FOOD FOR THOUGHT New SIP client for Android

krzykat

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Many people like IAX2 as it isn't hack attempted as often, most governments don't block it like they do SIP.

Personally, I'm using Grandstream Wave

One feature that it has that I like that I haven't seen as much on others is the ability to have BLF buttons.
 

ankyr

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I don’t know if IAX can run over TLS, but with SIP you can use TLS+SRTP, which helps against ISP surveillance. ZRTP (RFC 6189) is even better, since it offers true end-to-end encryption.

One feature that it has that I like that I haven't seen as much on others is the ability to have BLF buttons.
I have no idea how BLF function might look in a mobile messenger app, it’s more a hardware phone feature to me. In our app we have presence subscriptions that display each contact’s activity.
 

krzykat

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I don’t know if IAX can run over TLS, but with SIP you can use TLS+SRTP, which helps against ISP surveillance. ZRTP (RFC 6189) is even better, since it offers true end-to-end encryption.


I have no idea how BLF function might look in a mobile messenger app, it’s more a hardware phone feature to me. In our app we have presence subscriptions that display each contact’s activity.

The IAX gets around DPI - the other forms such as TLS wth SRTP don't.

On BLF - yes - just to know if I have extensions 101 = tom, 102 = dick, and 103 = jerry - to see those on the screen and know if they are online, offline, or busy is a good thing. You are saying you have that with this app?
 

billsimon

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@ankyr only on this forum have I seen people asking about IAX2 in recent years. Just sayin'...

Does the messenger component use SIP MESSAGE methods? How are the audio clips (walkie-talkie mode) done?
 

Hometech

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Zoiper for android is this only client that I know of that works with IAX2.
 

krzykat

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Zoiper for android is this only client that I know of that works with IAX2.

Yes - I don't have a need for IAX2, but I have seen it requested in the middle east where SIP is a no-no.
 

ankyr

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The IAX gets around DPI - the other forms such as TLS wth SRTP don't.
You mean DPI that simply blocks the unwanted traffic? Yes, SRTP is easily detected, but not decrypted without breaking TLS. DPIs that try to analyze or manipulate user’s traffic don’t make much sense in 2018, almost everything is encrypted. SIP signaling can use port 443, which is indistinguishable from HTTPS.

On BLF - yes - just to know if I have extensions 101 = tom, 102 = dick, and 103 = jerry - to see those on the screen and know if they are online, offline, or busy is a good thing. You are saying you have that with this app?
This is known as SIMPLE protocol suite. The client subscribes to each contact’s activity info with SIP SUBSCRIBE method. Presence information containing contact’s status (online, offline, talking, DND etc.) is then sent back to the client in a NOTIFY message. I guess Zoiper offers this too, but only as a paid feature.

Does the messenger component use SIP MESSAGE methods? How are the audio clips (walkie-talkie mode) done?
Yes, we use SIP MESSAGE. Most VoIP providers that support MESSAGE allow any content type, not only plain text. For voice messages our app uses “audio/ogg”, i.e. OGG container with Opus audio.
 

tycho

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I'll go check out your Sipnetic offering, thanks.

(Maybe its just us crazys on this forum, but add another guy to the list of folks who love and want IAX2. For whatever it is worth, I use it all the time when I can, and seek out apps specifically for the ability to support IAX2. I, of course, use SIP all the time as well).
 

atsak

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IAX2 is needed for many cellular networks who traffic manage SIP (or block it!) and also for situations where NAT is in place (even Carrier Grade NAT still causes some trouble) with bad or no SIP ALG. Regularly see no audio problems using SIP over LTE.
 

ankyr

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NAT traversal techniques are basically same for IAX and RTP. It’s either “Hosted NAT Traversal” aka “Latching” or some relay protocol like TURN. TURN + ICE (RFC 8445) is usually considered the best option, this is what WebRTC uses.
 

atsak

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NAT traversal techniques are basically same for IAX and RTP. It’s either “Hosted NAT Traversal” aka “Latching” or some relay protocol like TURN. TURN + ICE (RFC 8445) is usually considered the best option, this is what WebRTC uses.

I know how it works. IAX2 uses a symmetrical port instead of a signalling and media stream. Makes all the difference when traversing deep packet inspection (used by ISP's and wireless telcos for traffic management) and some kinds of NAT. For what it's worth, WebRTC also doesn't work sometimes over 3G / LTE. Anyway, just wanted to offer a suggestion why it matters. Zoiper works great for me on IAX now, but certainly would like to have some choice.
 

kenn10

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It works fine on WiFi but I'm also running a DynDNS client on my smartphone. I am on T-Mobile. My PBX only excepts VOIP traffic on ports 5060-5069 and that worked fine on WIFI even when the app is set to random port selection. When I drop WIFI and move to LTE on T-MO, it cannot connect to my server. I set the port to 5060 on the app but it won't connect. So with a secured server, this app won't work for me.
 

ankyr

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I know how it works. IAX2 uses a symmetrical port instead of a signalling and media stream. Makes all the difference when traversing deep packet inspection (used by ISP's and wireless telcos for traffic management) and some kinds of NAT. For what it's worth, WebRTC also doesn't work sometimes over 3G / LTE. Anyway, just wanted to offer a suggestion why it matters. Zoiper works great for me on IAX now, but certainly would like to have some choice.
DPI can create troubles for RTP and SRTP, but not the SIP signaling itself, provided that you use TLS. In the Web world DPI is almost dead, since everyone has switched to HTTPS. I’d say there’s no reason not to use VoIP encryption.

As for RTP media, there is a last resort option to run it over TLS as well. We haven’t implemented it in our app though.

It works fine on WiFi but I'm also running a DynDNS client on my smartphone. I am on T-Mobile. My PBX only excepts VOIP traffic on ports 5060-5069 and that worked fine on WIFI even when the app is set to random port selection. When I drop WIFI and move to LTE on T-MO, it cannot connect to my server. I set the port to 5060 on the app but it won't connect. So with a secured server, this app won't work for me.
I guess mobile ISPs have found a "simple" way to defeat VoIP by blocking some ports. We can hope that VoIP providers start offering TLS on port 443, as it happened earlier with VPNs.
 

kenn10

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The app looks good and has nice features. The UI is very good. Persevere!
 
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I could not make the app work for me in attempting to connect to my Asterisk server. So I did a tcpdump to see what was going on. Apparently it is ignoring the port setting under Network Preferences and therefore it is attempting to contact my Asterisk server on a different port than what I have specified in the settings. Is this something I am doing wrong or is it truly ignoring that setting?

Thanks
 

krzykat

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Tried it out today, and it works, but getting a warning on CLI:


WARNING[31173]: chan_sip.c:28340 handle_request_subscribe: SUBSCRIBE failure: no Accept header: pvt: stateid: -1, laststate: 0, dialogver: 0, subscribecont: '', subscribeuri: ''
 

billsimon

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I could not make the app work for me in attempting to connect to my Asterisk server. So I did a tcpdump to see what was going on. Apparently it is ignoring the port setting under Network Preferences and therefore it is attempting to contact my Asterisk server on a different port than what I have specified in the settings. Is this something I am doing wrong or is it truly ignoring that setting?

When specifying the port to connect TO, you put it after the dns name or IP address using a colon, such as 1.2.3.4:5160
 

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