Linksys WCG200 and RT31P2

Posts: 222 · Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 12:37 pm Post subject: Linksys WCG200 and RT31P2

I just signed up for Vonage unlimited residential service and am concerned that I may not be able to use the phone adapter/router that is being shipped to me with my current system.

I use a relatively new Linksys WCG200 combined modem/router/wireless access point and had expected to received a PAP2 phone adapter to plug into one of the open ethernet ports on the WCG200.

The confirmation email says Vonage is shipping a RT31P2 router instead of a PAP2 phone adapter, so I'm concerned whether adding a second router will work with my setup. Since my current combo router has a built-in modem rather than a separate cable modem, I can only add the new Vonage device after my current WCG200 router, not before.

Will this work, or am I screwed? I hate to wait a week or more to receive a device that is not going to work with my set up. (I called Vonage and talked to a rep before signing up for the service, but the rep only talked about the PAP2 and never mentioned that I might be sent a second router. When I ordered online, I was not given any option of which device I wanted.)

Thanks for any information or advice. I did search the forums before asking this question, but I didn't see any post that addresses this specific set up issue.

- Fletcher

Posts: 448 · Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 12:43 pm Post subject:

You should be fine. Plug in the RT31P2 as you would any other LAN device. If your current router supports QoS, set the port linking your Vonage adapter to High priority. The primary issue is making sure the phone adapter gets adequate bandwidth to support the call. By setting QoS on that port to High priority, you're assuring that it will get first dibbs on available bandwidth. We're running multiple RT31P2's behind an old Linksys 8-port broadband router (with QoS on those ports set to High) and all works great.

Posts: 222 · Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2005 12:57 pm Post subject:

Thanks, Rebus. That's a relief. I'm looking forward to getting this working.

- Flectcher

Posts: 222 · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 9:30 am Post subject:

Just wanted to give an update, since other new users may be a system similar to mine and looking for information about the setup.

I use a new Linksys WCG200 combined cable modem/router/wireless access point, so Vonage's phone adapter (Linksys RT31P2) must be plugged in after my original router. (Otherwise the phone adapter would be in front of my modem.)

I received the RT31P2 yesterday. I plugged in the power cord, attached the ethernet cable from the RTP31P2 to the first port on my WCG200, and plugged my phone cable into phone port 1 on the RT31P2. That all took less than two minutes. I didn't assign a fixed IP or put the device in a DMZ. (I figured I would try it without any of that first.)

I immediately got a clear and continuous dial tone, with no white noise, and the system is working great so far. I've made and received calls, checked voice mail, etc. No problems here, and I'm very pleased with the service. (Fingers crossed!)

This was almost as easy as just plugging a new phone into a regular wall phone jack.

- Fletcher

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 1

I have the same setup. The problem I have is that I would like both routers to run on the same subnet. My Cable Modem has an address of 192.168.0.1 and the default for the Voip router is 192.168.15.1 the problem is that computers plugged into the two cant see each other. If I try the obvious and change the Voip or other router to match (i.e. change the local address of the Voip router to 192.168.0.2 an unused address) the phone portion stops working. Any ideas, technical support is no help there pat answer is you cant change the local IP address.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: May 02, 2005 Posts: 1

A few weeks ago I purchase both a basic residential and premium business account from Vonage. I work out of a home office, so the numbers associated with the accounts I signed up for both come into the same house. I informed Vonage of this, but to my dismay, Vonage shipped me two Linksys RT31P2 routers, each with one number mapped to it. I called technical support and begged them to map both numbers to the same router. They told me that they could not do this unless both numbers were associated with the same customer account. Following their lead in, I asked if I could merge the two numbers onto the same account. They said that since one was residential and one was business, the two lines could not be on the same account.

So I found myself in the unfortunate situation of having to setup both routers in order to accommodate both phone lines. To complicate things further, my home network consists of 5 computers, so the meager supply of LAN ports available on the RT31P2 routers made it necessary to introduce a switch. I struggled for three days trying to daisy chain the two routers together. I spoke with Vonage tech support no less than 12 times over the course of three days. I give them an A for manners, a C for script reading, and regrettably an F for problem solving. In the end I finally got a convoluted configuration working, which I’ll describe now.

I’ll be refering to my routers as “Router A” and “Router B”. Each router has 1 WAN port (labeled “Internet”), 3 LAN ports (labeled “Ethernet”), and two phone jacks (labeled “Phone 1” and “Phone 2”).

Cable Modem connected to Router A WAN port

Router A Setup:
Internet Connection Type: Obtain IP Automatically
Local IP Address: 192.168.0.1
DHCP Enabled with range 192.168.0.105 - 150

Router B Setup:
Internet Connection Type: Static IP: 192.168.0.100
Local IP Address: 192.168.0.2
DHCP Diabled

Now here is where it gets crazy:

Router A Ethernet Port 1 connected to Router B WAN port -This enables the phone line on the second router (B) to function. To give the Voip packets from Router B priority as they travel through Router A, go into Router A’s configuration and under the applications & gaming’s QoS section, specify Port 1 to have high priority.

Router A Ethernet Port 2 connected to Router B Ethernet Port 1 -This allows computers on the second router to register on the first routers subnet.

This is a ridiculous setup, but the only one I found that worked. It leaves you with only one remaining ethernet port on the Router A and two on the Router B. I’ll be connecting a wireless access switch with 5 additional Ethernet ports to the last port on Router A. The remaining two ports on Router B can be connected to anything you like.

All of this mess and wasted time could have been avoided, if Vonage would have just mapped both number to one router. I can’t belive they don’t have telecommuter / home professional configuration. Hope this helps.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 02, 2005 Posts: 1

It seems to me that if you changed your sub-net mask for your devices from 255.255.255.0 to (in the most extreme case) 255.255.0.0 all of your devices should be able to communicate. In the case above with 192.168.0.* and 192.168.15.* you could use a more restrictive mask like 255.255.224.0 or 255.255.240.0 and if you can configure your IPs to be consecutive IPs like 192.168.0.* and .1.* you can restrict even more, not that in most home or home-office scenarios the little bit of added security will be all that valuable. Just my two pennies.

Peace - Fiz

Posts: 497 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Apr 29, 2005 Posts: 497

genewebb wrote:

I have the same setup. The problem I have is that I would like both routers to run on the same subnet. My Cable Modem has an address of 192.168.0.1 and the default for the Voip router is 192.168.15.1 the problem is that computers plugged into the two cant see each other. If I try the obvious and change the Voip or other router to match (i.e. change the local address of the Voip router to 192.168.0.2 an unused address) the phone portion stops working. Any ideas, technical support is no help there pat answer is you cant change the local IP address.

Run two cables to the RT31P2 from the modem. One to the WAN on to another port. Disable the DHCP server on the RT31P2. The cable going to the WAN will provide Vonage with internet, while the other cable will cause the regular ports on the RT31P2 to work as a switch.