Common Issues

Common Issues

Quick fixes for the most frequently reported problems on the SIPSTACK platform.

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Configuration

I saved a change but nothing happened

Nova PBX uses a staged-commit model: saves are staged, not live. Look for the yellow “You have unapplied changes” banner at the top of any Nova page and click Apply Changes. Until you do, new extensions won’t register, routing changes won’t fire, and edits won’t reach your phones. See the commit system.

This is the single most common “it’s broken” report — check it first.

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Phones & Calling

My phone shows “Unregistered” or “No Service”

1. Confirm the extension is Active and your last change was applied (see above).
2. Check the phone is on the network (Ethernet seated, PoE power active).
3. Confirm the device’s MAC address in Nova PBX → Devices matches the label on the phone, and review its provisioning status — see Devices.
4. Check that SIP ALG is disabled on your router/firewall — the most common cause of registration failures. See Network & Firewall.
5. For softphones, re-check the SIP username/password from the extension’s SIP Auth tab (details).

Calls connect but audio only works one way

One-way audio almost always means SIP ALG is enabled on a router or firewall in the call path:

1. Log in to your router admin panel.
2. Find the SIP ALG / SIP helper / SIP inspection setting — often under Advanced or Security.
3. Disable it and reboot the router, then retest.

If SIP ALG is already disabled, check for double-NAT (two routers between the phone and the internet) and that UDP 10000–20000 is open. Full guidance: Network & Firewall.

Calls drop after a fixed interval (30/60 seconds)

A NAT keep-alive / session-timer issue — the firewall drops the SIP session as idle. Enable SIP keep-alives on the phone (interval ~20s) and increase your firewall’s UDP session timeout for SIP traffic to at least 300 seconds.

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Voicemail

Voicemail isn’t being delivered to email

Voicemail-to-email is configured per extension, on the extension’s Voicemail tab:

1. Open Nova PBX → People & Extensions → Extensions → [extension] → Voicemail and check the notification email. When a user is paired, it’s locked to that user’s email.
2. Check the destination’s spam/junk folder and allowlist SIPSTACK’s sending domain.
3. Confirm the voicemail target isn’t set to None (disabled) or pointed at another extension’s mailbox.

See the extension editor — Voicemail tab.

I forgot my voicemail PIN

An admin can set a new one: Extensions → [extension] → Voicemail → Voicemail PIN (3–10 digits), save, then Apply Changes. The PIN is used when dialing in with *98.

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Devices & Provisioning

A new phone won’t pull its configuration

Phones fetch their configuration from your organization’s provisioning URL — https://<slug>:<PIN>@cfg.sipstack.com/<slug>/ — usually delivered by DHCP option 160. Work through these in order:

1. Is the PIN generated? Open Nova PBX → System → PBX Settings → Provisioning Access. If Last rotated reads Never, nobody has ever revealed this organization’s PIN — click Regenerate PIN to generate and reveal one, then put the full URL in DHCP option 160 (per-server steps). There are no per-device passwords.
2. Is the phone published? The device needs an extension on line 1 and you must click Apply Changes — applying is what publishes the configuration to the provisioning server. A device with no extension has nothing published and stays at Not Connected on the Devices list.
3. Does the phone have the right URL? Compare the slug and PIN the phone is using (DHCP option 160 or its own provisioning settings) with Provisioning Access. A wrong PIN shows in the phone’s log as 401; after you rotate the PIN, the previous one stops working 24 hours later.
4. Was the organization paused? After 100 failed authentication attempts within an hour — typically a wrong PIN in DHCP across a whole office — the provisioning server pauses your organization’s provisioning for the rest of the hour. Fix the value, wait, then reboot one phone.

See Devices and the setup guide for your brand.

I changed settings but the phone still shows old config

Yealink and Poly phones receive an immediate push (and Reprovision on the device detail forces one); Grandstream phones poll on a schedule — wait for the next poll or reboot the phone. In every case confirm you clicked Apply Changes.

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Account & Billing

I can’t assign a new user to a product

Seats are per-subscription. The cards on the Users page show consumption (e.g. 2 / 5 seats) — at capacity you must add seats to the subscription or unassign someone before assigning a new user.

My trial ended and the subscription was cancelled

If no valid payment method was on file at the end of the trial, the subscription can’t convert. Open Billing from the account switcher, add a payment method, then resubscribe from Subscriptions.

I’m not receiving verification or invitation emails

1. Check spam/junk folders.
2. Ask your IT team to allowlist the sipstack.com sending domain.
3. For expired invitation/activation links, see Email Verification & Activation.

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SMS (Flare)

My outbound SMS messages are not being delivered

Common causes:

• 10DLC not registered — A2P SMS from local numbers to US/Canadian recipients requires brand + campaign registration. Check the 10DLC tab on Account → Phone Numbers — see 10DLC Brands & Campaigns.
• Opt-out — the recipient previously replied STOP; opted-out contacts are blocked from receiving messages (Compliance).
• Number not SMS-capable — verify the number’s capabilities in Account → Phone Numbers.
• Carrier filtering — messages with link shorteners or restricted (SHAFT) content may be filtered even when registered.

Contacts are not importing from CSV

• The CSV needs a header row with a phone column; numbers should be E.164 (+16041234567).
• Duplicates are skipped/merged, not rejected — check the import summary’s imported/skipped/failed counts.
• See Contacts — Importing from CSV.

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Still Stuck?

If none of the above resolves your issue: Contact Support.