VPN required for connection

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 24, 2005 Posts: 6

I am working on setting up the following connection:

external antenna for wireless signal ---> DLINK DWL wireless bridge ----> linksys wrt54gp2 router---> computer, phone.

Problem: this wireless ISP does not use WEP keys, they use VPN authentication (username, password, etc). No VPN - Internet no workie.

Question: in theory, linksys router will enable VPN passthrough, so the computer (win2k) can login. HOWEVER, will the phone ports work??? Since they are sort of sitting in front of the VPN authentication, i would think?

Any thoughts on this?

I just spent an hour on hold with Vonage tech support, just to have a stammering tech pick up the phone, tell me he doesn't know anything about VPN's and then... hang up. I had absolutely horrible experiences with Vonage tech support, although I still love my VoIP. Smile

Posts: 170 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Dec 05, 2004 Posts: 170

That's an interesting setup. Unless the router is able to access the Internet directly or through another router, the phone ports aren't going to work. There is also the chance that your VPN connection could be blocking certain ports.

One thing to consider trying is connecting both to your computer (your wireless bridge and the WAN port on the Linksys router) and then enabling Internet Connection sharing. Assuming both are Ethernet connections, you'd need 2 network cards. If the DLink supports USB, you may be able to get away using that instead.

Maaz

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 24, 2005 Posts: 6

Maaz,

just wanted to post an update and say that ICS was the way to go. I now have external antenna ---> wireless card PCI card with RF cable and Linksys LAN card to Linksys WRT54GP2 with RJ 45. Leave regular "radio" connection alone and share VPN, change the IP back to dynamic, same on the router, voula, it works. The sound quality is AMAZING. I can hear a person breathing across the room (this is vonage to vonage). Which makes me wonder why is it when i make vonage to POTS call in my own town the quality is so crummy. The ping times are still in 200's, but it doesn't seem to bother vonage connection. I am tickled pink that it works. Thanks for your help.

Posts: 24 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jan 29, 2005 Posts: 24

tickled pink? Embarassed

Posts: 170 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Dec 05, 2004 Posts: 170

Thanks for letting me know that it worked. Glad I was able to help. I think it's interesting that they require VPN for access. I do tech support for people all over the country with different ISPs (cable, DSL, wireless, T1)and have never seen such a thing. It's unfortunate that the phone has to depend on the computer's VPN connection for access but as long as that's not a problem, then it's no big deal.

I think the VPN tunnel is at least part of the reason why your ping times are so high. As far as sound quality goes when calling a non-Vonage customer, it really depends on how good of a connection there is between Vonage and whoever you are calling. I've found that for most everyone, the quality is excellent. However, in general, calling people in some rural areas does not seem as good though still acceptable.

Maaz

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 24, 2005 Posts: 6

This is not in US, this is in Russia. I am in the US, they are up next to the Arctic Ocean. I actually talked to their ISp and asked why they were doing VPN authentication instead of WEP keys. Their responce was that 1) WEP slows down their system by 20% and it's only 11mbs to begin with (11b) and 2) they charge according to traffic - so many roubles per megabyte. VPN server keeps track of the traffic on individual account.

I am a little bummed out about not being able to put the computer behind the router to add a little security and shelling out money for the bridge and the router instead of just getting a free ATA from Vonage, but hey, as long as it works. With a phone bill of $300-500 each month (even with vonage, you don't want to know what ATT was), this will pay for itself in a month.

Still can't get over the sound quality, considering the geography, the latency, and the type of connections... Now to find something to talk about... Smile