No internet when V-Portal is between modem & router

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 29, 2008 Posts: 5

I am new to Vonage. Setup was easy until I tried to connect to the internet. I have a Linksys WRT54GS router on my network. I first placed the V-Portal between the modem & the router. I have read that this is the prefered setup. I cannot connect to the internet with this setup. Everything seems to work ok when the V-Portal is connected after the router. Is this setup ok? If not. What settings do I need to change to make the setup with the V-Portal before the router work?

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

Although Vonage recommends the V-Portal to be in front of your router, your current setup will work just fine. If your linksys router is your primary router and you're only going to use the V-Portal as a phone adapter, your current setup is ideal. The reason that Vonage recommends their device to be first in-line, is for it's device to receive priority. Your WRT54GS has QoS settings which will allow you to give priority to your Vonage device if need be. Don't forget to disable DHCP on your V-Portal so as not to conflict with your WRT54GS if you are going to leave the WRT54GS as the primary router.

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

Agreed. WRT54GS first will work fine with proper QoS. However, it would be nice to understand why V-portal first won't work.

Crosenb, when you had the V-portal first, was DHCP also enabled on the WRT? If so, is the subnet address range on the WRT the same as the subnet range on the V-P? If so, try setting the subnet range on the WRT to something different, such as 192.168.16.xxx instead of 192.168.15.xxx .

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject:

1. WRT54GS is a solid router, no need to throw the V-Portal out front.

2. Most ISPs detect the MAC address of your device to register your connection. You may have to power down your modem for a minute or more until it recognizes the V-Portal as the primary device.

When in doubt, consider the following: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and return to #1. Smile

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 29, 2008 Posts: 5

Thank you for the replies.

Steve,
I tried the router with DHCP enabled & disabled. The address ranges were different. I had read about that in another post.

Nate,
I could connect to the internet through the V-Portal when I bypassed the router. I can also connect to the internet through the V-Portal while it is connected behind the router.
I agree that if it works with this setup it will be ok. I would just like to know why it did not work.

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

I'd like to understand too. I also have the ulterior motive of wanting to hear from folks on how well the V-portal works as a "pass through" router. If it's really solid, then it will ultimately save Vonage from a lot of tech support headaches.

Strange that you get internet through the V-portal with it behind the Linksys, but not through the Linksys when it's behind the V-portal. Do you get phone with the V-portal first? How about internet through the V-P if you leave the Linksys out completely?

Posts: 831 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 831

crosenb wrote:

Thank you for the replies. I could connect to the internet through the V-Portal when I bypassed the router. I can also connect to the internet through the V-Portal while it is connected behind the router.
I agree that if it works with this setup it will be ok. I would just like to know why it did not work.

Try eah configuration in turn, and do a ipconfig /all (go to run, type cmd, which will bring up your command prompt then type ipconfig /all).

Make a note of the IP and especially the gateway adress and the DNS address for each configuration. I am betting it is a DNS and Gateway issue.