To disable SIP ALG on a Netgear router, browse to http://www.routerlogin.net, log in, click the ADVANCED tab, go to Setup → WAN Setup, check the box labeled “Disable SIP ALG,” and click Apply. Netgear ships SIP ALG turned on by default, and on a network running SIP trunks that default is a liability — it rewrites SIP packets your phones and provider have already handled correctly.
Netgear publishes a first-party knowledge base article on this setting — something many consumer router brands never do — which makes the fix unambiguous on most models. Here is the full procedure, the one gotcha in the UI, and how to confirm it worked.
The exact steps on a Netgear router
- Open a browser on a device connected to the router and go to
http://www.routerlogin.net(or the router’s LAN IP). - Log in with the admin credentials.
- Click the ADVANCED tab.
- Select Setup → WAN Setup.
- Check the box labeled Disable SIP ALG.
- Click Apply. As with most routers, a brief connection blip while settings apply is normal — give it a moment before you test.
This path applies to the genie web UI across dozens of models per Netgear’s own KB (R6200 through R9000 and XR700 among them). Orbi and some newer Nighthawk firmware may not expose the toggle in the same place, so treat this as the procedure for most Netgear routers.
The checkbox is inverted — read it twice
This is the part people get backwards. The box is labeled “Disable SIP ALG,” so checked means off; unchecked means the ALG is still running. If a colleague “already disabled it” and calls still drop, this inverted label is the first thing to re-verify.
Confirm SIP ALG is actually off
After clicking Apply, navigate back to ADVANCED → Setup → WAN Setup and confirm the box is still checked — with an inverted label, the double-check is cheap insurance. Then power-cycle your phones (or force a re-registration) so their NAT bindings rebuild without the ALG in the path, and place the call that used to fail: the inbound leg with no audio, or the one that died near the 32-second mark. If you can capture packets on the WAN side, unmodified Via and Contact headers leaving the router confirm nothing mid-path is rewriting your SIP.
Still dropping calls after the change?
If the symptoms survive the toggle-and-reboot test, the ALG probably was not your only problem. Work through the failure signatures — one-way audio, the ~30-second drop, flapping registrations — in our pillar guide to what SIP ALG is and why providers tell you to disable it. Then verify your trunk settings end to end with the SIP trunk configuration guide — a codec mismatch or a badly chosen registration expiry can mimic ALG damage convincingly.
Frequently asked questions
My Orbi or newer Nighthawk has no Disable SIP ALG checkbox — now what?
Some Orbi and newer Nighthawk firmware do not expose the toggle under ADVANCED → Setup → WAN Setup the way the genie UI does. Check Netgear’s KB article for your exact model to see whether it uses the standard path, and look through the WAN and NAT sections of your current firmware. If the checkbox genuinely is not there, the workaround is putting the Netgear into bridge/AP mode behind a router that gives you the control.
Is SIP ALG on by default on Netgear routers?
Yes. Netgear confirms SIP ALG ships enabled by default on its devices. That is why VoIP problems often appear the day a Netgear router is installed, or reappear after a firmware update, unless someone explicitly checked the disable box.
Can a Netgear firmware update turn SIP ALG back on?
Treat any firmware update as a reason to re-verify. Updates can restore defaults or change ALG behavior, and Netgear ships SIP ALG enabled by default — so when calls break the week after an update, the first stop is ADVANCED → Setup → WAN Setup to confirm the Disable SIP ALG box is still checked.
Our SIP trunks are built to work with SIP exactly as your phones send it, backed by SIPNEX’s FCC carrier license. If your calls still misbehave after the ALG is off, send us the symptoms and we will help you isolate whether the problem is the network or the trunk, or review our published rates if you are evaluating a switch.
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