[SOLVED] how to test RTP?

[DLes]

I have teleconferencing account/software that seems to work well EXCEPT that rarely I can't hear my teleconference, and they can't hear me. I'm the organizer, so I can't just bail and hang up everyone and try again. I am told that this is an occasional RTP networking fault in my computer (Mac 10.5.6) or network. Goodness knows why that happens. What I would like to know is if there is a simple way to test my RTP connection without setting up two computers on a telecon, and yelling HELLO!!! back and forth. That is, I'd like to start a telecon KNOWING that RTP is working. Ideas?

 

[bill001g]

It is not the RTP protocol itself that causes most the issues. RTP in most cases uses UDP protocol to carry the data.

The problem with video conferencing tend to be related to the protocol used to setup the sessions. Most things use SIP but there are many other methods.

The problem is the NAT. The router must have a special feature used to snoop on the SIP setup messages to create dynamic NAT entries based on the ports inside the SIP messages. If you are using encrypted SIP this method will not work.

Then again it depends on the video conferencing system you are using. Many use proprietary methods but they all suffer from the NAT problem.

Unfortunately this is a extremely complex things to setup and test.

Because of all the restriction NAT places on you and all the people who do not even have a dedicated public IP most video conferencing is done using services that provide the hosting for you in a data center.

 

[DLes]

Thanks. This is actually audio teleconferencing and not video. Uberconference is my provider, and their support is blaming my RTP networking. So, I'd like to have a strategy to test. Of course, as I said, the default test is just to organize a telecon on one machine, and then log in with another. That's a little messy without having two people involved, though.

 

[bill001g]

RTP though is not a actual networking protocol. It is like calling HTTP a "networking protocol".

Most RTP uses UDP for the transport. It might use TCP. In either case they are all IP based which means if you can ping (which is another protocol) the server your communication is fine.

To actually test if RTP works is like asking how you test a web server that uses HTTP. There are so many implementation details.

Although it is purely a guess what I would try is to use the DMZ option in your router and set your PC ip to be in the DMZ. This is somewhat risky because hackers can now attempt to attack your machine but it will quickly show you if the problem is the NAT. It could also be a setting in the firewall on your pc. Maybe try to turn that off just to test and see if it works with the firewall off.