[ymhee_bcex]

Suddenly, on the outgoing calls I can't hear the other parties. All other combinations are OK (the other party can hear me; we both can hear each other on the incoming calls).

The adapter (SPA-2002) web page looks OK; so does everything else. I plugged SPA directly into the cable modem (bypassing the router). I noticed that the yellow light started blinking very very fast. The green light was also blinking. After waiting for some 2-3 minutes I gave up. I think it was trying to obtain IP address (**** was working, it was reporting that DHCP was on, but IP address was 0).

Anyway, once I got back to the router - it started working! I can hear everybody. Can anybody guess what happened? And what should I do (besides panicking and cursing BV's non-existant tech support) if something like that happens again?

Thanks much

[mberlant]

It looks like your SPA was unable to obtain an IP address from your ISP. In the US there are two prevalent conventions for authentication.

DSL providers tend to use PPPoE for authentication. You enter a User Name and Password into your router (or PC connection utility) and the DHCP server gives you an address.

Cable providers tend to use MAC address locking (sometimes with Host Name authentication). In this scheme the ISP locks onto the first device that connects with it. When you try switching to a different device (like carrying your laptop home and plugging it in) the server won't give you an address.

Since you have cable service I would vote for MAC address locking. Your cable service would be locked to your router, so it didn't recognize your SPA's MAC address.

[ymhee_bcex]

mberlant, you got me thinking... Usually, my SPA gets IP address from a router, not directly from cable modem. The problem first started when I rebooted my dual-boot box (first time since I had VoIP), and Windows had hard-coded IP address that conflicted with SPA. But I turned it back off; "rebooted" SPA, verified that SPA gets IP, got on SPA through browser... so I thought I corrected that part, but the problem persisted.

Then I decided to plug SPA straight into cable modem (to eliminate the router as potential source of the problem). But I didn't realize that there is MAC address locking (where MAC is obviously MAC of the router). So, that explained why SPA couldn't get an IP from the modem. Apparently, this whole exercise reset something in SPA better, because once I plugged it back into the router - it not only got the IP, but also the problem got away!

Thanks for your advice - as always!
Felix