WRTP54G Dropping Phone; Limited Connectivity Every 2 Hours

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 01, 2007 Posts: 2

I told that I will cancel the service until they do something about this problem. So they are sending me the Motorola VT2542, for free. I hope that router is ok.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 03, 2007 Posts: 3

Skyscraper, luckily I found this forum before I opened the new router. Firmware 1.00.62 reinstalled 17 hours ago and still holding. All systems working.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 05, 2007 Posts: 2

After trying skyscraper's instructions several times on my WRTP54G to no avail, I decided to contact Vonage. But rather than sit on a phone call for a few hours, I used the "Customer Care by Email" feature on the contact page on the Vonage site. I sent a message describing the issue I was having (no VoIP service, slow/non-existent Internet, firmware version change, etc.). I included a link to this forum topic indicating I new I wasn't the only one having the issue and that I wanted to be put on the firmware push exclusion list until the 5.01.04 issues were resolved.

I didn't have any issues after I sent the e-mail, so I'm assuming that customer support handled the e-mail soon after they received it. I never received a confirmation via e-mail or callback number.

I didn't log onto the router until a few hours later, but it appears that the 5.01.04 firmware was actually applied! VoIP and Internet are working fine. Some oddities still exist... the voice Provisioning Status still indicates "Unprovisioned:File Not Found". Both Line 1 and Line 2 list "Idle" for "Call 1" and "Call 2". Previously one of them used to show N/A. Also, the Current Time listed under Status -> Router now shows "Not Available" whereas before it actually showed the actual time. I'm just happy that it's working reliably at this point.

One thing to note is that I had done a factory reset and not changed anything between the time that I sent the e-mail and the time I later checked and saw the 5.01.04 firmware had been applied. I don't know if it's necessary to have it in that state or not when the firmware is pushed down.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 05, 2007 Posts: 2

Well, whether I liked it or not, I was rolled back to 1.00.62. My WRT54P locked up hard this afternoon. No wireless, no VoIP, no access to the web admin page. The power and Internet lights flashed without stopping for about 25 minutes. Simply rebooting it didn't fix it.

So I did a reboot and held the reset button down in the back until all of the lights flashed. It booted up normally. I logged on to the web interface only to be greeted by version 1.00.62.

In my mail inbox was a message from Vonage Customer Care with a timestamp around the time today's lockup occurred saying they had "refreshed the line properties of [my] Vonage device". Apparently that involves pushing down the old firmware.

Oh, well. As long as the device works I don't really care what firmware version is loaded.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 28, 2006 Posts: 4

bservo wrote:

I logged on to the web interface only to be greeted by version 1.00.62.

Most of us on this thread want to be rolled back to 1.00.62. That is the only version my 2 printers connected to my router will work with. v5.01 causes my printers not to see the router. They rolled me back yesterday (4th time)... see how long this will last. I hope it stays at v1.00.62.

Posts: 43 · Full Forum Member Joined: Dec 27, 2006 Posts: 43

next time you go back to the defective firmware (problematic firmware); and have to call tech to roll back; tell them to email their supervisor or production crew to put your account number in queue for no firmware upgrade to that version and you will not have to call again.........you may have to be insistent, some of the techs and agents do not know they can do this...and I won't comment on that fact

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 28, 2006 Posts: 4

Thanks JRSSHORE. I'll be more insistant.

The first time I called and was put to level 2 support the guy said he would block further updates... next day was updated... called again and was rolled back with promise of being blocked from new updates. Next day was back to 5.01.. called again, insisted on supervisor - he told me there was no way to prevent auto updates - and since my problem was a printer/router issue he couldn't help me - they just deal with phone/internet/router issues. He rolled me back. Next day 5.01 was back - called yesterday and asked girl to roll me back and that I was resigned to call everyday for a rollback... it's been 24 hours now... and still holding at 1.00.62

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject:

I finally emailed Vonage and asked that my firmware be rolled back to 1.00.62. I didn't really have a problem with the 5.x versions, since I don't use it as a router, but the 5.x versions don't use the old password so if Vonage ever folded the WRTP54G would be a doorstop (well, a switch and wireless access point, but not a VoIP adapter).

I must say, their email support has REALLY improved. I was impressed. Within about 12 hours, I had a reply asking me to explain the problem, and I answered, and within another 12 hours I had a polite and almost apologetic email about the length of time it took them to reply. Tonight, I get home from work, and I'm running 1.00.62. Yay!

This is a vast improvement from last year, where emails just went completely and utterly unanswered.

PS: I did specifically ask them to "lock my adapter to 1.00.62 so it would not upgrade itself again", and the reply seemed to indicate comprehension of that request. So we'll see.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 07, 2007 Posts: 1

I had this happen twice recently. The first time was the every 2hr thing, when I reset the old firmware came back. The other night (while I was logged into 10 servers for work with the clock ticking) they re-flashed me again after I requested to be removed from the list. This time reset, reboot, nothing worked, I was stuck at 5.X. I had to have 3rd lvl email me the flash and do it manually. This is just stoopid. I'm in the process of building an openWRT router to put in front of my vonage router (reducing it to a mere phone adapter) what a shame. It worked SO well for almost 2 yrs. Anyways, the thing that really bugs me about this is the fact that the router is mine, I paid for it and own it. They have a backdoor with a passwd that they don't give me. This is a security problem IMHO, not to mention the fact they won't even warranty the router they just bricked for you. I can't believe this... is there any way to get a non-vonage router to provision the phone correctly? I would really like to reflash this sucker or at least have some options.... The reliability of my Inet connection for work is 10times that of my home phone. Comcast is bad enough without this crap.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 02, 2005 Posts: 3

Just happened to me today. They pushed this new broken firmware down to mine and now it just reboots itself all day long no matter what I do. They say it's a "known issue" and will call me back in 1-2 days.

Thing worked flawlessly for over a year and now they decide they need to start breaking our routers? They better fix it or give me a free one 'cause it's useless now.