Vonage / bandwidth / website

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 7

Ok - I have a business class cable connection that is supposed to provide 3/384 connectivity. To this connection I have 5 static IPs. I have purchased Vonage and I am having some issues that maybe you network and Voip gurus can help with. Wink

The cable company provided me with a 4 port router (TW Cable 60740EU (Not sure the manufacturer)).

In port 1 of that router I have my Vonage PAP2 configured to one of my static IPs.

In port 2 I have a webserver that is is Windows 2003, IIS serving 4 websites, one of which is very popular.

In port 3 I have my wireless router - a Linksys BEFW11s4 with currently only one laptop connected to it.

The problem I am having is my voice dropping on calls. I think I have tracked this down to my websites are using the bandwidth (a good problem!) The reason I believe this is because with the sites running I get a 1.0 on the TestYour Voip and around a 4.4 with them shut down.

I originally had my PAP2 using DHCP into my wireless router. I changed it to static just as an attempt to fix my problems. I would like to put it back to DHCP since I dont think making it static has helped.

I have throttled my websites down using the IIS throttle feature and that has helped a bit - but I really hate to keep my websites throttled back for the occasional phone call!

From reading here - it sounds like my soultion may be to set QoS in a router? From what I can find out, none of my routers or my phone adapter allow this. I also have a Cisco 806 router that I could use possibly - but it to does not seem to have QoS port priotitization.

Any ideas? If I have the linksys RT31P2 could I use it as my router for my phone and webserver? Will Vonage exchange my adaptor for a router? Am I just missing the QoS feature in the routers I do have?

Thanks for any advice

Posts: 482 · Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 5:58 pm Post subject:

You're gonna have to throttle your websites somehow, either as you've done in IIS or via QoS. If your websites are generating revenue, I'd really recommend against using Vonage with only 384 up. Comcast here offers 768 up for $10 more...if you have that option then your problems are probably solved.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 7

Thanks - yes 2 of the sites do generate revenue - and so far the bandwidth is fine for the sites. The sites are really fast - I just think that they burst to fast at times and rob the BW from my Vonage.

Posts: 482 · Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 6:19 pm Post subject:

Well, if you really want to roll the dice, you could use the RT31P2 as the router for your entire network. That's the only way the QoS will kick in. But so many people have had problems with that router rebooting spontaneously (my problem, resolved by an RMA exchange) or getting hung/fried when a firmware update comes out, I would be hesitant to put it in front of boxes that generate revenue.

If that doesn't sound like a big risk, try it...otherwise, buy another router that does QoS to replace the one you got from Time Warner.

That's interesting that 3/384 is TW's business class. Comcast's basic offering is 3/384, and 6/768 is their $10 premium package.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 7

ToddlerTN wrote:

That's interesting that 3/384 is TW's business class. Comcast's basic offering is 3/384, and 6/768 is their $10 premium package.

Yeah - they have several tiers. Basic res and business class is 1.5/256 and then you can tier up from there. I really wanted 768 up but it was about $80 more a month - not to mention they charge a criminal $20 a month for 5 statics! $20 a month for a one time DB entry for them! ugh!

Posts: 3198 · Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 6:40 pm Post subject:

yeah TW's basic is 5/384 and premium is 8 down (unsure about up).
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12202463
where are you located obeg?

Posts: 14 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 23, 2004 Posts: 14

If your cable company router can be replaced, you can use a Linksys BEFSR81 router. It is the lowest price router I found that has QoS on it.

I have a similar setup, although I am running Windows Small Business Server with web and exchange on it. I setup the Vonage adapter on port 1 and set QoS on high for that port only, and set the other 3 ports as low. That seems to work best, although I have not had the courage to try putting the Vonage adapter between the cable modem and the router. I am running all on one IP address, though. I wonder if getting a separate address for the Vonage adapter would make a difference?

BTW, my Cox cable business class is 4mb/1mb with 5 static ips for $60/mo (plus $10 off my residential cable).

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 7

I am in Charlotte. TW has no competition here - it is them or DSL.. and DSL will not reach out where I am. My service of 3/384 is $99 + $20 for the IPs... so $119 a month. (But you can compare that to our DSL business line that we just shut down at our office that was 1.0/128 for about $250 a month!)

Hmm - I will check in with TW and see what my router options are.
Thanks - and keep the ideas rolling in. Smile

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 07, 2005 Posts: 10

i think I have 768 up. I have business cable, 5 mbit down, 768 up or something like that. Using cox and I seem to be able to do a lot on my connection so I think an upgrade would be worth it, I can normally download a torrent, play a game online, and talk on the phone without any disruption whatsoever. However while regular browsing every now and then I can hear the user but they keep saying "hello? Sir? Are you still there?" they can't seem to hear me, has happened twice since I've had Vonage (5 months now)

Posts: 482 · Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 12:57 am Post subject:

Pilman, you don't happen to be using a 5.8GHz phone when that happens, do you? A friend of mine experiences the same thing every so often, and it turns out his so-called 5.8GHz phone only uses 5.8GHz to receive and uses 2.4GHz to send. So his wireless network or his microwave or whatever occasionally prevents him from being heard...although he can hear the other person as clear as a bell.