BrainTel Blocks Asterisk!!!!

[rizsher]

My Braintel account, which I had been using for months and months on Asterisk, stopped working a few weeks ago. I thought they had some problems and didn't bother too much.

Finally, yesterday, i called the support number (042-2100786) and was told that PTCL had been monitoring the account and had asked Brain to block my account as Asterisk can be used to forward calls etc!!!!.

The guy asked me to send an email confirming I won't use Asterisk with my Brain account anymore before he would unblock it!!!

Information for anyone who is using Brain with Asterisk, and a question, is it possible to change the ID Asterisk sends out so it looks like it's coming from an ATA?.

Thanks.
Riz

[lovelypakistan]

They blocked your account ?
or
their server is rejecting authentication from asterisk platform ?

[rizsher]

Originally Posted by lovelypakistan

They blocked your account ?
or
their server is rejecting authentication from asterisk platform ?

As per my post

[leintrus]

Braintel has blocked accounts that were being registered on asterisk. I faced the exact same scenario and have sent the email to atleast get my account unblocked first. Did you get your account unblocked? and did you figure out a way to change the register info that asterisk sends out?

[rizsher]

No, never did figure out how to "hide" the ID. Could you please pm me the email address you wrote to to get your a/c unblocked?. I emailed a****i@brain.pk but never got a response.

Regards.
Riz

[leintrus]

Thats where I sent the email as well. Its been ages since you must've sent the email and I suppose I won't get a reply. I do have the guy's phone number so I'll stay on him until I get it unblocked. I doubt he will reply to an angry email from my side Anyway, let me know if you want his number.
I will search for a solution and will post here when I find one.

And configure your number on an ATA or a softphone or something, they will be monitoring and might unblock it when they see that its configured on an ATA. This is what the guy said to me.

[leintrus]

One solution to work around the asterisk block is to register braintel on an ATA and connect it to an FXO port instead of a phone. and then use FXO as a trunk in asterisk.

[boatman]

Originally Posted by rizsher

is it possible to change the ID Asterisk sends out so it looks like it's coming from an ATA?.

In the SIP packets there are identifying labels. I captured some with Wireshark. These labels can be found in the SIP portion of the packets and are likely the only way anyone can see that you are using Asterisk.

An ATA will identify itself something like this:
User-Agent: Linksys/SPA2100-3.3.9

On the other end, usually there will be some kind of server or SIP router. It will identify itself something like this:
Server: Sip EXpress router (0.8.12-tcp_nonb (i386/linux))

Of course you need only change the identifier on your end. If you get the Asterisk source code you could replace all occurrences of Asterisk's User-Agent identifier with "Linksys/SPA2100-3.3.9", then compile and run. It shouldn't be too difficult, many Linux users compile their own programs from the source code.

[rizsher]

Actually,


[general]
;
; enable and force the sip jitterbuffer. If these settings are desired
; they should be set in the sip_general_custom.conf file as this file
; will get overwritten during reloads and upgrades.
;
; jbenable=yes
; jbforce=yes
useragent = Sipura SPA3000-3.1.3(GWa)

The bold entry under General in sip.conf will set your user agent to whatever you want, Sipura SPA3000-3.1.3

However, PTCL maybe using a more sophisticated tool than just looking at the useragent, and using this MAY land you AND BrainTel into trouble.

Riz

[leintrus]

Correct. PTA recently acquired new equipment to monitor VOIP activity, and if detected using asterisk, Braintel might lose its licence, and the person using asterisk may face criminal charges.