SPA adaptors Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Table Of Contents

How do I find out what the IP address of my SPA?
How do I configure Static IP address to my SPA?
How do I call by IP address?
How do I upgrade SPA's firmware?
How do I configure Hotline?
How do I save my current SPA configuration?
How do I disable Message Waiting indicator ring?
How do I specify an upgrade rule?
How do I debug my SPA? Is there a syslog?
How to use Distinctive Ring feature of the SPA?
How do I force a resync for configuration update?
How do I do an alternate proxy setting / How to configure DNS SRV?
How do I fine tune SPA, so that it disconnect properly w/ my PBX?
What if my proxy accepts registration other than port 5060?
How to setup Distinctive Ring feature of the SPA?
More about DialPlan Settings
What are the settings of Jitter buffer corresponds to ?

1: How do I find out what the IP address of my SPA?
You can go to SPA's voice menu by pressing **** on your analog phone and press 110#.
Your current IP will be announced.

2: How do I configure Static IP address to my SPA?
A: Go to the voice menu by pressing **** on your analog phone, and do the following steps:
Step 1. Press 101# and choose 0, to disable DHCP
Step 2. Press 111# to set your IP address by pressing 1
Step 3. Press 121# to set your Subnet Mask
Step 4. Press 131# to set your Default Gateway

3: How do I call by IP address?
A: This example illustrate calling via IP address from Line1 to Line2, but can be generalized from one SPA to another SPA
- Go to line 1, assign UserID to be 1001. Go to line 2, assign UserID to be 1002
- Set "Enable IP dialing" to yes
- Set "Make Call w/o Reg" and "Ans Call w/o Reg" to yes
- Assuming you're calling from line 1 to line 2, you'd press " 1002*IP_ADDRESS*5061# "
Similarly, if calling another SPA on it's line1, press " uid_remote*ip_addr_remote*5060# "
Follow this guide if you are configuring from an SPA-841

4: How do I upgrade SPA's firmware?
A: The latest Firmware file(s) can be downloaded from support area.
The files are packaged in zip compressed format. It contains a windows binary ".exe" and
the raw firmware ".bin" file. Upgrading your SPA can be done via two methods:

1. By running the windows executable from windows machine.
When run, it will ask for SPA's IP-address. It will then try to identify the SPA,
and perform the upgrade. Please don't power off at this time.

2. Alternatively, you can put the raw firmware image "spa.bin" to a reachable tftp server,
Goto your web browser, and type in:
http://spa-ip-address/upgrade?tftp://tftp-server-ip/spa.bin
With our current firmware 1.0.30 and above, you can use http in place of tftp method.
At any time during the 40-seconds upgrade process, please don't unplug the power.

5: How do I configure Hotline?
A: If want to pickup my phone and automatically call an spa at "ipaddress"
Assuming you have enabled the above IP to IP dial and the callee has UserID of "1002" with sip port "5061"
then you'd need to configure your dial plan to look like:
( S0<:1002@dottedipaddress:5061> )
The example above shows configuration for IP dialing, but hotline functionality
can be generalized to dialing any phone number extension.

6: How do I save my current SPA configuration?
A: Currently, the only way is to do httpget from a http client, which you
will get the entire html page. Alternatively, from your browser you can
do "File -> save as -> html" from any one of the pages.
This save process will save all the tabs into one html file, so do this while you're in admin, advanced.
This html file is a useful information that you can provide when you have
technical question to our support team.

7: How do I disable Message Waiting indicator ring?
A: Configuration for this can be found in web-page administration under User tab.
set "VMWI Ring Splash Len" to 0. This will disable the ring.

8: How do I specify an upgrade rule?
A: As an example, Upgrade_Rule "(!1.0.31)?http://prov.isp.com/spa.bin"; spa will
behave as follows:
1. SPA will check what it's current firmware is, if it is, then it will not do anything.
2. If it's not then SPA will download spa.bin via http.
(an alternate method of tftp is also possible)
3. After downloaded, spa.bin is checked for version number.
If it's 1.0.31, then spa will start to upgrade.

