linksys wrt54gp2

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 27, 2004 Posts: 1

Linksys now has a description of this vonage-compatible gateway on their website. I see it for sale in a few locations -- with no stock. Has anyone tried it yet?

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 19, 2004 Posts: 2

I'm wondering the same thing. I just got Vonage last week and got my MTA up and working, and discovered that I need more port forwarding than the VT1000 allows... I've been considering getting a wireless router for a bit, so the ability to kill 2 birds w/ one stone is attractive (with respect to the WRT54GP2)...

I emailed Customer Service and got a pretty noncommittal answer (you'd think they'd never heard of it), since from all I can tell on
the Vonage website you have to have them activate your unit and
they won't activate units bought from third parties... I'd like to
upgrade to the WRT54GP2 but have no idea if they'll be supporting
such a move.

Anyone else have any insight? Question

Posts: 46 · Full Forum Member Joined: Sep 06, 2004 Posts: 46

Since you already have the phone adapter, get a WRT54G and attach the adapter to one of the ports. This way, if you ever do drop Vonage, you only send back the adapter rather than your wireless router.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 19, 2004 Posts: 2

True enough... I was just thinking by having everything integrated I'd eliminate clutter on my desktop, reduce the number out power outlets I need (kind of an issue in my setup, sadly), possibly ease configuration issues, and so forth ... at the rate networking hardware is advancing, I figure anything I return would be obsolete anyway...

Kind of funny to read the Linksys website and it's all "Vonage this, Vonage that" ... then talk to customer service and it's like they've never even heard of the hardware.

Posts: 16 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 20, 2004 Posts: 16

you could theoretically get a small switch and 2 ip's. plug the vonage and the wireless router into the switch and run your PC's off the wireless router and have nothing else plugged into the vonage device.

cable modem
\/
S---->switch->vonage phone device
W---->wrieless router->PC's.
I
T
C
H
then your vonage phone gets an IP and your wireless router gets an IP. Generally DSL or Cable will lock down the number of IPs that get assigned but sometimes you can just plug it in and each device hooked to the switch will get an IP. otherwise ask your ISP about getting multiple IP's. it is ussually around 5 dollars a month for 5 IP's. your milage will vary.

having multiple IP's can make port forwarding much easier depending on the abilities of the router. look for one with multiple DMZ's or just plug the server machines into the switch and they will get a real IP. Definatly use the server machines firewall at that point though.

Nat protects against a lot of attacks.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 31, 2004 Posts: 1

I purchased the Linksys WRT54GP2 about 6 weeks ago and signed up for Vonage. Right now I am happy, however....

My first WRT54GP2 had a problem with the phone ports after about 2 days. No big deal, I took it back to my retailer and exchanged for another, which seems to be working fine. I do hear the "hiss" others have mentioned, but the voice quality is still very good.

Wireless on that baby ****! I keep checking Linksys' website for firmware upgrades - the best I am able to get is 1Mbps. I have tried three different wireless devices and all of them initially connect really good (between 24 - 54 Mbps), but after several seconds they degrade to 1Mbps and I wouldn't even consider that accurate because it doesn't seems as fast as even a fraction of a T1.

Has anyone else heard of problems with the wireless signal from these things?

Posts: 16 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 20, 2004 Posts: 16

take look at the QOS settings for the phone part of the router.

if thats up too high it will slaughter your connection

Posts: 28 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Jul 10, 2004 Posts: 28

I concur with the person who recommended the WRT54G Linksys router and putting the vonage box behind that and consider going one step further, upgrading the WRT54G with open-source firmware available at www.sveasoft.com. the upgraded firmware has many features not in the factory firmware including quality of service. there's a free version called satori and a more advanced version called Alchemy. for $20 you can get a year of free access to the alchemy software and join the forum where it's discussed. Among other things you can use the alchemy firmware to increase the power output of the WiFi radio.

I have no problem running my vonage box behind the Linksys router.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 04, 2005 Posts: 7

packets wrote:

Wireless on that baby ****! I keep checking Linksys' website for firmware upgrades - the best I am able to get is 1Mbps. I have tried three different wireless devices and all of them initially connect really good (between 24 - 54 Mbps), but after several seconds they degrade to 1Mbps and I wouldn't even consider that accurate because it doesn't seems as fast as even a fraction of a T1.

Has anyone else heard of problems with the wireless signal from these things?

Couldn't agree more. Any ideas on this one? Does anyone else use this box and get good signal?

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 30, 2005 Posts: 4

I bought one this past weekend from BestBuy.

I could not be more pleased with the entire process.

One thing that was odd, and my Netgear "B" router did not experience was interference from plane flying overhead, I'm in a flight pattern as they approach the airport. 8 out of 10 times, and at the exact same intervals, my notebook would have to re-aquire it's ip address/

My laptop is/was the only device that appeared to have an issue.

I went to CompUSA, bought a Netgear "G" notebook card, and all is good... even when a plane flies over.