Network Set-Up Help

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 15, 2005 Posts: 2

I know enough about networking to be dangerous.

Here's what I've got.

1. Linksys RT31P2 Voip Router from Vonage
2. Linksys BEFSR41 Four Port Router
3. Linksys ??? 802.11B Wireless Access Point
4. Multiple Wired and Wireless Computers throughout house
5. Xbox
6. Networked DVD player

I would like to set this up with the cable modem feeding the router and the router feeding the Vonage box as well as my other computers and the WAP. However, from talking to Vonage they tell me that the Vonage box would like to be first off the cable modem. From a security standpoint, I'm not sure I like this, but for now I'd just like to get things working and then I'll work on a security level I'm comfortable with.

I tried having the Vonage box being the first thing off the cable modem. I disabled the DHCP on the router (I think this makes the router a switch). I was able to get to the configuration pages for both the Vonage box and the router, but I could never get an internet connection on any of the competers.

My big question is that to have a router (or a switch) after the Vonage box is there something I need to set on the Vonage box so that it allocates a larger number of IP addresses for all the various pieces I have on my network?

I'd also be curious to hear peoples opinions on security, etc. related to their network setups. I know Linux may be more secure, etc. but can we limit the discussion to the standard Windows setup that most Vonage users are going to be dealing with?

Thanks.

Posts: 482 · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:51 am Post subject:

The Vonage RT31P2 is probably just as secure as the BEFSR41. They both have the same basic configuration screens which are based on the same general feature set.

DHCP on the Vonage adapter by default is set to hand out a range of 50 addresses (192.168.15.100-192.168.15.149). I can't imagine you need more than that, or else you wouldn't need to ask anyone for networking advice.

If you place it behind the Vonage adapter, then you need to disable both DHCP and the NAT/Firewall on the BEFSR41 to make it behave like a simple switch.

Posts: 17 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Feb 17, 2005 Posts: 17

My network is strikingly similar to yours. I am also running a web server on one computer and an ftp server. I have my Vonage box out front and it is doing all the DHCP serving. I disabled the DHCP on my old Linksys router and my wireless Dlink router. I was cloning my old routers mac address to my Vonage adpater and it worked great for about 2 weeks. I was able to keep my wan ip by cloning the mac address. I really didn't change much on the Vonage adapter. the one thing that i did do was move the adapter over to the old subnet...i changed 192.168.115.1 to 192.168.1.115 and now i can access all the routers pages.

recently my computers on my network are dropping the internet connection but after i do an ipconfig/release and renew i get the connection back. i probably need a new adapter.

anyway, can you access all of your computers over your network.

what does ipconfig/all show? does it show that you are connecting outside your network?

I tried putting my Vonage RT31P2 behind my old linksys router, but was not able to get reliable telephone service. hope i'm not babbling...i'll stop now.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 15, 2005 Posts: 2

After I decent amount of fumbling around, I finally got it to work. I haven't done a ton of testing on the quality and speed of my connection, but I'll cross that bridge if need be. For the most part, my home network doesn't have a ton of traffic.

I have my 4-port Linksys router right off my cable modem. This goes to the WAP, my Xbox, my networked DVD player, and a switch. The switch goes into two computers and the Vonage box. All I had to do was switch the DHCP off on the Vonage box to get this to work.

It remains to be seen how well this will work, although I have a feeling I'll find myself back here at some point.

Thanks for the help. This definately pushed me in the right direction to get it 'working'.

Posts: 2 · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 4:59 pm Post subject:

Glad to see it is working for you Sal. One thing to thin about with where the phone adapter is in the network is Quality of Service. The phone adapter has a QOS function that is able to differentiate between the voice traffic coming from the phone line and the network traffic coming from the network. It is able to place priority on the voice higher than the other network traffic. I have the adapter "out front" and can download large files and talk on the phone at the same time with no loss of sound quality. You may orm may not run into issues with your setup, but I did not see any mention of QOS in the previous post and thought you may want ot know about it.
g/l