniden cordless phone with its base station connected to the Fon 1 port on the FritzBox 7490. The first hand set was at my wife’s workstation in the study and the second hand set was in our lounge.
1 x corded analogue phone connected to the Fon 2 port on the FritzBox 7490. The handset was at my workstation in the study.
1 x iPhone connected to the FritzBox 7490 by WiFi via the FritzFon app.
1 x answer phone configured in the FritzBox 7490.

All of these phones used the same telephone number. Being a novice with VOIP systems and based on the above experience, it came as a great surprise to me that the two telephone ports on the NF18ACV modem could not connect to the same telephone number, but that is how NetComm have designed their modem. Seems daft to me but there it is and nothing can be done about it. As suggested, I could use a two-way adapter to connect two phones to one port (got one somewhere) and hunt for a second Panasonic handset for our bedroom or get around to buying a new multi-handset cordless phone.

Cheers

Phazir50

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#2763175 19-Aug-2021 17:15

A thumbed nose to all those Nay-Sayers:

I have now, successfully configured my FritzBox 7490 not only to work as my preferred router but also to be connected to the Contact Broadband VOIP service. Therefore, not only is the 7490 managing all my LAN and WiFi network connections, it is also configured with all my phones, as it was with 2 Degrees.

There were three pieces of information that helped with achieving this:

A post on this forum (thank you) explaining how to find the NF18ACV’s VOIP authentication password (“AuthPassword”), so I did not have to settle for Contact not telling me what it was.
Noting some warning entries in the NF18ACV system log and resolving that issue by discovering that the 7490 connection to the NF18ACV was not entirely as it ought to be.
Realising that because the 7490 was now better integrated into the NF18ACV network it might just behave as if it was the NF18ACV and work with the VOIP settings entered into its configuration (if that makes sense?).

Needless to say, I am a happy man again. If anyone wants to know the specific details of how to achieve a similar result, post a reply to ask.

N.B: My FritzBox 7490 is connected by LAN to the NF18ACV which is connected, as the primary modem-router, to the ONT.

Lorenceo

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#2763185 19-Aug-2021 17:29

Heh, well done. If you've gone that far, why even bother keeping the NF18ACV in the loop though? If I had to choose between that and the Netcomm, hands down the 7490 would win out.

Also be prepared for the potential of:

A. Your VoIP service stopping working entirely if/when Contact recognise you're not using their supported device.
B. A potentially huge toll bill if someone manages anything nefarious with it.

farcus

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#2763287 19-Aug-2021 21:51

Phazir50:

A thumbed nose to all those Nay-Sayers:

I have now, successfully configured my FritzBox 7490 not only to work as my preferred router but also to be connected to the Contact Broadband VOIP service. Therefore, not only is the 7490 managing all my LAN and WiFi network connections, it is also configured with all my phones, as it was with 2 Degrees.

There were three pieces of information that helped with achieving this:

A post on this forum (thank you) explaining how to find the NF18ACV’s VOIP authentication password (“AuthPassword”), so I did not have to settle for Contact not telling me what it was.
Noting some warning entries in the NF18ACV system log and resolving that issue by discovering that the 7490 connection to the NF18ACV was not entirely as it ought to be.
Realising that because the 7490 was now better integrated into the NF18ACV network it might just behave as if it was the NF18ACV and work with the VOIP settings entered into its configuration (if that makes sense?).

Needless to say, I am a happy man again. If anyone wants to know the specific details of how to achieve a similar result, post a reply to ask.

N.B: My FritzBox 7490 is connected by LAN to the NF18ACV which is connected, as the primary modem-router, to the ONT.

so how about making life easier for others in the future and listing what the voip settings for Contact are.

Phazir50

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#2765595 23-Aug-2021 16:54

In response to Farcus here are the details of what I did to configure my FritzBox 7490 to use Contact's Broadband and VOIP services. It might seem overly verbose but I am assuming some forum members have a skill level equivalent to mine, dangerously basic.

How I Configured a FritzBox 7490 to Work With Contact Broadband and VOIP

Overview

I am a novice when it comes to understanding modems and routers, so I make no claims that this is the best or even complete set up procedure or configuration and I take no responsibility for any outcomes from using this information. Please advise if I have missed essential or helpful settings.