9: How do I debug my SPA? Is there a syslog?
A: SPA sends out debug information via syslog to a syslog server. The ports can
be configured (by default it is 514), and do the following:
Make sure you don't have firewall running on your PC that potentially block port 514
- Under system tab, set "Debug Server" to be the IP address of your syslog server
(i.e: x.y.z.w:PORT. Note that this IP address has to be reachable from the SPA).
Also, set "Debug level" to 3 (no need to set "syslog server")
- Also, to capture SIP signaling messages, under the line tab,
set "SIP Debug Option" to Full. File output will be "syslog.514.log"

10: How to use Distinctive Ring feature of the SPA?
A: You can define 8 ring patterns (cadences) shared by both Line 1 and Line 2
(for SPA-2000); namely Ring 1-8. The user can select a default ring for incoming
calls among the 8 ring patterns. User can also defined a list of caller patterns
with each ring pattern so that the ring is played when the caller-id matches the
pattern. For example, one can associate Ring 2 with "1408*,1510*", so that
whenever caller with 408 and 510 area code will use Ring 2 to ring.

Service provider can also request the SPA to play one of the ring patterns for
each inbound call. To do this the service provider insert an Alert-Info header
in the inbound INVITE to the SPA, specifying name of the ring pattern to play.
By default the ring pattern names are "Bellcore-r1"..."Bellcore-r8".
For Rings 1-8, respectively. The names can be re-configured.

11: How do I force a resync for configuration update?
A: you can type in the below in your browser's URL:
- http://spa-ip-address/resync?tftp://tftp-server/spa-config-file
- As an alternative, you can also send a SIP NOTIFY message with
"Event: resync" header Upon receiving this request, SPA will challenge with
401. You'll need to supply account password information in authorization header
(computed with MD5 digest)

12: How do I do an alternate proxy setting / How to configure DNS SRV?
A: use DNS SRV in your DNS zone file!
- You can setup DNS SRV record containing your sip proxies with different
priority for each one of them.
A DNS SRV entry looks like: (with sipproxy1 having a higher priority than sipproxy2)
sipproxy.domain.com SRV 0 1 5060 sipproxy1.domain.com.
SRV 1 1 5060 sipproxy2.domain.com.

From the SPA, set
"Use DNS SRV" to yes in the "line" tab setting; outbound proxy: sipproxy.domain.com
SPA supports 5 hosts per SRV record. For more information, please refer to rfc#3263

if you use "_sip._udp", you can enable "DNS SRV Auto Prefix" for the SPA to automatically
prepend "_sip._udp." to the proxy name.

- As an alternative, you can set your DNS so that it has entry of
sipproxy.domain.com which points to multiple IP addresses. This will give random
dns resolution between the IPs with equal priority.

13: How do I fine tune SPA, so that it disconnect properly w/ my PBX?
A: There are configuration parameters which you can adjust under "Regional" tab.
o SPA 1.0.x, you can set different tip/ring polarity when callee is idle and
connected; so when call is disconnected, a polarity reversal can be sensed by
the PBX ( and parameters)

o SPA 2.0.x, an additional CPC option is added such that when caller hangs up,
SPA (as the callee) will remove tip/ring voltage briefly which can be sensed by
the PBX ( and paramters)

14: What if my proxy accepts registration other than port 5060?
A: You simply need to enter in the port number in your Proxy setting
under line configuration. i.e: sipproxy:port
If you're using Outbound Proxy, this setting needs to be in the Outbound Proxy field.

15: How to setup Distinctive Ring feature of the SPA?
A: You can define 8 ring patterns in the unit shared by Line1 and Line2: Ring 1-8.
The user can select a default ring for all incoming or based on caller-id matching.
Ex: You can associate Ring 2 with "1408*,1510*". Caller from these area codes use Ring 2.
The service provider can also request SPA to play one of the ring pattern for each call.
How: insert an Alert-Info header in the inbound INVITE, specifying ring to play ("Bellcore-r1"..."Bellcore-r8")

16: More about DialPlan Settings
A: The dialplan configuration is a combination of possible number dialing,
separated by "|". Here are some examples:

o [2-9]xx xxxx, 7-digit local number (cannot start with 0 or 1)
o 1 xxx xxx xxxx, US long distance, 1 + area code + local number
o 011 xxxxxx x. US international + 6 or more digits
o <:1408> [2-9]xx xxxx, adds "1408" to the 7 digit number that you dial
o <111:1002@10.10.10.2:5060>, pressing 111, will dial the following IP address.
o <####:****> pressing ####, will dial ****. To Get around the IVR trigger.
o < xx. > this means anything, but don't forget to terminate the digit dialing with '#'
o **xx. this means you need have two stars as your prefix to the number you dial.

17: What are the settings of Jitter buffer corresponds to ?
A: This will affect the buffer size, delay
low: 30ms, med: 40ms, high:60ms, very high:100ms, extremely high:160ms
The above are initial values, SPA will attempt to lower it gradually
to the minimum value of 30ms
If you disable jitter buffer adjustment, it will stay at the initial value.