Configuring WRTP54G QoS for Vonage voice traffic

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 02, 2007 Posts: 4

I've got a farily decent DSL connection (6MB down, 512kbps up), but when running Live Meetings and other webcast-like things, the data is trumping the voice traffic. I need th opposite to be true, so it's my understanding I could go into the WRTP54G and set QoS to specify voice traffic at the highest priority over eveyrthing else.

Read the Vonage online help to see it uses a UDP range (10000-20000), and a random one at that, when it establishes a connection. Looking at the QoS page in the WRTP54G admin site, I don't see how I can add a range.

Ideas? is this possible?

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 6:09 am Post subject:

I have a WRTP54G, and finally gave up trying to use it as a router. The QoS is pretty much nonexistent, and there are a lot of issues with using it under any sort of load.

My advice: Save yourself a LOT of heartache, headache, and pain. Get a better router and put the WRTP54G behind it, acting as a Vonage device only. I chose the Linksys WRT54GL, which is a Linux based router, and I run aftermarket firmware on it. It's served me very well for about 18 months now. But any half-decent router is going outperform the WRTP54G.

The good news is that the WRTP54G is a very, VERY good Vonage device. Especially when you turn off wireless and stop making it route traffic.

Posts: 881 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Nov 05, 2005 Posts: 881

Just as "NateHoy" has stated, forget about trying to adjust QoS with the WRTP54G. What I use along with my WRTP54G is a "Hawking HBB1" Broadband Booster...works great for me. Check it out at hawkingtech.com

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 02, 2007 Posts: 4

NateHoy wrote:

My advice: Save yourself a LOT of heartache, headache, and pain. Get a better router and put the WRTP54G behind it, acting as a Vonage device only. I chose the Linksys WRT54GL, which is a Linux based router, and I run aftermarket firmware on it. It's served me very well for about 18 months now. But any half-decent router is going outperform the WRTP54G.

Thank you very much for the input! Any chance you can point me to using aftermarket firmware? I'm mostly a hardware/networking igit (software developer that stays away from that side of the IT world).

TIA!

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:27 am Post subject:

For the WRT54GL, there are three major projects:

DD-WRT at http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php

DD-WRT focuses on features, and lots and lots of them. The interface is a little confusing, but if you want to do something, chances are DD-WRT can do it. This is a complete rewrite of the firmware.

HyperWRT Thibor at http://www.thibor.co.uk/

An offshoot of the HyperWRT project, which aims to stay as close to stock firmware as possible while adding a number of valuable features.

Tomato at http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

My current favorite. Written by a guy who worked on HyperWRT for a while, this is a complete rewrite of the firmware. However, instead of going for massive amounts of features like DD-WRT, Tomato concentrates on speed, stability, and simplicity. It also features real-time QoS analysis graphs built right into the administration screens, which to me is probably the coolest feature ever found in a router.

DD-WRT and Tomato also support other Broadcomm-based routers like the cheaper Buffalo routers. Each site has a list of the various devices it supports.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 09, 2005 Posts: 5

So you have no issue with outbound traffic using one of the "other" firmwares?

I have a 54Gv2 and the DLink adapter but am using the LinksysGL firmware. Inbound seems fine but outbound QoS ****. I have it tied to Max Priority for the MAC address of the Vonage adapter. If anyone in the house starts sending a large file, there goes the phone. You can hear them, they can't hear you.

I will make the switch if that is all it takes! This would be good news.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:26 pm Post subject:

Actually, the stock firmware is pretty good stuff. The trick is configuring the QoS so it knows how much upstream bandwidth you have.

Here's a quick primer on QoS and what you should expect.

http://vonage.nmhoy.net/qos.html

The rest of my self-help pages (linked below) contain some tutorials on configuring one particular aftermarket firmware (Thibor) but really applies to all QoS.