3-way conference issue IP 6000

[Anonymous]

I'm a bit baffled by my IP 6000 being unable to complete a simple conference call.  I have followed the instructions to the letter in the user guide for the IP 6000 for conference calls.  Below are my results

Call 1st party

1st party answers

Press Conference soft key

Call 2nd Party (dial number and press send)

2nd party answers

Press Conference soft key

Result:  Party 1 and I can hear each other.  Party 2 can hear everything; however, Party 1 and I cannot hear Party 2.

I'm new to administering VoIP services.  Any insight as to where I can find a solution to this problem would be greatly appreciated :).

Our VoIP System:  Altigen MAX Communication Server ACC 6.5 Update 1

We have only one IP 6000, so I opted to configure it with the web interface.

Thanks in advance for your knowledge!

[SteffenBaierUK]

Hello SerousDarkice,

welcome to the Polycom Community.

Can you and Party 2 speak to each other before you press the conference button?

The way forward to troubleshoot this would be to supply a wireshark trace to your Polycom reseller and /or Polycom support directly.

Please ensure to provide some feedback if this reply has helped you so other users can profit from your experience.

Best Regards

Steffen Baier

Polycom Global Services

[Anonymous]

Steffen,

Thanks for replying :).  Yes, I can speak with Party 2 prior to pressing the conference button.  For wireshark:  I assume I'd capture the packets from our phone server, yes?  Since otherwise, there would be no NICs available to sniff (unless there is a way I can run wireshark on the IP6000).

[SteffenBaierUK]

Hello SerousDarkice,

a wireshark trace would require a spanned port on the Phone end to capture the data at the phone side.

Best regards

Steffen Baier

[Anonymous]

I completed a wireshark packet capture while attempting a conference call.  The ip6000 only has one network port, so I used port mirroring on my switch to capture the traffic going to the port to which the phone was connected.  I saw a steady stream of RTP packets during the call.

I've since done a couple of other tests, which have shed some light on the issue.

We use the Altigen MaxCommunicator 6.5.1.535 as our VoIP system.  I was able to complete a conference successfully between three parties (including myself) using internal extensions; thus, the problem is isolated to using external numbers during a conference.

Our desk phones are the Altigen IP720.  I tried a conference call with outside numbers using my IP720 and all parties were able to hear and be heard.  This tells me that our phone server is capable of handling traffice for a conference call.

We chose the IP6000 for our conference room because Altigen has "certified" it to work with their system.  Are you aware of any special phone configurations necessary to make the IP6000 play nice with conferencing with external numbers?

[SteffenBaierUK · Accepted solution]

Hello SerousDarkice,

this kind of troubleshooting should really happen via your Polycom reseller and/or Polycom support.

I had a quick look at the attached Wireshark trace and can see a REFER message which shows me that you must be utilizing some kind of conferencing server.

I did not fully follow the call flow as this is outside the scope for myself within the community.

This is usually added via a voIpProt.SIP.conference.address parameter.

You are also using a quite old Software (UCS 3.3.3)

I would suggest you work with Altigen to check against their interoperability documentation or get them to work with our support team directly.

Usually the phone itself can hold a 3 way conference.

Best Regards

Steffen Baier

[Anonymous]

I know this is probably outside of the scope with the forum, but I figure you may be interested in an update.

Altigen support has given up (finding no errors in my polycom phone configuration).

As noted above, if I initiate a conference call, audio is terrible for party 1 and party 1 and I can't hear party 2.

The update:

A workaround we found was for another phone in our system (Altigen IP720) can initiate the conference, call the Polycom phone, and all is good.  Unfortunately, this leaves me with a conference phone that can't initiate a conference, but it can at least participate in one. 🙂

[SteffenBaierUK]

Hello SerousDarkice,

your provider needs to escalate this to our support team.

Best Regards

Steffen Baier