Pace 5268 and IPhone wifi calling - so many issues

Thanks for your feedback!

Just had my old pace with the 10.5 firmware downgrade burn out after 3 years if no problems with a unifi network setup behind it. ATT sends a "new and improved" 5268 - and now wifi calling is broken, and it wont accept a firmware downgrade. spend an hour on the phone with a "tech" who said she downgraded the firmware for me - she didn't and then transferred my call to a busy signal for advanced support. I don't think I am going to give up on getting a BGW just will keep calling every day, unfortunately this means standing by a window as my ATT iphone doesn't get a signal inside the house. what a waste of time and energy.

@tonydi @xlr8_007 Pace 5268AC user here on 11.5.1.532678-att firmware in DMZ plus mode. T-Mobile wifi calling is totally unuseable. Disconnects or no audio after maybe 20s of every call.

For what it's worth...

I have home phone system that is provided by AT&T Uverse. I have no problems with it. I am also a remote worker from home and have an office IP phone that connects to my company's phone network over my AT&T provided Uverse internet (fiber 1Gig). The connection is through the Pace 5268AC. Behind the Pace is my Edgerouter.

When I changed from my previous ISP to AT&T, I had no intentions of allowing AT&T's hardware to manage my Firewall, NAT'ing, routing, etc. I was told prior to the sell that I could configure the Pace in DMZ+ mode and I would have no problem. I received the modem & service and configured the modem in DMZ+ mode with no problems.

After a couple of days, I started to notice that my IP phone would not connect to my remote office's phone network -- sometimes. It was sporadic. Sometimes it would connect and sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes I would get calls, but they would drop after a few seconds. Somes the person on the other end couldn't hear me talk but I could hear them.

I must have spent about 5 man-days trying to figure out what was going on. It was driving me crazy and I had a personal vendetta to figure it out. I thought it was a problem with my company's phone system. Then, I thought it was a problem with the Pace. I worked with AT&T support and they weren't much help except to send me a new Pace. Of course, per AT&T support it was a problem with my equipment (the EdgeRouter) which I quickly disproved by connecting the phone directly to the Pace and had the same issues. I don't think it's AT&T's technical supports' fault. They just don't have training in more advanced problems such as this one.

By this time, I was getting suspicious with the DMZ+ configuration. Remember, per AT&T the firewall on the Pace is totally bypassed when configured in DMZ+ mode.

While working with the tech support that manages my company's phone system, I asked which ports they use for inbound/outbound calling and found out they use UDP port 59111 for the initial call. Then the phone servicer changes the communications to a dynamic port in the 59XXX range when a call is made.

I know I am long winded, but wanted to give you some background that would explain the symptoms. I was at war with the AT&T fiber network. I would configure the Pace in different modes which would allow the traffic to be controlled by my EdgeRouter.

When researching the internet, I found a current update-to-date document which listed all ports that were reserved for AT&T. I can't find that document now, but it's somewhere on their website (there is an old outdated you can find using Google, but it doesn't contain everything). Lo and behold, there were ports in that range that were reserved by AT&T, blocked. Also, they are blocking NTP and ports that are used by IPSEC. I was furious.

Make no mistake about it. DMZ+ mode does not allow all traffic to pass through to your router. The Pace's firewall blocks ports & protocols because AT&T wants them blocked.

Here's what I did to get around it:

I configured the PACE's firewall in Passthrough mode and created two firewall rules that pretty much opened EVERYTHING the Pace would allow as follows:

TCP Rule: I opened the following ports:

• 1-50999

• 51021-61000

• 61002-65535

UDP Rule: I opened the following ports:

• 1-3478

• 4500

• 5500

• 7548-50999

• 51021-61000

• 61002-65535

Some of these ports are the ones reserved/blocked by AT&T. Ask me if I care.

When I told AT&T tech support what I did to fix the problem, they said (and I quote the rep) "This isn't allowed by AT&T and I should remove the reserved ports immediately." HECK NO! In my opinion, they should have disclosed this prior to changing ISPs AND they shouldn't do this. It interferes with my ability to work (i.e. make money to pay for their service).

What I did worked and I don't have any problems with my IP phone. The only downside is that my router can't directly see the external IP that is assigned. Since I didn't want to purchase a static IP address from them, the IP address can change at any time.

I hope this helps someone who is having problems with IP phones, NTP, IPSEC, etc. It worked for me. DMZ+ mode is not everything they say it is. If they somehow restrict me from doing this, then I'll just bypass the Pace all together. Regardless of what AT&T says it's doable -- especially with an EdgeRouter.

Cheers!