Jabber Push Notification delay

[HRS]

Jabber Push Notification delay causing voice call to drop before push notification reaches the iPhone. It appears that we are hitting this issue below

“If there is a delay in the Push Notifications process that prevents Unified CM from offering the call to the IOS device, Unified CM drops the call after 13 seconds.”

This is an intermittent issue where, in most cases, the iPhone mobile jabber begins to ring just as the Unified CM system is dropping the calIs there a way to increase the timer to accommodate the Push Notification delay or are there any recommendations?

On Both successful and failed calls, we received RESPONSE_PUSH_NOTIFICATION with Status 200 from Cisco Cloud for REQUEST_PUSH_NOTIFICATION without delay.

CUCM Version 12.5SU7a

Had issues before upgrade as well. Affected users are on both internal network and external network via MRA.

[Adam Pawlowski]

I have this happen as well, and am interested in other's comments or thoughts.

I've been chalking it up to notification delays on the phone itself, based on it transitioning between networks, network quality, do-not-disturb, low data/power mode, etc. There's a general recommendation to use Single Number Reach with the dual mode devices, which will also present the call to the mobile directly if the Jabber client doesn't register in.

[HRS]

Hi Adam, I appreciate your response and Thank you!

Exactly...there can be multiple reasons for a delay.

Unfortunately, In this case, the majority of phones cannot utilize SNR as they do not have a carrier connection (Intranet WiFi connection only).

Yeah, Looking forward to get more comments or thoughts... 

[DaveLawang]

We don't experience this exact problem (delayed push notifications) but are not impressed by the APNS architecture either. It's less reliable with more external dependencies compared to the old way of doing things. You see, there are ~12-16 iOS Updates each year and ~3-4 Jabber updates on top of that on average. That's a lot of chances to introduce new defects. Unfortunately both Cisco and Apple have managed to break APNS on multiple occasions in the past which caused us major headaches in production. We run critical infrastructure (healthcare) and need reliable communication channels that 3rd parties can't tamper with intentionally and unintentionally. We consider the entire APNS architecture dangerous for certain scenarios and are looking for alternatives. Unfortunately App based voice communication is nowhere close as reliable as, let's say, a traditional DECT setup (not really surprising either if you look at the architecture of the two technologies).

Local push notifications keep popping up here and there as a way to mitigate some of the pain when you talk with Cisco but I haven't seen a delivery date yet. Not sure if there ever will be one, our impression is that the focus for new features is on the Webex client. Local Push Connectivity | Apple Developer Documentation

In the future we'll run voice on the smartphones itself. Takes both the app developer and the smartphone manufacturer out of the picture, thus eliminates external dependencies and a lot of the uncertainties that came with APNS.

Sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear. Just sharing our experiences of running a JM setup for ~7 years.

[Adam Pawlowski · Accepted solution]

It's more than an impression, as far as I am aware there is no further feature development occurring on Jabber, with bug fixes taking a very long time. I believe it is no longer part of the CCNP level exam syllabus either after the next refresh.

It has been dormant for some number of years now despite various statements regarding a "commitment" to the application, its 'viability', etc.



The main pain point with push noticiations with Jabber and myself seems to center around the implementation. It feels very detached from the application and its behaviors.



e.g. receiving a push for an IM, selecting it, waiting for the app to start, attempt to connect, "action cannot be completed ... " , pressing on something causing the connection process to restart because it thinks you've canceled it .

Going into DND or signing out and still receiving toasts, etc.



The Webex app does seem to behave somewhat better if you can get there, that's probably the best one can hope for.



Sorry to sound negative about it, I just don't see that there is much improvement to be had over its existing architecture and the nuance with push notifications.

[Kathy N. · Accepted solution]

Cisco is moving away from Jabber and, as noted above, support is more of a maintenance process than feature updates and troubleshooting.  We have quit troubleshooting Jabber in our organization and any user that has a problem is told they have to change to use Webex instead.  Eventually Jabber will be phased out.  My hope is by the time Cisco formally announces end of life, all my users will have changed over to Webex and I won't have to worry about it.

[HRS]

Thank you All for the responses. I have already advised customer to move towards WebEx and they are in the process of migrating. Hopefully we will not see this issue with WebEx app.

I will update here once we tested this with WebEx App.

Thank you all Again!

[Kathy N.]

@HRS , changing to Webex doesn't remove all delays but it does help.  I actually carry a work iPhone and a personal android phone that I'm logged into Webex calling on both devices.  I've noticed that the android phone is slightly behind in sending me the call alert.  The call alert is also dependent on my cellular/wifi connection as well as my movements.  I've noticed if I'm driving, so switching between cell towers more often, there's a slightly longer delay for the call alert to appear.  I would recommend increasing the ring time for users so the system has more time to locate the user before sending the call to voice mail or forwarding it.  I recommend at least 6 rings or about 30 seconds.

[HRS]

@Kathy N. I agree, however the actual problem is - “If there is a delay in the Push Notifications process that prevents Unified CM from offering the call to the IOS device, Unified CM drops the call after 13 seconds.”

so I think increasing the number of rings doesn't help with the delay situation (especially when you have the extension only on the mobile device), if Cisco has a way to increase this timer it would be great.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/push_notifications/cucm_b_push-notifications-deployment-guide/cucm_b_push-notifications-deployment-guide_chapter_01.html#reference_7389F14424CE6DE516F8AA888AE61988

[Kathy N.]

I've not had that problem so far and as I mentioned, my iPhone typically gets the alert faster than the android.  The Push Notification delay that Cisco is referring to is if the phone isn't available within 13 seconds.  Not that the user doesn't answer the phone.

[HRS]

Correct... the issue is phone is not receiving the push notification within 13 seconds. Hopefully, this will resolve when we switch to WebEx. Thank you for your responses.

[Ryan Li]

Hi there,

I'm the Jabber/Webex mobile product manager with Unified CM call, sorry for the inconvenience caused by the push notifications delay.
As some of you might know, this calendar year(likely 1st half), there will be a feature called "Local Push Notification support" for those customers who need reliability for call notifications, healthcare is a good example.
In the meantime, we will enhance the push notification metrics data, trying to figure out what exactly causes the delay, and take action on both UCM side and client side. This enhancement will be implemented on Webex first, and then Jabber, as many Jabber customers don't report the metrics.

[HRS]

Hi Ryan Li!

Thank you so much for the update and thank you understanding the exact issue, will this feature be available on CUCM 12.5 & 14? 
Can you please send me the details of the enhancement for the push notification metrics data. I can send the troubleshooting information to the Cisco Cloud for further troubleshooting.

Again, Thank you!

[Jacob ICT]

We recently had an issue with APNS and cisco was not able to provide reason for non delivery as they dont have any agreement with the mobile OS Provider. This APNS architecture has bought lot of dependencies and unreliability for on prem customers.

cisco should work with apple to  provide some sort of tool for TAC engineers so that they know why exactly the Push notification was not received like the 'Push notification console' that apple has for App developers

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10025/

[Eric Tucker]

This only says webex is supported for LPNS, so jabber will be as well?