[Snap] Snap without Fritz (Freeswitch)

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, 2talk and Vocus) › [Snap] Snap without Fritz (Freeswitch)

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#1023564 11-Apr-2014 18:26

chevrolux:
Lorenceo: You can still use any router to connect. I'm more concerned about the SIP situation though. Being forced to pay $400 for an ATA is insane.

So don't use Snap Plus then for voice.

This is when you use 2Talk instead - it's probably better than Snap's platform anyway.

Snap offer a fully managed voice service and obviously don't want the headache of customers using their own gear. Vodafone, Orcon, Slingshot all have the same practice.

I already do this. Snap VDSL and Xnet VFX.
I understand why they're doing it, but forcing people to use a $400 piece of equipment which many people have complaints about? It makes it a lot harder for me to recommend Snap as a UFB (phone + internet) provider to friends and family.

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chevrolux

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#1023677 11-Apr-2014 22:18

Snap Fibre + Snap Voice is still a very good option for 98% of people out there. The Fritzbox is suitable for 98% of people out there.

We (the techs) are the vast minority in that we want to tweak things and need to use different hardware to achieve that. Everyone else very much needs a plug and play solution - of which Snap can (and do) offer with Fritzbox + TR069.

SumnerBoy

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#1023682 11-Apr-2014 22:21

Yeah that is a valid point. For those who just plug a router in and connect their phones/laptops to the WIFI it is probably just fine.

I had just heard such good things on here about the Snap support team and how wonderful they were as an ISP, that I presumed they were well suited to the 'geeks' such as us, since it was 'us' that was giving them such high praise.

I think I might have been 12 months too late however!!

Nevermind - I will stick with them for naked VDSL as we don't have fibre yet. And it looks like setting up 2Talk for Freeswitch should be a bit more straightforward - since I will actually have my login details!

eXDee

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#1025841 15-Apr-2014 21:24

SumnerBoy: Hmmm - my new SPA122 just turned up and not having much luck with that either.

I just talked to Snap support and this time I was told they don't support OR ALLOW any hardware other than the Fritzbox. He informed me that my VOIP password is changed randomly (and updates sent to the Fritz) to prevent toll fraud etc. He said they would not give out my VOIP authentication details since they only allow the Fritz. And even if they did it would eventually change anyway.

FFS!!!

I'm going to just go ahead and say this is not correct, unless yours is completely different from ours or something has changed/is different for new accounts. Anyone who knows better, please go ahead and correct me, but it sounds like the the CSR is not only stating the company policy (fine, thats acceptable) but then making stuff up as a further reason why you can't do it (not fine imo).

Remote access is not enabled on our fritz, unless they have somehow baked it in to something that isnt the firmware file or the config in nvram, as both have been adjusted, flashed and reset multiple times The voip password has always been the same as our internet one.

I authed correctly via freeswitch using my personal login fine, on my friends connection. I used the example settings above in my previous post, very basic, nothing special. The friends login i was troubleshooting would not auth however. Nor would it auth on my fritzbox.

So i was going to call up snap, as the nice chap i talked to after making sure it was 100% clear to me that it was unsupported and no guarantee of service was given, was still willing to help out by troubleshooting what was being seen at the other end. I got lucky by getting someone who not only knew what they were doing, but was also helpful, and it wasnt during peak hours. However this stops short when i'm not authorised on the account. Which is fair enough too.

niallm90

123 posts

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#1025843 15-Apr-2014 21:28

Just in case nobody has see this I have Snap Plus working with an Asterisk server.

The settings I use are here http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=43&topicid=138760

This has been working for over a month so the information about the password changing is incorrect.

Thanks,
Niall

SumnerBoy

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#1025853 15-Apr-2014 21:43

Yep - well I have had enough and have since (today actually) cancelled my VOIP service with Snap and signed up with 2Talk. Everything was just 'too hard', both with that infernal Fritzbox and with Snap support. I have purchased a Draytek Vigor 130 modem, a Mikrotik router, a Cisco SPA122, and a Ubiquity UAP.

By selling my original Vigor 120 + WNDR3700 (which I was more than happy with but got rid of after moving to Snap + Fritz) and the FritzBox I am hoping to cover most of the costs of these new devices. It does mean I am locked into Snap for 2 years, but hopefully my VDSL connection won't require too many support calls going forward.

And I am more than confident I will have a much more reliable network.

This also has the added benefit of not having to deal with Snap support either. They did agree to downgrade my plan to Naked VDSL with no penalty which was nice, but to be honest if they had tried to charge me I may have gotten in the car and paid them a visit!

