White Noise on pressing Line Button

[Martyn]

Hi all,

 

We've set up a Snom ONE Yellow with 10 snom 320 extensions for a client. Each extension has had RTP Encryption switched off, but on pressing the soft button for an external line, all user extensions hear white noise for a few seconds, with some of the phones beeping rapidily for 8-10 beeps before giving a stead dial tone.

 

When the user picks up a call and transfers it to another phone, the caller hears a blast of white noise which apparently is very loud

 

I've read that a few users on the forum have described the white noise issue and followed the advice but to no avail. My ITSP is Orbtalk in the UK.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Martyn

[Vodia PBX]

I dont think this is related to the service provider. The B2BUA in snom ONE makes sure that such problems are shielded.

 

Extremly loud white noise is usually a sign for SRTP problems; however the checksum check for SRTP should make sure that the packet is not being played back at all. Some very old versions ignored the checksum, but the version of the last years suppress packets with wrong SRTP material.

 

The beeps before the dial tone are "interesting" and might help to point to the problem. The dial tone does no come from the PBX, it is generated locally on the phone. If the phone gets erratic, then it is very understandable that also other artefacts like white noise might happen. Here it would be interesting to know what firmware this is and if a firmware upgrade makes any difference.

[Martyn]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the response.

 

For info, I have upgraded the snom ONE from the initial install version of 4.2.0.3958 to 4.5.0.1090 all on Win 7 pro 64Bit

 

8 of the snom 320's are using snom320-SIP 7.3.30.6059, the other phone has been upgraded to snom320-SIP 8.4.18 42566

 

The upgraded phone displays exactly the same issue as the other phones. It did occur to me, that perhaps the 8-10 beeps are related to a voicemail being present.

 

A single hunt group is configured as is a service flag for working hours. the only voice mail on the system is when the service flag is set and an out of hours message given and forwarded to a 'dummy' extension for out of hours voicemail. All 'real' extensions are configured for access to the 'dummy' extension's voicemail. When i say 'dummy', the extension has no physical phone configured.

 

I'm happy to forward on the configuration, minus extension passwords and trunk details etc, as well as a configuration from 1 x snom 320 using 7.3.30 and the phone configuration from 1 x snom 320 using 8.4.18

 

Regards

 

Martyn

[Vodia PBX]

As for the phone firmware, I would move to something like 8.7.3.10. The 8.4.18 version is already quite outdated and zillions of bugs have been fixed in the meantime.

[Martyn]

Hi,

 

I attempted to update from 8.4.18 to 8.7.x which failed. When the phone rebooted, I now cannot access any of the advanced settings, the only option I have presented to me is Administators Password, a text box to type into and a save button. I tried the same with a phone running 7.3.30 and its the same result.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Regards

 

Martyn

[katerina]

Hi Martyn,

 

You need to enter the Administrator PIN here (the one you set in snom ONE under Domain Settings -> Authentication PIN) and then click Save. In case you don't know it then just change it in snom ONE and then restart the phone so that it gets the provisioned with the new password.

[Martyn]

Katerina,

 

I've already tried that, I set up a new admin password and pin in the pbx, rebooted but I still have the same issue. The phone asks for an Administrators Login and presents the save button

 

I reverted to no admin password and pin, reset the handsets and still the same issue

 

Regards

 

Martyn

[katerina]

But does the password work? (does it get you in the advanced menu?)

It is normal to be presented with the box because the phone is provisioned in user mode for security reasons. To access advanced settings you must first enter the password. You can however change from user mode to admin mode in the template provisioning file from Web Page Control (Phone Pnp -> snom_3xx_phone.xml) by changing line:

<admin_mode perm="">off</admin_mode>

to

<admin_mode perm="">on</admin_mode>

[Martyn]

Katerina,

 

No, the password I set (and reset to default i.e. no password) would not get me into the advanced settings on either of the firmware revision levels. I set the password and on the actual extension tab in the PBX, i entered the admin username and password and still no access.

 

I've attached a screen shot of what i'm seeing. I've tried the password and pin i've set and i don't get access to any of the tab settings.

