Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with VOIP and router

Wireless router with QoS for home use?

middleclasstool — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:53:10 -0800

Recommendations on routers with QoS, please? Pretty straightforward, but I'm not a hardware guy and don't exactly trust the CNet reviews that Google is coughing up.

I have a D-Link DIR-655, and it's had a good run, but it's starting to give up the ghost. I'll happily replace it with the same thing, but before I do, I want to be sure there isn't anything better out there. Needs are pretty straightforward: fast, reliable, decent range, and must have QoS. Is the DIR-655 as good as it gets, or is there something better? Is coughing up the dough for a commercial-grade router worth it?

How do I configure my VOIP gateway (CISCO Linksys SPA-3102) for a multi-number phone line?

Bacillus — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:09:37 -0800

How do I configure my VOIP gateway (CISCO Linksys SPA-3102) for a multi-number phone line? I recently had my telephone provider set up a multi-number for my single land line. So now I have two number for the same phone line.

When the VOIP gateway is disconnected both numbers work fine.

When the gateway is connected to my original number. my original number works fine, but the new number doesn't receive or dial out at all, you hear it ringing in the phone but the phone doesn't ring. So basically my second number is worthless.

Is there any way I can configure my gateway to make both numbers work? at least receive calls on the second number while I'm on the net?

Good wired router as gateway to VoIP and wireless router?

skywhite — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:45:35 -0800

Good wired router as gateway to VoIP and wireless router? When I got Vonage several years ago, they provided a now-discontinued Netgear RP614 wired router to plug my cable into, and the router (which also has a built-in firewall that works well) then offers outlets for my Vonage box as well as my Apple Airport wireless router (which I use for my Mac and as part of a larger network with an Airport Express streaming music to my living room stereo).

Everything's worked fine until recently. Now the Netgear router gets confused and shuts down all through-traffic at least once a day. A manual reset (unplug, wait, plug back in) sets things right, but it seems the router is on its way out after 5 years of service.

Vonage no longer offers wired routers -- instead they offer a proprietary VoIP box that has its own little router built-in, but I don't want to go through the hassle of dealing with Vonage, and I'd rather just do something non-proprietary on my own.

Is Netgear still a good choice for wired routers? Anyone else I might want to look at (eg Belkin)? Also, is this setup too convoluted -- is there a way to improve it while simplifying -- or is this just par for the course if I want VoIP as wekk as wireless internet?

How do I make my wireless router play nice with my VOIP adaptor?

chinston — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:43:06 -0800

What's the best way to get my wireless router (Linksys WRT54G2) to play nice with my Vonage VOIP adaptor (Motorola VT 1005)? Frequently when I'm trying to upload somewhat sizeable files (e.g., like a minute-long movie to youtube), I lose my connection and have to reboot. I don't know much about networking, so please bear with me. My current set-up is cable modem --> Linksys wireless router --> VOIP adaptor --> PC running Windows XP. If I remove the wireless router from the equation, things seem to work fine. But otherwise, usually if I'm trying to upload some pictures to flickr or a short movie to youtube (or even sometimes when checking yahoo e-mail), my connection will disappear.

Weirdly, if I have a remote connection to my work network up at the time via Citrix, that connection will not be affected. And I still have phone service through Vonage. But I will not be able to access the web via Firefox or Internet Explorer. If I reset the wireless adaptor, that fixes the problem for a time until the next upload. I don't torrent or do any really huge data transfers.

I had this problem with a previous router - the Belkin Wireless pre-N router. I recently switched to the older Linksys model, hoping that would fix things. But it hasn't. This is frustrating since I rely on my wireless connection to stream music over to my Roku soundbridge, among other things.

I've googled and checked the manufacturers' web pages, but haven't been able to find help. Oh, and I have the most recent firmware version. My question is similar to this question about how visiting flickr and netflix kills an internet connection; I've just tried reinstalling flash and flashblock. It's also very similar to this question about a combination Vonage/Linksys router having to be reset, but there was no conclusive answer there.

I'm happy to provide more details if needed.

VOIP IP QOS and other fun acronyms.

Jimbob — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 05:39:46 -0800

Crackle and chop free VOIP - how exactly do I get IPQoS to work on my iConnect Access 621 router / D-Link DVG2001s ATA combination? I've been mucking about with this for weeks now, and thought it was about time to get outside help to see if anyone can offer some advice, because it's starting to make me frustrated.

Basically, QOS on my VOIP line just doesn't seem to be working, despite both my modem-router (an iConnect Access 621) and my VOIP ATA (a D-Link DVG 2001s) claiming to support it.

Here's what I've done so far.

