helpful humans at 423-456-6700 https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/ 2026-04-12T03:36:50+00:00 https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/ https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=wiki:dokuwiki.svg text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:30_second_voip_sip_call_drops&rev=1762109398&do=diff 30 second VoIP/SIP call drops An edited copy of an email I just sent regarding calls dropping at 30 seconds, sometimes. ---------- Re: 30 second call drop issue: It's a common bug in some older commodity routers that all borrowed the same core firmware years ago. We don't see it as often as we used to, but we still do. You've got a good router on that site, I doubt that's got that glitch, but that's why we start there. Worth knowing, that problem is consistent if it exists, every call, at e… text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:clues_of_network_issues&rev=1762109398&do=diff Clues of network issues Sometimes it takes experienced eyes on the ground. This is a slightly edited copy of an email sent this morning (3/31/2021) after several hours of strange network behavior troubleshooting. I hope to update this soon. The email text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:dhcp_required&rev=1762109398&do=diff DHCP Required By design, the Hello Hub needs a DHCP server to tell it how to live within your network and firewall. There is not way to effectively assign it a static address. Luckily, in 2019 this is how everything is done. Well. Most things anyway. text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:fire_alarms_over_voip&rev=1762109398&do=diff Fire Alarms over VoIP Ring-u is not a wireline carrier certified for fire alarm use, is not suitable for file alarm use and specifically does not accept the liability of fire alarms. Fire alarms have existed before what most of us would recognize as telephones. They use a wide variety of methods of signaling that are often not compatible with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). In the cases they do work with/over a VoIP provider, the provider should be certified for such use, and typically pr… text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:less_than_faq&rev=1762109398&do=diff Less than FAQ Modern tech assumes most people learn through playing around. My “smart” TV is always updating and moving things around. So is my mobile phone (Just upgraded to Android 12) and in an age where electronics are complex and often personalized by the end user, this has become the new normal. text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:mesh_sonos_and_voip&rev=1762109398&do=diff Mesh, Sonos and VoIP This is an edited version of an email from Phil (The “CEO”) to a customer that has at least 1 mesh network (maybe 2) and constant VoIP issues. He's using Luxul and Eero.com mesh WiFI trying to cover a large building without installing proper ethernet cables and solid real multi-use Access Points (Ubiquiti as an example). Add Sonus speakers, with a lot of chatter.. and you got issues. text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:network_growing_pains&rev=1762109398&do=diff Network Growing Pains Dear E. You've been with us a long time, we have seen each others businesses grow. I have respect and admiration for the journey you have made. It's time for a technology reality check. Your network at your new location is lacking. Lets start with our text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:openvpn_on_grandstream_phones&rev=1762109398&do=diff OPENVPN on Grandstream Phones Bluntly, this is rocket science. We don't do this unless under duress. Example: your country that a remote office is blocking all non-encrypted traffic and we like you enough to setup OpenVPN as a server on a hosted/cloud Hello Hub. We'll create the OpenVPN server and configure it. This is a low to moderate security VPN. It's primary purpose is to punch through firewall/traffic restrictions, not to protect you from the NSA, KGB or other nation state level actors. text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:polycom_dial_map_woes&rev=1762109398&do=diff Polycom Dial Map Woes Many Polycom phones can not dial internal 3 digit numbers that start with 10 or 11 due their Dial Map. It's the rules that say what you can and can not dial. You can change this via the Web Interface under Settings->SIP. It should look like the image on the right. text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:poly_polycom_vvx_factory_reset&rev=1762109398&do=diff Poly / Polycom VVX factory reset Got a Polycom VVX series phone that no-one remembers the password to? In theory, the following instructions will do a factory reset, and then the default password of 456 should work again. <https://knowledgebase-iframe.polycom.com/kb/viewContent.do;jsessionid=0C3EFDD990C4D10BB55A50077A086D38?externalId=32151> Just in case that link, and the video goes away: text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:port_forwarding_geek_out&rev=1762109398&do=diff Port Forwarding Geek Out This is the version of an email sent out about once a week it seems. It was the reason I started the Blog portion of the wiki. It's less formal but a much more conversational mode of information exchange. I hope it helps answer some questions. text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:raspberry_pi_speaker_pa_phone&rev=1762109398&do=diff Raspberry Pi Speaker/PA Phone First, this little project is not as capable as the serious hardware you get from <https://www.cyberdata.net> , <https://www.algosolutions.com/> or other vendors. But if you don't mind experimenting with a Raspberry Pi or similar hardware, this is a fun useful project that will create a VoIP/SIP endpoint that auto answers as a phone extension that allows you to feed into a PA system, loud speaker, etc. You should have some basic skills with an rPi, a text editor an… text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:sonicwall_outgoing_faxes_and_pain&rev=1762109398&do=diff Sonicwall, outgoing faxes and pain A variant of a common email to people with Sonicwall firewalls. The email: Good Afternoon! I'll call in a minute as well.. what we see at is consistent with what we have seen at other locations with SonicWall and similar advanced firewalls. We can initiate an outgoing fax call, seems to be working well, until at exactly 1 minute and 6 seconds (very consistently) the UDP stream is blocked effectively hanging up the outgoing call. Mostly likely a 60 second t… text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:taxes_frelling_taxes_fees_in_texas&rev=1762109398&do=diff Taxes Frelling Taxes/Fees in Texas Just got asked a common question: We are in zip code 7606X.. and a Tax Exempt Church.. What would our bill be for 3 lines? Real answer: We don't know until we bill you. Almost real answer: Oh. You are in Texas. Probably more than anywhere else. text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:vpn_vs_hybrid_hosted&rev=1762109398&do=diff VPN vs Hybrid/Hosted A Hello Hub is a happy little PBX sitting behind your firewall, chattering with all your phones and providing upstream connection aggregation as needed for phone calls in and out of your network. It's an awesome solution for most of our target customers. But sometimes, business needs grow (or were larger to start with) and you want to connect phones and people outside of your office. This requires either port forwarding on a good firewall that does it well, a properly confi… text/html 2025-11-02T18:49:58+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://wiki.ring-u.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blog:wireless_voip_dect_phone_ramble&rev=1762109398&do=diff Wireless VoIP/DECT Phone Ramble We get asked about this a lot. This is a slightly cleaned up and generic version of an email I just sent out. Seems I sent something like this out once a month or more. It was time to add it to the Wiki. Generic version of a common email