Random Amounts of Static and Undependable Service

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 24, 2005 Posts: 6

Had Vonage for over a year. Starting a few months ago, the amount of static on the line has become intolerable. Not every call mind you -- every time you turn on the phone, the amount varies. When making a call, I find myself turning the phone off and on until I get a static-free tone. Of course, this doesn't work when someone's calling us.

Additionally, the service can be inconstant -- sometimes calls will bypass our phone altogether and ring directly to my cellphone (which is where I have our service forwarded). Last night, my wife was taking a very important call when there was some clicking and then the line went dead!

A couple calls to VONAGE-HELP (in which they "made some adjustments," put me on hold for 10 minutes and then asked if it was any better) and an upgrade to my cable modem have helped a little, but not enough. If anyone can give me some advice, I would greatly appreciate it -- my wife is really fed up with the inconstancy of our service, and I feel bad because I really pushed the switch in the first place.

Stats:
1. South Hadley, MA, USA
2. Comcast Cable
4. Motorola SB5100 modem
5. Linksys RTP300
6. Modem --> Linksys BEFW11S4 --> RTP300 --> Home Wiring
(I know, not ideal, but it worked fine up until a few months ago, and when I tried to reverse the two routers it fubared my network. As for the home wiring, I tried plugging a phone directly into the RTP300 and it still seemed staticy, but I would try it again if you think it will help)

Speedtest:

Worst of three Voip tests I ran:

Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 6289560 bps
Upload speed: 2516200 bps
Quality of service: 89 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 74 ms
Average download pause: 2 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 27 ms
Average round trip time to server: 29 ms

Voip test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 3.5 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 8.3 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: 42
Estimated MOS score: 4.0

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

First off, make sure each power adapter is plugged into it's matching device...If one of the power adapters is mismatched, it can cause a humming or buzzing noise on your line.

If the power adapters are correctly matched with each device and the static persists, try moving your line to phone port 2....maybe your phone port 1 is going bad. You can do this by logging in to your web account and clicking on the "Add-ons" tab. Once you have completed moving the line to phone port 2, phone port 2 will be illuminated on your adapter. Plug a phone directly into phone port 2 and test it for static.

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 24, 2005 Posts: 6

Thanks for the response -- adapters seem to be plugged into the correct devices (thank goodness the RTP300 adapter is tagged -- otherwise, how would I tell?)

The first time I called Vonage a month ago, the guy switched me to Port 2, and it seemed to help a little. Then it got worse again, I called Vonage back this past week, and THAT guy switched it back to Port 1 (without telling me, I might add). Have only been having the really bad dropped-calls problem since switching back to Port 1, though, so maybe Port 2 will at least help with that. I just switched it back to Port 2 and we'll see what happens.

Posts: 433 · Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 1:39 pm Post subject:

Are your phones 2.4Ghz? If I am to close to my wireless router with my phone, I get bad static and clicking noises. Also, I have heard stories of 2.4Ghz phones working with no problems in the proximity of a wireless router for some time and then all of the sudden people have issues. You said you plugged a phone directly into your Vonage device and it didn't seem to help. Was it a regular corded phone you tried or a cordless? Also, when you originally set up your Vonage to work throughout your existing home wiring did you disconnect the incoming line from the Telco? If no, it is possible that for some reason now that line could have voltage on it again and that would cause all sorts of issues.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

Randbot, if you check out the cordless phone/wireless router issue and it turns out not to be the problem, then I think that it would be helpful to check the home wiring issue again. Plug your RTP300 directly into your modem and a phone directly into the RTP300. Run it that way for awhile and see how it works.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: May 17, 2005 Posts: 10

I had exactly the same problem with my RTP300, great for two years then static!!

Calls to Vonage never fixed the static problem so I asked for a new router and was told that this can not be done, go buy a new one at a store and activate it.

So I figured I might as well get a new free router from another Voip service provider which I had now used for a couple of months and no static problems!!! Same house phones and wiring, same broadband and service provider.

When I called Vonage to "Cancel all phone numbers" I was told I could get a free replacement Vonage router sent overnight. I still cancelled but apparently this is a way to get a replacement router!

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 24, 2005 Posts: 6

tglea: Two of my phones are 2.4Ghz, but one is 900Mhz and the static occurs on all of them (maybe even worse on the 900Mhz because it's an older/cheaper phone). The static also occurs all over the house, not just in the room with the wireless router. I tried both a corded and a cordless phone directly into the RTP300 (although the corded phone is an old cheapie, but I didn't want to go buy a new corded phone just for this test) and still had static.

And yes, I disconnected the telco wire when I set up my home wiring.

Steve: I will give that a try for a day or so. May take me a little while to get around to it because that setup will be so inconvenient. Plus, I remember trying to swap the BEFW11S4 and the RTP300 when I first got it, but I absolutely couldn't figure out how to keep my network working. Is there a howto somewhere?

DaveBusa: Thanks for the comment -- I might have to try that in order to get a new Vonage device!

Another question: would it be worth my while to go buy a PAP in order to avoid the router issues? or to upgrade my main router (to, for example, the WRT54G)?

Posts: 433 · Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 11:02 pm Post subject:

It sounds like your problem could very well be a device gone bad. I would give Steve48's suggestion a try and see if that solves anything. Here is a link from the Vonage site on how to place your device in front of an existing router, although I don't know how much help it will provide. http://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=1154&category=3&nav=3 If you continue to have problems with your RTP300 plugged directly into your modem and only one phone plugged directly into that, then it would seem the only answer is your RTP300 is bad. Since you already have a router that seems to function well for you, I would suggest buying just a PAP or VTA. I have read a lot of posts where people suggest that the Vonage routers don't function very well. Although I don't know from experience because I use a VTA behind my Dlink router. So spending the money for the WRT54G may not be the best choice since you already have a wireless router. Keep us updated. Smile

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

randbot wrote:

Steve: I will give that a try for a day or so. May take me a little while to get around to it because that setup will be so inconvenient. Plus, I remember trying to swap the BEFW11S4 and the RTP300 when I first got it, but I absolutely couldn't figure out how to keep my network working. Is there a howto somewhere?

I would recommend removing the BEFW11S4 completely for at least a brief test. For advice on networking issues with multiple routers, try Nate Hoy's notes here: http://vonage.nmhoy.net/ .

Posts: 35 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: May 27, 2007 Posts: 35

call Vonage and check with them if your device has the latest firmware. if not, have it upgraded. this somehow resolves the static audio on the line.