Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    VOIP Issues - Stuttering audio

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved NAT
    7 Posts 3 Posters 1.3k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • M
      martijnvw
      last edited by

      Hello Guys,

      I'm new to PFsense. Following every available tutorial i keep having issues with PFsense on a Netgate 6100 Max box with PFsense 22.01.

      Made all the necessary firewall rules and NAT to allow VOIP form our 3CX server to work.
      Yesterday after hours and hours the 3CX firewall checker finally said everything was correct but the audio was still let say 1 second dropping out "To the external caller"

      After killing the firewall states it dint work. But a full reboot it finally worked. In the evening i was testing some app call which where not good but acceptable. Well this morning everything was dead again. Dropping audio again and de 3CX cannot complete the firewall test "full cone test failed"
      Which looks like a NAT issue again.

      What is happening. Is this device not capable of doing this ? Is it a clear wrong configuration. Maybe a BUG. The amount of time to get the VOIP working is not good. Every other router i have used in the past did this flawless. Please advice

      N S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • N
        netblues @martijnvw
        last edited by

        @martijnvw pfsense wroks flawlessly with freebpx and many other asterisk derivatives and there isn't anything special to it.

        There are things one can do to prioritize traffic etc for optimal performance, but this is something that the "firewall" features of 3cx will never detect.

        Depending on how your network is designed you might be better off disabling 3cx firewall altogether.

        Please provide more information of your setup, together with firewall rules and possibly asterisk console logs regarding sip registrations (or even better, traces.)

        Regards

        M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • M
          martijnvw @netblues
          last edited by

          @netblues. Got the firewall working again after a Reset states of the PFsense box. And removing and re adding the NAT rule. Still the audio is cutting out. The internet connection is barely loaded its a 700Mbit connection with a average use of less then 1Mbit why should i set a priority for that load.

          N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • N
            netblues @martijnvw
            last edited by

            @martijnvw Well, all lines get peak usage, and this can induce jitter. Speed is not a substitute for priority,

            However this isn't the case here. Fixing prio rules won't solve nat issues in any case.

            Please provide more info on your setup

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • S
              SteveITS Galactic Empire @martijnvw
              last edited by

              @martijnvw Does "every tutorial" include https://www.3cx.com/docs/pfsense-firewall/ ?

              Is your 3CX Linux or Windows?

              We set up 3CX for clients in our data center so haven't had to deal with NAT at the server end, but others have mentioned using pfSense in the 3CX forum. We do of course use pfSense in clients' offices.

              @netblues 3CX doesn't actually have its own firewall but Windows might. We've only set up the Linux version for clients so I don't recall if the Windows install sets the ports or turns it off, but in general 3CX recommends not running anything else on the 3CX server.

              3CX does maintain a global IP blacklist.

              Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
              When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
              Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

              M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • M
                martijnvw @SteveITS
                last edited by

                Well guys, I had some issues with the NAT translation. The 3CX tutorial fixed that yesterday.
                But i found out today that something else was going one with 1 of our internet connections.

                While looking around i noticed that gateway 1 passed data but it dropped al lot of data up to 80% was lost. So i switched everything to our secondary gateway. And as far as i know it works perfectly. The gateways are not setup as redundant for a very specific reason.
                I did blame an issue to PFsense which is a different beast to work with but it wasn't at fault in this case.
                Must say that the firewall still is very different then what i am used to. But did learn a lot about routing and NAT and firewalls in the last couple of days.

                O its a 3CX Debian running on a virtual server. Previously a windows version but even that has a great firewall built in to 3CX.
                Cannot complain about 3CX at all its mostly a very good system.

                Just getting used to PFsense steep learning curve.

                S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  SteveITS Galactic Empire @martijnvw
                  last edited by

                  @martijnvw pfSense is really quite flexible but not so much a "click a checkbox" type of system. Give it some time and I expect you'll like it. And learn a lot as you said. :)

                  Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                  When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                  Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • First post
                    Last post
                  Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.