How do I connect a wireless router to Vonage?

Posts: 13 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 29, 2007 Posts: 13

I apologize if my subject heading is misleading, but this is more or less a how-to post. I only worded it as "How do I..." instead of "How to...." because that's what I Googled myself to find answer(s) to this question and assume that others who are in the same predicament as I was in will Google this query pretty much the same way. Unfortunately, I didn't get an answer on the web. BUT...after some playing around was able to figure it out! Keep in mind that this how-to post is for those like myself; not pro's but not noobs either. Lol

So the question is : How do I connect a wireless router to Vonage?

My previous set up was with the crap-tacular D-Link VWR "wireless router" (and I use that term very loosely). For those of you who have this P.O.S you know about all the connectivity issues it has & the constant loss of security settings, which is probably why you're looking to replace it to begin with.

My understanding is you absolutely must have a Vonage phone adapter in order to have your Vonage connection work (please correct me if I'm wrong). There are wireless routers out there that have 2 phone ports, but for whatever reason(s) they don't work with Vonage. Click here for example. Make sure you scroll down to the "Customer Reviews" section and you'll see what I mean. Don't worry, there's only 2 reviews at the time of this writing, so it shouldn't be hard to see which one I'm referring to. But just in case, look for the customer review by richmond "luke".

So now for the actual hookup of your new router. Keep in mind that this will vary slightly from system to system. For the sake of instructions, I will specify my actual brand name components; you probably will have a different new wireless router than what I have so just change it accordingly. My setup is as follows :

- HI-SPEED internet cable hookup from Rogers.
- New Linksys by Cisco WRT610N wireless router
- Old D-Link VWR wireless router

1) You will run one ethernet cable from your PC to the back of the new Linksys wireless router into an empty "Ethernet" port.

2) You will run one ethernet cable from your high speed cable/adsl modem to the back of the Linksys wireless router into the "Internet" port.

3) You will run one ethernet cable from your D-Link VWR wireless router in the "Internet" port into your Linksys wireless router in an empty "Ethernet" port.

NOTE : Like myself, I'm sure you've encountered having to call Vonage Canada's tech. support department about the D-Link VWR. It had some sort of a connectivity issue with Windows Vista. For whatever reason, it simply would not recognize the router automatically. For this reason, the Vonage Canada tech. support rep. had me make some changes to my networking settings. If you do not undo those network setting changes, your new Linksys wireless router will not be detected. To undo the changes :

- Click on "Start"
- Right-click on "Network" & select "Properties"
- Click on "Manage Network Connections"
- Right-click on your "Local Area Connection" icon & select "Properties"
- Click on "Continue" for the security dialog box.
- Double-click on "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/iv4)"
- On the General Tab, (on the top half of the page) select "Obtain an IP address automatically"
- On the General Tab, (on the lower half of the page) select "Obtain DNS server address automatically"
- Click "Ok"
- Now click "Close"
- Reboot your pc.

NOTE #2: Once you have successfully set up your wireless router using the steps above, you'll notice that by typing in the IP address of the D-Link VWR router in your web browser will no longer take you to the configuration page for that old crappy crappy router. From that point forward, you'll use your newer Linksys by Cisco wireless router (or whatever model you're using).

In conclusion, utilizing this setup, I was able to use my old D-Link VWR wireless router strictly as the phone adapter for my Vonage Canada account & my new Linksys wireless router for my computer networking needs. I know this was a bit long, but I just hope that I was able to help someone out there. I know there were people who were looking for this type of information because I came across a few posts from people but no answers were posted. Hopefully this will help you.

Cheers.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 29, 2010 Posts: 3

Here I've thought I was crazy because I just could not get my Vista computer to recognize the refurbished DLink VWR that Vonage sent me! I found your post through Google because I finally gave up and bought a GREAT router that i love (D-Link Extreme N Gigabyte DIR 655) - it was so easy to set-up and my Vista computer recognized it just fine and I was wondering if I could hook my old D-LINK VWR-POS to the new router to use simply as a phone adapter or if I would have to have Vonage send me a non-wireless phone adapter -- and you answered my question! And also let me know I wasn't crazy! I also love all your aptly descriptive adjectives for the D-Link VWR that Vonage is pawning off on it's customers -- Thanks! Twisted Evil

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 29, 2010 Posts: 3

Just wanted to thank you again for sharing this -- everything worked perfectly, just like you said -- now I can keep my Vonage phone and have a secure wifi connection again! You made it much easier -- thanks so much! Lol

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 29, 2010 Posts: 3

I just checked to see if I could log in to the D-Link VWR wifi with my Ipod Touch and I still had complete wifi access to my cable internet through that router -- after a little research I went in to the IP address of the D-Link VWR with my Ipod Touch and turned off the AP so it wouldn't broadcast wifi -- it seemed to work, I'll just have to remember to check it every so often & reset it after power outages.