Conversations cutting out

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: May 07, 2004 Posts: 6

Hi,
I've been using Vonage for about two weeks now, and after the initial (greuling) setup the phone system was working perfectly. Starting about three days ago, however, the Motorola device would cut out while idling and (as happened a couple times) during a conversation. When this happens I lose my internet connection. I've tried rebooting both the cable modem and the Motorola device, and every possible combination thereof. As hinted above, I had some initial problems installing the device, and was forced to assign a static IP address on the WAN port. DHCP Server/NAT is enabled, and the MAC address has been configured to the physical address of my computer. I've had the DMZ box both checked and unchecked, and it seems to have no effect on the service.
The setup of the Motorola device is the standard single computer setup, going from coaxle cable, to cable modem, to Motorola device, then splitting to the computer and phone respectively. No routers (aside from the Motorola device itself) are used.
I'm not sure if the PC configuration is necessary in solving this problem, but I'm running WinXP service pack 1, and I do have a software firewall operating (Zone Alarm). I'm reasonably sure this doesn't have anything to do with the operation of the phone, however, since I've had Zone Alarm running the entire time I've had the phone system, and have made no changed in its configuration.
After a while on the phone with tech support, I've managed to stop the Motorola device from disconnecting (they changed the server I connect to, and put me on debug mode), however the phone conversations still cut out. (Changing the quality settings of conversations yeilded no audible results one way or the another).
I think that's everything. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. If I've missed some important information which would help in solving this then I'll be only too happy to post the missing info. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this. Smile

Cheers,
rabidoverlord

Posts: 183 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 05, 2004 Posts: 183

I can't see how the Moto ATA could knock you offline, more likely the other way around. In other words, you're likely being knocked offline by the modem and the ATA just goes along for the ride.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: May 07, 2004 Posts: 6

Hi,
In reply to the posts I'm not using a cordless phone, and I've tested it on a regular phoneline....it works fine.
The moto box information is as follows:
Software Version: VT20_1.1.16e
Bootrom Version: VT20_1.1.16e
Hardware Version: Model: VT1000 Revision: 0 BSP: 1.2/0
Config File Version: 1083892296289
I believe everything is up to date.
Any other suggestions?
Cheers,
rabidoverlord

Posts: 183 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 05, 2004 Posts: 183

When you say you "lose Internet access," I assume you mean you can't see the web from a computer. Does your computer run through your moto box to see the modem, or does the moto box and the computer both share a router? Do you have to reset your modem to get your Internet back?

I'm suspecting the modem is knocking you out and it may be unrelated to the Voip use.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: May 07, 2004 Posts: 6

Moto: I changed phones (still corded)...didn't have to wait a couple days though...first phonecall started cutting out.

Quote:

I had the same issue as you and it took a new modem plus a new phone to recitify it.

What precisely was the issue there? Did you have internet access via the moto box? Basically I guess what I'm asking is did the Modem work properly, except when used with the moto box?

garys_2k: There are no routers, hubs, or switches. I don't have to reset my modem to get internet access from my PC, but I do have to reset the moto box.

Cheers,
rabidoverlord

Posts: 183 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 05, 2004 Posts: 183

rabidoverlord wrote:

garys_2k: There are no routers, hubs, or switches. I don't have to reset my modem to get internet access from my PC, but I do have to reset the moto box.

Cheers,
rabidoverlord

Gotcha. Sorry I missed that above.

Sounds like you have some flaky hardware, tell them you want to RMA the box and try a new one. It does not sound like you're doing anything wrong.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: May 07, 2004 Posts: 6

Moto: Thanks...that's a lot more detailed than I was expecting...if the next part I'm testing doesn't work then I'll have that to fall back on.

Ok...here's how I've *begun* to fix the problem:
I manually configured the PC's IP Address, Subnet mask, and Default Gateway (as well as Preferred and Alternate DNS servers).
Now the proble is this: When I have clearly not configured this properly, the phone works like a charm, but I cannot go on the internet from my computer...*makes sense*...The only way I have figured out how to get access to the internet from my computer by manually configuring this, is to set everything there to the moto box settings. By doing this, I get phone access, and internet access, however I get the same cutting out problems. So right now I basically have the option of having the internet or phone working properly, but not both working properly at the same time.

So if anyone has a blow by blow procedure as to how to properly configure this stuff (I assume the moto box and the computer are conflicting somewhere here) then that would be awesome.

Cheers,
rabidoverlord

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: May 07, 2004 Posts: 6

Hi,
If anyone is having the same problems I've described, try this:
Manually configure your PC's IP address (I'll assume some knowlege here)...basically just make sure that if DHCP is enabled that the last digit in the PC's IP address is between 1 and 99...don't set it to 100+...I used 50 and the phone's working beautifully again. (ie. set IP to xxx.xxx.xxx.50)

Thanks to Moto and garys_2k for their help.

Cheers,
rabidoverlord