GRRRR..... Requesting help again....

Posts: 8

Officially TICKED off!!! Two calls to tech support. On hold for over 20 minutes, then after explaining the problem to the vegetable on the other end of the line, I get the "A tech support specialist will call you back"!! And NO PHONE CALL BACK!!!

I have PM'd ssantana twice asking for help....

Please help. I have called and been on hold for customer service multiple times, only to get dropped after 30+ minutes!

I have the RT31P2 and signed up with Vonage since Jan. I have never had reliable service. The device shows both lines lit up, but if someone calls, it rings once and then goes to forwarded number. If I try to place an outbound call, it give fast beeps after a period of time (30 secs?)

My call log is totally full of 1min calls coming in that were immediately forwarded to my cell. I have a couple of test calls that made it through for 5,7, and a whopping 17 minutes!

I have the old firmware 1.26.01, Dec 1 2004 (tried upgrading downloaded kept getting to same point and would get an invalid password screen)

Registration Status: 678-xxx-xxxx 1678xxxxxxx Can't connect to login server
Registration Status: 678-xxx-xxxx 1678xxxxxxx Can't connect to login server

If all is green and I ping the device, all lights go out.

I have a T1 to the house. Gave the device a fixed IP. Cannot connect through it to the internet.

path is like this:
T1 -> Linksys 16Port switch -> RT31P2 -> patch panel for house phones

tonight I was able to call my cell
and then call my home from cell

Longest call was about 5-6 minutes before other party could not hear me, but I could hear them.

What can I do? I really want to keep the service, but I can't afford to pay $50 a month for this. Also, do you know how I could get a credit for the last couple of months?

Thanks,
One ticked off person....

Posts: 67 · Full Forum Member Joined: Feb 08, 2005 Posts: 67

I'm sorry i don't have a solution to your problem but regarding ssantana:

- i believe he's off sun/mon so that's one reason he may not have replied.
- he has a (very deservedly) great reputation, so i'm sure he's swamped with requests

anyhow, whatever issues you have with Vonage or it's service, pls don't be upset if ssantana takes a while to get to you................

Posts: 66 · Full Forum Member Joined: Feb 07, 2005 Posts: 66

Maybe this will help.. even thou you have t1, do you have letency problems?

1st thing I would do is default the linksys router to factory. Upgrade it to latest greatest. Setup your static IP information.

Next.. make sure that you have standard internet service. goto a bunch of internet sites... Just to verify that u have internet available and nothing is blocked.

REBOOT the router...

give the Voip time to update...

Check status and see if the Voip is available...

all should be done..

ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pdf/rt31p2_ug.pdf

Posts: 8 · Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:38 pm Post subject: Thanks for the replies

Thanks for the suggestions. I am waiting for ssantana. From the things I have read, he is doing great things. I have no complaints against him, on the contrary, I have great respect for someone that cares enough to help people even when off the clock! I do have issues with the company, and I hope they are giving this guy a great bonus!

I will wait a little longer for some assistance, but not much longer. I am a geek and love to be on the bleeding edge, but sometimes you get cut! Anyway, I really hope my issues get resolved. I really love the idea of this.

To answer the questions, I did a speed test and here are the results:

My Results
Download 1,408,720 bps
Upload 772,760 bps
QOS 99%
RTT 60 ms
MaxPause 30 ms

Vonage Voip Analysis
Given your current Internet speeds, we estimate that your Internet connection can support a maximum of 10 simultaneous high quality Vonage® Voip connections.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Posts: 66 · Full Forum Member Joined: Feb 07, 2005 Posts: 66

My Results
Download 4,295,168 bps
Upload 360,016 bps
QOS 74%
RTT 30 ms
MaxPause 90 ms

Cable Modems sure have made some strides!

Posts: 8 · Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:52 pm Post subject:

Yeah, cable has. But typically you are affected by number of houses on a line. You can get great download speeds, until the whole neighborhood gets it.

Wink

Posts: 62 · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 10:42 am Post subject:

Just a question about your configuration......

I have never seen a T1 plug directly into a switch. Unless the Linksys 16 port switch has a built in CSU/DSU, with configurable interfaces, public/private interfaces, I don't know how a provisioned T1 can plug directly into a switch.

Having said this, let's assume that the T1 is plugged into a CSU/DSU then a router then to our 16 port Linksys switch, or possibly a CSU/DSU combined with a router then into your 16 port switch. This would make more sense and explain why you may be having issues putting the RT31P2 behind it. Once again I'm just going off of the 50+ T1's I've had to turn up, but you may be using a different type of 16-port switch that I'm not aware of. If it is a true private line T1, and you feel you don't have any additional CSU/DSU/Router in the way, what is the model of the switch so I can look up specs to see how you are terminating a T1 into a switch?

Posts: 8 · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:58 pm Post subject:

I should have been more specific. I have the T1 coming into a Netopia CSU/DSU router. the ethernet wire off the back of that is plugged into the 16 port swtich, and the RT31P2 is plugged into one of those ports.

So why would I have issues with that configuration? I am a little confused about that.

Thanks for the resposne.

Posts: 62 · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:55 pm Post subject:

The few Netopia's that I have worked on, and it appears the same case here, is a CSU/DSU with minimal Firewall/router built into it. The Netopia is, most likely doing NAT. What may be happening here is that the Netopia is blocking or dropping the packets destined to the RT31P2. I had the same type of issue with the Netscreen router/firewall that I was using.
I see you have added a staic IP address to the RT31P2, I'm assuming, since it's behine the Netopia, it's an internal IP address. If this was my setup I'd update the Netopia router with the latest firmware from Netopia's site, then verify that there is no type of intrustion detection turned on at the Netopia, (this is where I ran into problems with my Netscreen - it had seen all the UDP traffic as an attack and was dropping the packets which caused the RTP sessions to come out of sync and one person to not hear the other).
Then you need to make sure that you have port forwarding turned on at the Netopia for the static IP address assigned to the RT31P2. The ports that Vonage recommends be open are as follows:

Vonage Service through a Firewall

A firewall is system designed to block unwanted network traffic going in and/or out of your home or office network. Some popular brand routers have firewall options built in. If your network is connecting through a firewall, or a router with firewall capabilities, it may interfere with the Phone Adapters service. If you experience any problems with your Vonage service, and are connecting through a firewall, be sure the following ports are allowed to and from the phone adapter.

Phone Adapters Internet ports:
SIP ports 5060 through 5061 using UDP protocol
NTP port 123 using UDP protocol
TFTP port 69 using UDP protocol
DNS port 53 using UDP protocol
RTP ports 10,000 through 20,000 using UDP protocol
Since each firewall may be designed differently, please consult firewall owners manual for further information.

I wrote this fairly quickly, and hope it is of some help to you, but it does sound like the Netopia is what is causing your problems currently.