Poor quality using Linksys WRT54G wireless router

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

I have been having poor quality calls using the Linksys router along with the Motorola VT2442 adaptor. I am using a cable modem as well.

When I have the Linksys router connected the calls aren't the best and when I use the internet the calls get even worse.

Today I decided to bypass the router and just use the cable modem and the Vonage adaptor. I did a Voip test and I was also using Utorrent downloading 92 kbs down and 50 kbs up and here are the results:

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 9101224 bps
Upload speed: 559840 bps
Quality of service: 97 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 60 ms
Average download pause: 3 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 55 ms
Average round trip time to server: 106 ms

Voip test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 5.0 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 8.2 ms
Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %
Packet loss: server --> you: 0.0 %
Packet discards: 0.0 %
Packets out of order: 0.0 %
Number of supported Voip lines: 9
Estimated MOS score: 3.9

When I was using my router, I could only download and then the webpages wouldn't load and the call quality was the pits.

I am wondering if I just had a wireless router with a built in adaptor for Vonage would this work ok. I have 3 computers in the house and would prefer to have a wireless connection, but with good phone quality.

Posts: 241 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 17, 2006 Posts: 241

Just curious, have you made any QoS settings on the Linksys router? I'm connected cable modem --> WRT54G --> RT31P2 on a slower connection than you have with no problems with simultaneous web and phone use. The only setup I've done was to give the RT31P2 "highest" priority for upstream bandwidth within the WRT54G QoS settings.

The age and firmware (level of DOCSYS compatibility) of your cable modem might also matter but I'm not sure about this.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 13, 2007 Posts: 3

I had similar trouble with a Linksys WRT54G V4 router and a Netgear Super G router over a broadband cable connection. We experienced "echos" and our adaptors would drop from the network. We'd have to reboot the router and the Vonage adaptors before the phones would work again. We'd have to repeat this every two to three days. Many times incoming calls would go straight to voicemail or be transferred to my cell phone because our Vonage adapters were unreachable through our network. Outgoing call were impossible to make until the router was rebooted as well.

I trashed both routers and bought a Netgear Next router. The Netgear Next and the equivalent Linksys N series routers have separate Voice and Video queues for better handling of Voip and streaming media. I have two separate Vonage lines in my house. One for my family and another for my mother who lives in an inlaw apartment. Since I transitioned to the Netgear Next we have had no trouble. Our adapters are hard wired into the router via cat5 ethernet cables and our phones are V-Tech Wireless which are located throughout the home. In addition, we also have 6 PCs using wireless cards.

The only trouble we have now is making international phone calls but that's totally unrelated to our home network. It is a problem that Vonage has acknowledged and is SUPPOSED to be fixing.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 13, 2007 Posts: 2

pdhenry wrote:

Just curious, have you made any QoS settings on the Linksys router? I'm connected cable modem --> WRT54G --> RT31P2 on a slower connection than you have with no problems with simultaneous web and phone use. The only setup I've done was to give the RT31P2 "highest" priority for upstream bandwidth within the WRT54G QoS settings.

The age and firmware (level of DOCSYS compatibility) of your cable modem might also matter but I'm not sure about this.

Any reason you preferred to keep your RT31P2 behind the router instead the other way?

I am curious because I am having some/same problem with WRT54G->PAP2 and just bought a RTP300 to change my connection as below:
Internet->Motorola SB5120->RTP300->WRT54G

On the other side: When I had serious problems with my call/voice dropping, I changed the following things:
1. Bandwidth Saver to use 50KBPS
2. Upgraded my WRT54G to DD-WRT v23 SP2 firmware
3. Enabled QOS on WRT54G
4. Gave "Premium" preference to the PAP2 "Port" and "MAC"

I still have a slight problem and will bring the RTP300 next week to see if it helps!!

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

I read on the Vonage Canada forum to try this:

Earman wrote:

I am posting this in case it can help someone with similar problems. I had major problems with clicking sounds and choppy voice while using the Internet at the same time as Vonage (and sometimes even without using it). After switching from Telus High Speed (1.5Mbps max upload) to Shaw (5Mbps max upload), I still had problems. I tried tweaking the QoS of the WRT54G in many ways but could not get a decent phone call until I set it up the way shown below. Even though I had set-up the VTA-VA MAC address as highest priority, I still had problems until I did set the Flow Control of Port 1 (in which the VTA-VA is plugged) to Disable. I also tried to set the upstream bandwidth to 85% of the max but found that it works as well, if not better, in Auto mode, at least for me.

I have done this and here are the results of a Voip test and I am not using the phone nor was I downloading when I did the test.

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 7400736 bps
Upload speed: 612672 bps
Quality of service: 41 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 110 ms
Average download pause: 4 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 52 ms
Average round trip time to server: 56 ms

Voip test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 5.1 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 8.5 ms
Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %
Packet loss: server --> you: 0.2 %
Packet discards: 0.0 %
Packets out of order: 0.0 %
Number of supported Voip lines: 10
Estimated MOS score: 3.7

I am wondering if I had a wireless router with Voip would I have better results. I need my wireless connection.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 13, 2007 Posts: 2

Hello roscopco,

Where did you get your test statistics from? I will also get the same with my QOS enabled/disabled...

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

I used the Voip test on this site under the Vonage Information tab.

Posts: 241 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 17, 2006 Posts: 241

watchcrick wrote:

Any reason you preferred to keep your RT31P2 behind the router instead the other way?

Vonage boxes with router functions aren't very capable routers. If you're having problems with internet access though a Vonage box, or with simultaneous telephone and internet use, I'd suspect the router's ability to efficiently share the connection.

The default firmware with my Linksys router isn't perfect but it has a good enough Quality of Service capability that I can sue the web while I'm on the pone without losing either. Note that I'm not a bittorrent user. This complicates it a bit more, but usually it's solvable by giving BT applications a low priority.

Posts: 36 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Dec 27, 2006 Posts: 36

Also i would put the Vonage device on the routers DMZ

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

I will look into how to do this now.