 

Thanks

 

Martyn

[Vodia PBX]

The password is the domain PnP password, which is stored on the PBX. If the phone is provisioned by the PBX, you can change the password there and then the phone will take the updated password.

[Martyn]

Hi,

 

It doesn't matter if we set the password up globally in the domain settings gui or locally in the account extension gui in the PBX, we still have the same issue. I've reset the phone numerous times and the issue still exists, and it only started when the phone firmware was upgraded.

 

The remaining phones can be reset and they don't display the log on issue when accessed

 

Regards

 

Martyn

[katerina]

Try also to change from user mode to admin mode in the template provisioning file from Web Page Control (Phone Pnp -> snom_3xx_phone.xml) by changing line:

 

<admin_mode perm="">off</admin_mode>

to

<admin_mode perm="">on</admin_mode

 

And then reboot the phone.

 

After you do this, if the phone is still in admin mode then there must be something wrong with your provisioning because the phone is not taking the settings correctly from snom ONE.

[Martyn]

Katerina,

 

I've now configured the phone back to admin mode and can configure the individual Identities.

 

I've completed the upgrade to the latest 8.7.3.10 firmware on 3 of the phones, and they still display the issue noted in white noise when the 'tick' button is pressed to dial the selected number.

 

For reference, i've just changed the original IPPBX (based on Asterisk 1.4) for the Snom ONE Yellow and the asterisk pbx/snom 320 combination didn't have the issue.

 

Could you also advise on how to change the Phone pnp file to stop tls and RTP encryption being enabled by default. When ever I reboot the phone, I have to go back and change the settings in the phone

 

Thanks in advance

 

Regards

 

Martyn

[katerina]

Hi Martyn,

 

To disable TLS you just need to change an option in snom ONE, see here: http://wiki.snomone.com/index.php?title=How_to_deactivate_TLS

 

To disable SRTP you need to look in Web Page Control (Phone Pnp -> snom_3xx_phone.xml) for the following line:

<user_srtp idx="{lc}" perm="RW">on</user_srtp>

and change it to:

<user_srtp idx="{lc}" perm="RW">off</user_srtp>

[Martyn]

Katerina,

 

Thanks. Now i've got the phones set up without SRTP and RTP Encryption switched off, we're still experiencing the white noise issue when the received is picked up and a number dialed. When the 'tick' is pressed, you hear a blast of white noise until the call is connected and the called number starts ringing, so the white noise is not consistent in time, it depends on how quickly the call is connected.

 

Regards

 

Martyn

[katerina]

Hello Martyn,

 

I am not sure but I think I know what you mean. snom ONE plays some conform noise on external outgoing calls using the file noise.wav, you can see it in the snom ONE log:

 

[8] 2012/09/21 18:16:00:Play audio_moh/noise.wav, caching true

 

I could remove the noise by deleting - or renaming - the file noise.wav from the audio_moh directory (which you can find in the snom ONE working directory (http://wiki.snomone.com/index.php?title=Where_is_the_snomONE_working_directory%3F ) . Make sure you restart snom ONE after you do this, and after this the noise should be gone.

[Martyn]

Katerina,

 

You may well have nailed this one for me. When i listened to the file, it is the noise heard when making a call. I've renamed the file and re-started the pbx.

 

I'll ask my customer to test tomorrow

 

Regards

 

Martyn

[Vodia PBX]

Actually that file should contain comfort noise... this is the phase when the line is not ringing yet, but you don't want to have this feeling that the line is dead. The noise should be decent, not loud.

[Martyn]

Hi,

 

The issue is, although its comfort noise, my client (and his staff) find it uncomfortable as do their callers when they hear the blast of noise (which is described as loud and alarming) when they are placed on hold (before the MoH cuts in) or are being transferred.

 

Are there any other comfort 'noises' available to choose from?

 

I'll run with it switches off and guage my clients view of the difference

 

Regards

 

Martyn

[Vodia PBX]

Comfort noise is only after dialing and before hearing ringback from the remote party. Before going on hold, there is no comfort noise. During that time, the phone is supposed to be quiet (digital silence). Maybe you can use your cell phone to record a MP3 and load it somewhere, so that we can listen to it... Then it probably becomes clear where the problem is.