anyone use a Bandwidth Monitor

Posts: 409 · Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 4:30 pm Post subject: anyone use a Bandwidth Monitor

would it be helpful to use a bandwidth monitor to see whats going on when I get dropped calls Question

Posts: 215 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Nov 24, 2004 Posts: 215

dropped calls 9 times out of 10 are caused by your equipment, and not a bandwidth problem.

for example .. some routers with SPI firewalls will cause dropped calls ..

DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 cable modems will do this.

A bad line ( latency , and packet loss ) will cause this.

Posts: 276 · Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 1:11 pm Post subject:

jdr30 wrote:

dropped calls 9 times out of 10 are caused by your equipment, and not a bandwidth problem.

for example .. some routers with SPI firewalls will cause dropped calls ..

DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 cable modems will do this.

A bad line ( latency , and packet loss ) will cause this.

Huh?? Just how will a (properly operating) DOCSIS 1.0 or 1.1 cable modem cause a dropped call? I'm currently running a Linksys using DOCSIS 1.1 (it will support 2.0 but Comcast hasn't yet moved to 2.0 with their network here) and used to run an older Linksys using DOCSIS 1.0 until a couple months ago - and I've never had a dropped call. I don't think the revision of DOCSIS your cable modem is running will cause dropped calls, as long as the cable modem is working correctly.

Posts: 32 · Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 11:29 am Post subject:

Jdr, I take issue with your analysis. 9 out of 10 dropped calls are not due to the equipment. I can tell you now that there are plenty of routers that Vonage has no control over that lose packets all the time. Since UDP packets (datagrams) will not retransmit, and there is enough packet lose, your call will be dropped. I will say in your defense that the equipment is a major cause of dropped calls but not 9 out of 10. Smile

Posts: 344 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Dec 04, 2005 Posts: 344

DallasFlier wrote:

Huh?? Just how will a (properly operating) DOCSIS 1.0 or 1.1 cable modem cause a dropped call? I'm currently running a Linksys using DOCSIS 1.1 (it will support 2.0 but Comcast hasn't yet moved to 2.0 with their network here) and used to run an older Linksys using DOCSIS 1.0 until a couple months ago - and I've never had a dropped call. I don't think the revision of DOCSIS your cable modem is running will cause dropped calls, as long as the cable modem is working correctly.

There are a lot of variables in the various DOCSIS standards. The one we are concerned about is the rate at which the modem can pass packets through it. Strictly DOCSIS 1.0 modems generally are not able to keep up with the rate that VoIP services pass data packets through the internet connection (lots of small packets very rapidly). Of course, this is generally speaking and there are some DOCSIS 1.0 modems that work fine, there are some that with a little bit of tweeking can be made to work, and some that just won't work.

Even if the head end of the cable network does not support DOCSIS 2.0 (or 1.1 for that matter), modems that are DOCSIS 1.1 or greater generally just work better.

Posts: 276 · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:35 am Post subject:

trekologer wrote:

Even if the head end of the cable network does not support DOCSIS 2.0 (or 1.1 for that matter), modems that are DOCSIS 1.1 or greater generally just work better.

And that statement of yours proves my point. *IF* they generally work better, its because they're newer designs, using faster processors, etc - NOT because they're DOCSIS 2.0 or 1.1 vs 1.0. Because if the DOCSIS spec level was really the problem, then a newer modem on a cable network still at DOCSIS 1.0 would be just as bad as an older modem, since at that point its operating at DOCSIS 1.0 still. I'll buy that some of the older modems can't keep up with data rates of modern high speed broadband systems, but I'm not buying that its at all dependent on whether they're running in one DOCSIS mode vs another. Of course, "jdr30" claimed that 1.1 is bad in addition to 1.0 - so I should be getting dropped calls right and left - along with everyone in my metro area, since the network here runs on DOCSIS 1.1. Its NOT the DOCSIS spec level of the modem, although it MAY be the age and design of the modem.

Posts: 39

maryjane wrote:

would it be helpful to use a bandwidth monitor to see whats going on when I get dropped calls Question

I do appreciate the enlightening discussion relating to DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 and 2.0 cable modems; however, can some one help us out and answer Miss Maryjane question "can she use a bandwidth monitor to see what is going on when I get dropped calls". I also would like to know what type of bandwidth monitor she and we could use. This might also help the folks in "Loss of VoIP Service in Qatar" to monitor their bandwidth issue. Especially since today's local papers such as "Gulf Times" states that Qtel (local Internet ISP provider) network is working perfectly and they are not blocking VoIP service in that country.

Thanks,

Posts: 276

bmardini wrote:

I do appreciate the enlightening discussion relating to DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 and 2.0 cable modems; however, can some one help us out and answer Miss Maryjane question "can she use a bandwidth monitor to see what is going on when I get dropped calls". I also would like to know what type of bandwidth monitor she and we could use. This might also help the folks in "Loss of VoIP Service in Qatar" to monitor their bandwidth issue. Especially since today's local papers such as "Gulf Times" states that Qtel (local Internet ISP provider) network is working perfectly and they are not blocking VoIP service in that country.

Thanks,

Its technically possible to either test bandwidth, or to monitor bandwidth. Those are two different things. The key for Vonage generally is to test your bandwidth to make sure you have enough. There's a bandwidth test on this site, and good ones at broadbandreports.com also. Bandwidth tests work by trying to USE all the available bandwidth and see how much is there, so of course you don't want them to run during a call. A bandwidth monitor on the other hand, could only monitor how much bandwidth you're using, not what's available. So during a Vonage call, it would show you using about 90Kb in each direction, and when the call is dropped, it would then show your usage dropping to zero (unless you're doing other things on the internet, of course.)

Generally speaking, you either do or don't have enough bandwidth for Vonage operation. If you think you have a bandwidth problem, then run a bandwidth test immediately after a dropped call and see what the results are. Also, it would be a good idea to run a VoIP test (www.testmyvoip.com) immediately after a dropped call, to see what kind of latencies, packet loss, etc you're getting at that point in time.

As for your situation in Qatar, its obvious that no matter what the local papers are saying, service is apparently still being blocked, based on what everyone is saying in that thread.

I sympathize with your situation in Qatar, by the way, but the messages in that thread calling for Vonage to work to try to find a solution are naive, at best. Vonage doesn't even support service in Qatar, or anywhere else outside of the U.S., U.K., and Canada, and you're obviously using credit cards and billing addresses in one of those three countries to begin with, or Vonage would have never given you service, so don't expect Vonage to attempt to change their service to work around service blocks put in place by Qtel.