HELLO & WELCOME

[WelshPaul]

So I just updated my Asus AC68U router with the latest version of Asuswrt-Merlin firmware 380_59 and noticed that a few things have changed...

I always disable SIP ALG on my router even if my phones seem to register ok, It appears that disabling SIP ALG now prevents any of my phones from registering with their VoIP service providers!

I had to select "Enabled" or "Enabled + NAT helper" located under the WAN > NAT Passthrough page to get my phones working again. The default value is "Enabled + NAT helper" so unless you changed it or your having issues registering or making calls don't change it.

If your wondering what the difference between "Enabled" and "Enabled + NAT helper" is - If you select "Enabled + NAT helper" then Linux's Netfilter will try to detect when something is a SIP connection, and when it does, it will try to automatically handle inbound traffic and bypassing the firewall. Some provider might need it, others don't as they have other methods of traversing through NAT.

Never thought I would be telling anyone to enable SIP ALG!!!

[alpha3]

Hi WelshPaul -

Have you tried the most recent version of Merlin (380.61) to confirm if the SIP Passthrough = 'Disabled' setting now works again?

It irks me having to have SIP Passthrough enabled as I believe it causes tempremental issues such as my VOIP handset periodically losing its registration and not being able to regain it.

However don't want to upgrade to .61 if its not fixed... wondering if you've had a look at this?

Cheers
alpha

[WelshPaul]

Apparently it isn't broken, Asus changed it to do exactly this. See here.

Anyway, I actually downgraded back to 380.58 after a couple of weeks use of both 380.59 and 380.60 because both versions resulted in performance issues on my AC68U.

Be aware, once you're on .60 and above you cannot downgrade to an earlier release! There is currently a work around (put router into recovery mode) but how long that will work for is anyone's guess.

If I get time in the week, I'll read up on the 380.61 release, providing I'm still able to downgrade via the recovery method, I'll test it out and report back. But the SIP Passthrough disable option will still likely block all traffic on port 5060.

[WelshPaul]

Have you tried the most recent version of Merlin (380.61) to confirm if the SIP Passthrough = 'Disabled' setting now works again?

Just finished installing 380.61 and so far so good. SIP Passthrough = 'Disabled' setting now appears to be working again!