In the router QOS configuration, I have enabled:

"Enabled ipQos"
"Trusted Mode"

On the ATA I'm not quite sure what to do. It offers two QOS modes, "TOS" and "DiffServ". I'm not sure how to set these, because documentation on the web is very hard to come by.

TOS lets you set values from 0 to 7.
Diffserv lets you set values from 0 to 63.

What's the best way to configure this? I want absolute, maximum priority given to VOIP traffic.

However, none of these settings seem to make any difference. I start a big web download, then try to make a VOIP call, and it is choppy as hell - I'm only hearing about 25% of the audio.

In the router, I've even tried setting QOS by IP address, giving my phone "HIGH" priority on all ports, to all outside address, and giving my desktop and laptop "LOW" priority.

But this doesn't seem to make a difference though, either. Am I missing somthing? Is anyone else using this combination of router and VOIP ATA with success?

VoIP and ADSL on the cheap?

flabdablet — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 22:17:07 -0800

What's the minimal hardware I need to put my house phones on VoIP? Background:

ADSL has finally arrived in our little village this week, and I've signed up with an ISP that offers very attractive bundled VoIP pricing and a good reputation for helpful support. I'm expecting my line will be ADSL-enabled within a couple of weeks.

I want to set up my shiny new broadband connection with the least possible expenditure on new hardware, while at the same time getting my house LAN arrangements in order. I've got an old PC with a huge disk drive that I've been meaning for some time to set up as an always-on Linux-based server.

I know how to make that work as a NAT router/firewall and file server, and I'm sure I can work out enough of Squid to speed up my Windows updates and present a useful work-around-the-filters challenge to our nascent 14-year-old hacker, but I have no experience at all with ADSL modems or VoIP adaptor boxes. I'd like to hang one of each off of the server.

Questions:

1. Given that my ADSL connection will be PPP-based, that I do already have an old 10mbit Ethernet card I'm not using, and that there are unused USB 1.1 ports on my server PC, is there any reason to prefer an Ethernet-connected ADSL modem to a cheaper USB one?

2. Is it feasible to press my old 56K external voice/data/fax modem into service as the hardware component of a VoIP adapter for my existing house phones? If not, why not? If so, what software will the server need to simulate what the ISP's recommended VoIP adaptor can do?

3. Why don't I just use the wonderful Product X, which has an inbuilt POTS/ADSL splitter, plus an ADSL modem, plus a house phone interface that allows incoming and outgoing calls via both POTS and VoIP (selectable per phone number and/or by dialling prefix and falling back to POTS on power failure), plus a NAT router, plus an easy-to-use Web-based configuration tool, plus endlessly upgradeable open-source firmware, and costs not much more than a vanilla ADSL modem?

Router blind to working IP phone?

TeamBilly — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:01:13 -0800

Why in the hell does my DHCP router (Linksys WRT54G) not actually see my IP phone? I have a proprietary VoIP phone which my company manufactures, and it's connected through my router to the 'Net. And everything works fine.

The link is like this:

'Net -> Motorola Cablemodem (from Comcast) -> Linksys.

Phone is plugged directly into router.

When I pull up the Local Network tab on the admin utility, it shows all of my other computers on the DHCP Tables tab, but the phone doesn't exist there.

Yet it works. Why is this? Is it the fact that the phone doesn't have a hostname? It should still show the lease on the IP address, right?

I only ask because I might need to make alterations to the network, adjust certain ports, etc, but I can't SEE it to adjust it if I need to.

Stupid router.

VOIP: now, where do I plug in my computer?

ParisParamus — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 05:04:44 -0800

I just received my second install kit for VOIP, but unlike Episode I, there's no second LAN jack for my computer on the phone adapter. I just received my second install kit for VOIP (VoicePulse; BroadVoice/Vox didn't sound good enough). But unlike Episode I, there's no second LAN jack for my computer on the phone adapter. Thanks to #Mefi IRC, I know I need either a different router or a "switch," but what are the pros and cons of each solution? And why doesn't this new telephone adapter have a place to plug in my computer?

Software Router Filter

TeamBilly — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 09:22:14 -0800

Does a software-based router exist so that I can have essentially two internet connections accessed from one Windows XP computer at the same time? (more) I have a need to access a VPN connection (which is locked down from web surfing) and still be able to surf at the same time. There is no way the VPN will be opened up to HTTP or FTP access, so what I want to do is establish VPN for one software app, (company softphone) and still handle general email, web surfing, etc through whatever connection I happen to have, such as in a hotel, airport, or even my home network. I figure there should be a way to do this at the software level, so that it effectively routes packets to the various connections. Am I nuts? Can I do this?