I have an NF18ACV, supplied by Contact Broadband, as my primary modem-router. It is connected to the fibre network by a LAN cable running from the ONT to the WAN socket.
A LAN cable runs from the “Ethernet 4” socket (could be any of the Ethernet sockets on the NF18ACV) to “LAN 1” on the FritzBox 7490 (it must be onto LAN 1).
A wire-pair telephone cable runs from “FON 1” on the 7490 to a Uniden cordless phone base station.
A Panasonic DECT 6.0 phone is configured on “DECT 1” of the integrated DECT base station on the 7490.
All LAN (Ethernet) connections are run via the 7490.
All WiFi on the NF18ACV is switched off, so all the WiFi connections, in use, are via the 7490.
The NF18ACV is configured as supplied by Contact Broadband, with one exception. I was getting a lot of System logs with RADVD errors, so I switched off RADVD.

Requirements

The Contact Broadband and Voice (VOIP) connection and authentication details for the Internet and VOIP are required. Contact was adamant that VOIP was only available via their modem (NF18ACV) so I did not ask them for the information. The NF18ACV’s interface provides the Voice connection details but not the password. I discovered a Geek Zone post that described how to use the “Telnet” utility to interrogate the NF18ACV for the password. Pity that does not work for the FritzBox 7490 as FritzOS versions since 2020 no longer support Telnet.

On Geek Zone Forums, find Post #143067 for how to do this on a PC. If you are running a Mac like me, open the Terminal app and do this:

Last login: Fri Aug 20 16:42:47 on ttys000

Your Name-Mac:~ Your Name$ [type command “login”, then “Enter”]

Password: [enter your password, then “Enter”]

Last login: Fri Aug 20 16:47:16 on ttys000

[Your Name]-Mac:~ [Your Name]$ [type “telnet 192.168.20.1”then enter]

Trying 192.168.20.1...

Connected to 192.168.20.1.

Escape character is '^]'.

NF18ACV

Password: [type password for router access, then “Enter”]

> [type “dumpsysinfo”, press Enter]

I just highlighted the whole report dump and pasted it into a text file, then used the “TextEdit” app “Find” option to look for “<AuthPassword>”. You might find more than one, so some trial and error might be needed.

<SIP>

<AuthUserName>643xxxxxxx</AuthUserName>

<AuthPassword>eW646b4yDGf</AuthPassword> (NB: This password is not real)

<CidName>643xxxxxxx </CidName>

<CidNumber>643xxxxxxx </CidNumber>

<AuthUserName> is your telephone number preceded by the country code and area code (sans leading zero). In my case that is 64 for New Zealand and 3 for Dunedin. Note down the password.

Internet Configuration

Save a backup of the 7490 settings.
I suggest that you go to “WiFi – WiFi Network”, on the 7490, and ensure that the SSIDs for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands are set to two different names and toggle on the associated activation. This makes it easy to re-connect with the 7490 once some changes are made further down. (N.B.: Once these changes have been made, while it remains possible to establish either LAN or WiFi connections with the 7490, you might not be able to customise the device names. They will be self-configured as “PB-” with the IP address used in the name. E.g. “PB-192.168.20.20” instead of “Joes-iPad”).
Go to “Internet - “Account Information” – Internet Connection” and make the following entries:
1. Internet Service Provider: Enter “Devoli”.
2. Connect via: “Connection to an external modem or router”.
3. Operating mode: “Share existing Internet connection in the network (Mesh Wi-Fi / IP client mode)”.
4. Connection settings: IP Settings “Obtain the IP address automatically (DHCP), with “fritz.box” as the DHCP host name.
5. Click on “Apply”. (N.B.: The 7490 will stop using its own allocated IP addresses and use ones from the DHCP on the NF18ACV. Consequently access to the 7490 will stop until you reconnect using its new IP address).
6. Go to “Internet - “Account Information” – “DNS Server” and select “Use DNSv4 servers assigned by...”. (I left the “IPv6”, “LISP” and “AVM Services” blank at this stage).
7. Click on “Apply”.

Network Configuration

Go to “Home Network – Network – Network Settings”, configure as follows:
1. Mode in the Home Network: Select “IP Client and the option “via LAN”.
2. Scroll down to and click on “Change connection settings”. Go to LAN Settings” and set all to “Power Mode”.
3. Scroll down to “Access Settings in the Home Network”.
4. Select “Allow access for applications” and “Transmit status information over UPnP”.
5. Ignore “Static Routing Table” and click on “Apply”.
Go to “Home Network – Network – Mesh Settings” and configure as follows:
1. Changing the FRITZ!Box Operating Mode: Tick “FRITZ!Box as a Mesh Repeater”, followed by “This FRITZ!Box is a network device (IP Client)...” and select “via LAN”. (Do not choose “via Wi-Fi”, because that mode is very slow).
2. Click on “Apply”.