It is very much a case of who you get, which I guess is not uncommon. It just seems the 'bad ones' are particularly bad at Snap. I definitely would not recommend them to anyone and neither would I ever recommend that FritzBox (with the firmware version I had at any rate!).

RalphFromSnap

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Snap Internet

#1026136 16-Apr-2014 12:25

Hi All,

Sorry for the delay on this, I'm just waiting to hear back from a couple of teams re the info in this thread and will be back to everyone ASAP.

Thanks,
TheRalph

Snap

0800 BROADBAND (276 232)
www.snap.net.nz

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Our Social Media Team:
^RO Ricky - Technical Lead
^AT Ashleigh - Retail Marketing Coordinator

chevrolux

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#1026458 16-Apr-2014 21:30

I fail to see the issue here. Snap have never made customer's SIP settngs available.
Their VoIP soultion is a managed one and will work well on THEIR certified hardware - much like WxC and their VFX service, no one complains about that.

I don't see why Snap support should take the brunt simply because you failed to configure your equipment - as has been shown it is clearly possible to put Snap Plus on Asterisk.

SumnerBoy

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#1026459 16-Apr-2014 21:31

And how am I supposed to configure my equipment without my SIP password?

eXDee

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#1026499 16-Apr-2014 23:04

IMO Theres nothing wrong with saying no to other hardware. That's fine if its your company policy. Its clear on their FAQ they "don't support" it. At no point am i actually complaining about Snap or their support. Its more so a suggestion of what could be a direction to take.

Given a basic set of info to those who are a bit more technically savvy, and made extremely clear that there is no support if anything goes wrong, then you make your techy customers happy, and potentially make a bit more revenue you previously may not have, with not too much extra resource expended - as long as you make sure its clear to customers that the support desk will not spend time supporting custom solutions and can merely provide settings or possibly even a bit of basic logging from their end during non busy hours - like the guy offered me basically.

He even referenced geekzone, and said i could try asking there for unofficial community support. You could quite readily build a small community support effort around unofficial SIP solutions, and what configurations are required for different SIP stacks etc.

SumnerBoy

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#1026501 16-Apr-2014 23:09

Yep I totally agree - I have no problem with their decision to only support the Fritzbox routers - that makes their life a lot of easier and is a much more controlled environment. But if I do decide I want to use different (better IMO) hardware I should be allowed to do so - at my own risk and with no expected support from Snap.

However I was told this was not 'allowed' and that Snap would not even hand out my VOIP password, let alone any other connection details (which I had already obtained from GZ). The line fed to me about the VOIP password being randomly changed periodically sounds like it was a load of BS but it looks like TheRalph is looking into it so it will be interesting to hear what the official line on this is.

All a bit of a moot point from my perspective however, since I am just waiting for my number to be ported to 2Talk and then I will be Fritz free!!

bonkas

286 posts

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#1027406 18-Apr-2014 15:28

I was aware snap did not support other hardware and will not provide any troubleshooting or fault testing or help in configuring other hardware. This is 100% fine by me as even other ISP are reluctant to help if you have a 3rd party ADSL modem so it is standard practice and as people have said stops the numerous support calls for things not working which is out of snaps control.

But has anyone got thier VoIP phones working with other hardware and can shed any light on these errors we are receiving - Have yet to have a reply from Ralph.

niallm90

123 posts

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#1027408 18-Apr-2014 15:33

bonkas: I was aware snap did not support other hardware and will not provide any troubleshooting or fault testing or help in configuring other hardware. This is 100% fine by me as even other ISP are reluctant to help if you have a 3rd party ADSL modem so it is standard practice and as people have said stops the numerous support calls for things not working which is out of snaps control.

But has anyone got thier VoIP phones working with other hardware and can shed any light on these errors we are receiving - Have yet to have a reply from Ralph.

Yes see my precious posts in this thread. I have it working with asterisk and my settings have been posted. You can try to interperate them for your software. I think the key one could be the way you generate the password.

bonkas

286 posts

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#1027414 18-Apr-2014 16:12

Yes I have seen your post and made sure I double and triple checked all settings. It is the password that I am courious about though.

I am using a SPA112 and a CSipSimple app on my phone - Both have an authentication error. Do these devices also require a hashed password? I would think not.

niallm90

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#1027416 18-Apr-2014 16:25

bonkas: Yes I have seen your post and made sure I double and triple checked all settings. It is the password that I am courious about though.

I am using a SPA112 and a CSipSimple app on my phone - Both have an authentication error. Do these devices also require a hashed password? I would think not.

You have tried all the settings I have listed, including from-domain?

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