My two questions - location of Vonage router and phones.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 15, 2008 Posts: 3

I just got my Vonage router today.

First issue:
It says it has to be hooked up directly to the modem, and then my router/network into it.
I'm guessing this is so that Voip gets top priority, bandwidth-wise. Is this correct?

Will it still function if I just plug it into any random switch port as if it were just another computer device on my network?

My main "router" right now handles a lot of connection stuff that I trust to it. It's running Linux and controls things like QoS very well. I'd like to keep *it* hooked up to the modem.

If it is unable to handle QoS correctly enough, I may put the Vonage router back on the modem, but I would like to at least know that I don't have to hook the Vonage router up to the modem if I don't want to.

Second issue:
There are two phone ports on the Vonage router.

Is that a hard two-phone limit? Can I put a splitter on one of the ports and hook up 3 phones to it?

I don't expect to use all phones at the same time, but I'd like a phone in different parts of the house.

Edit:
Some other issues I thought of:

If it is hooked directly to the modem, how well does it "pass-through" my regular connection stuff?
Does it give me my public IP still? What about port-forwarding?
Is the IP it gives in a DMZ?

How much processing power and RAM does the device have? Is this going to kill any online gaming or P2P stuff I do?

Posts: 352

Xenomorph wrote:

I just got my Vonage router today.

First issue:
It says it has to be hooked up directly to the modem, and then my router/network into it.
I'm guessing this is so that Voip gets top priority, bandwidth-wise. Is this correct?

Will it still function if I just plug it into any random switch port as if it were just another computer device on my network?

My main "router" right now handles a lot of connection stuff that I trust to it. It's running Linux and controls things like QoS very well. I'd like to keep *it* hooked up to the modem.

If it is unable to handle QoS correctly enough, I may put the Vonage router back on the modem, but I would like to at least know that I don't have to hook the Vonage router up to the modem if I don't want to.

It will work either way. In front of the router is recommended but with a good QOS router, there should be no problem.

Quote:

Second issue:
There are two phone ports on the Vonage router.

Is that a hard two-phone limit? Can I put a splitter on one of the ports and hook up 3 phones to it?

I don't expect to use all phones at the same time, but I'd like a phone in different parts of the house.

Those 2 ports are for 2 different phone lines. Vonage says you can hook up to 5 phones on the one port. (usually using home wiring). The easiest way for multiple phones is with a multiple phone wireless set. Hook the base up to the Vonage device and the other handsets can be anywhere in the home.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 15, 2008 Posts: 3

kdf55 wrote:

Xenomorph wrote:

I just got my Vonage router today.

First issue:
It says it has to be hooked up directly to the modem, and then my router/network into it.
I'm guessing this is so that Voip gets top priority, bandwidth-wise. Is this correct?

Will it still function if I just plug it into any random switch port as if it were just another computer device on my network?

My main "router" right now handles a lot of connection stuff that I trust to it. It's running Linux and controls things like QoS very well. I'd like to keep *it* hooked up to the modem.

If it is unable to handle QoS correctly enough, I may put the Vonage router back on the modem, but I would like to at least know that I don't have to hook the Vonage router up to the modem if I don't want to.

It will work either way. In front of the router is recommended but with a good QOS router, there should be no problem.

Quote:

Second issue:
There are two phone ports on the Vonage router.

Is that a hard two-phone limit? Can I put a splitter on one of the ports and hook up 3 phones to it?

I don't expect to use all phones at the same time, but I'd like a phone in different parts of the house.

Those 2 ports are for 2 different phone lines. Vonage says you can hook up to 5 phones on the one port. (usually using home wiring). The easiest way for multiple phones is with a multiple phone wireless set. Hook the base up to the Vonage device and the other handsets can be anywhere in the home.

Thank you. I've been reading through the FAQs and guides here, and it seems pretty easy.

We are supposed to be moving into a new house, and I may actually wire it up so all the phone jacks will be able to use Vonage.