VOIP (Telephony) Configuration

Open the web page of your NetComm NF18ACV modem and go to the “Voice” menu option then to SIP Basic Setting to see the appropriate settings.
Open the web page of your FritzBox 7490 router; go to “Telephony” - “Telephone Numbers” menu option and click on “New Telephone Number”. This takes you to the “Edit Telephone Number” section.
Under “Account information” tick “Use internet telephone number” then choose “FRITZ!Box in the Home Network”.
Under “Telephone number for registration”, add your telephone number preceded by the country code (64) and then your Area Code, without the leading zero, for example “6496871520” for an Auckland number.
Under “Internal telephone number in the FRITZ!Box” and contrary to the FritzBox instructions, include the Country and Area codes, for example “6496871520”. (I found it did weird things if I followed the FritzBox instructions).
“Display name” can be left blank.
Scroll down to the next section. There are four pieces of information to transfer to this FritzBox 7490 page, 3 from the NF18ACV page and the fourth from the Telnet derived configuration list:
1. “Username” equates to “Authentication name” and is your telephone number prefixed with the Country and Area codes as above.
2. “Password” equates to “Password” and the value is found in the Telnet text file as in “<AuthPassword>xxxxxxxxxxxx=</AuthPassword>
3. “Registrar” equates to “SIP Registrar”. Enter “voice.vibecom.co.nz”.
4. “Proxy server” equates to “SIP Proxy”, and is also “voice.vibecom.co.nz”.
5. Leave “STUN Server” blank.
Scroll down to “Additional Settings” - “Additional Settings for the Telephone Number”.
1. Set “DMTF transmission to “Automatic”.
Scroll down to “Additional Settings for the Connection”:
1. Tick “Use telephone number...”.
2. Tick “Always register via...”.
3. Select “IPv4 and IPv6, IPv4 preferred”.
4. Set “Transport protocol” to “UDP” while leaving “...encrypted telephony via SRTP” un-ticked.
5. Set “Media protocol” to “RTP/AVP and RTP/SAVP”.
Click on “OK”.
Return to “Telephone Numbers” and click on “Line Settings”.
“Location Information”:
1. Set “Country” to “New Zealand.
2. For “Country code”, enter “00”, then “64”.
3. For “Area code”, enter “00”, then your area code.
Leave, both “Landline” and “Substitute Connection, un-ticked.
The “Outgoing Telephone Number” field should have picked up the full telephone number, including the Country and Area codes for example “6496871520”.
Tick both settings in “Security”.
Scroll down and click on “Changing the settings”.
Tick “Keep port sharing...” and select 30 sec as the value.
Select “...DSL/WAN, tick “VLAN...”, set “VLAN ID” to 10, “PBit” to zero and un-tick “PVC”.
Click on “Apply”.
While there are dialling rules set in the NF18ACV, I did not set any in the “Telephony – Call Handling” settings.
Re-start the FritzBox 7490.
Configure and connect your telephones.
Login to your NF18ACV modem, go to the System Log and check the system event log for any issues. Hopefully there will be no warnings or other serious log items.
Back up the new configuration.

lchiu7

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#2766036 24-Aug-2021 15:28

allan:

I'm a bit confused about your use case for the second cordless phone.

Is this just a second handset on the same number, or is this using a completely separate number being used? If it's the former, you should be able to join the second handset to the primary base-station and get what you want. I've done this with Panasonic cordless phones, even although they were not purchased as a pair originally. Although I do recall that I had to do a bit of searching online to find the right codes to key in to get it set up.

I moved from TCL PSTN to 2Talk with a SPA2102. I had 3 different base station/handset DECT phones all from Panasonic. I was able to connect one base station to the ATA and then pair 4 other handsets.

Not that it's a secret but the PIN for the base station was 0000 :-)

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Phazir50

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#2766128 24-Aug-2021 17:21

Hello Ichiu7.

My partner moved to our current address before I did and she went with 2 Degrees, who supplied the FritzBox 7490 for broadband and a single handset Panasonic DECT 6 phone for the Voip part of the deal. When I eventually moved here as well, I brought with me a Uniden cordless phone. Rather than buy extra handsets to go with the Panasonic to provide adequate coverage of the house, I just ran the Undien cordless phone from the Fritz with its second handset in the lounge. All the phones run on the same telephone number. The FritzBox 7490 can plug in and run 2x analogue phones, several DECT phones, door intercoms, IP phones, faxes and also use cell phones as handsets.

So we have 3 handsets; one in the master bedroom, one in the study and one in the lounge. They all use the same telephone number, but could use several more.

Cheers

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