VoIP behind a NAT: STUN vs. (outbound) proxy?

It seems that a user behind a typical domestic LAN has to use either
STUN or a proxy in order to perform VoIP. I am unclear in some things.

My Sipura 2100 has a space to type a "Proxy" and an "Outbound Proxy".
The documentation suggests to use fwd.pulver.com and
fwdnat.pulver.com:5082 respectively.

What is the difference between those two proxies?

The STUN protocol is not mentioned in that device's administrative
page. Does that mean that the SPR-2100 has no support for STUN?

According to some documentation that I read, the use of a proxy
requires that all voice traffic passes through that proxy, while STUN
only the call initiation passes through the STUN server.

Am I to understand that pulver.com has enough bandwidth to serve as a
proxy server (processing voice traffic) for anyone that needs their
service (anyone behind a NAT, for starters)??

Thanks,

-Ramon F Herrera

 

fwd.pulver.com is the "proxy/registrar" where a User Agent (or "UA", in
your case the SPA-2100) "registers", i.e. it basically tells it: "If
someone calls the number I have with you, pass the call here at the IP
address and UDP port number so-and-so". This information is contained
in the "Register" message, but sometimes proxy registrars disregard it,
and instead use the source IP address and port number of the UDP packet
that transported the message. This is because they assume that the
content might reflect the internal address of the UA (the one on the
LAN behind the NAT). NAT and SIP are awkward bedfellows, and there is
an entire bag of tricks developed in recent years to try and make them
work together. And still, sometimes they don't :-(

fwdnat.pulver.com:5082 is the "outbound proxy", i.e. the one that your
UA contacts when it wants to initiate a call to someone else.

Yes, it does. I forgot on which page it is, but on the SPA-3000 it's in
the "SIP" screen in the field "STUN Server:". I set it to
"stun.fwdnet.net:3478".

That's not entirely correct. The STUN server is only used by the UA to
learn the external IP address of its NAT router, and the type of NAT
(full cone, port restricted, symmetrical etc.); the SIP dialogue for
the session initiation goes through the outbound proxy (if used, else
through the proxy/registrar). The actual RTP streams that transport the
voice packets may or may not go through the outbound proxy, depending
on the settings of the proxy and the capabilities of the two endpoint
UA's (ability to issue re-invites). Unfortunately it's very hard to
have two UA's both behind NAT talk to each other directly, so most of
the times the RTP traffic is channeled through the outbound proxy.

Yes. But that, at most, requires about 80 kbit/s per conversation (or
less, if compressed codecs are used): and not everybody is off hook at
the same time...

Enzo

 

Hello,

You are probably confusing "SIP proxy" with "RTP proxy". [Outbound] SIP
proxy is where your SIP phone will send a SIP INVITE message. RTP proxy is
where the RTP stream will go to (if SIP proxy will decide to engage the
RTP proxy and not send the voice stream directly). STUN is not related to
the call initiation, it is just a "consulting" service, which allows SIP
phone to learn what type of NAT/firewall it is behind.

BTW, there is really good description of NAT traversal issues and possible
solutions for ITSP in the "PortaSIP User Guide"
(http://www.portaone.com/resources/documentation/index.html)

WBR, Andrew