Vonage and ADT alarms

Guest

txcas,

when you placed your ata in pass through, did you assign your router an ip address? When I put my ATA in pass through my router can not obtain an ip address from the ATA and my isp is not assiging an ip address to my router. I am assuming I need to hard code the WAN address for the router to something like 192.168.102.15. Is this what you did?

Nathan

Posts: 44 · Full Forum Member Joined: Jan 12, 2004 Posts: 44

Nathan wrote:

txcas,

when you placed your ata in pass through, did you assign your router an ip address? When I put my ATA in pass through my router can not obtain an ip address from the ATA and my isp is not assiging an ip address to my router. I am assuming I need to hard code the WAN address for the router to something like 192.168.102.15. Is this what you did?

Nathan

Same issues here

Guest

I finally got my ADT alarm to dial out. Here is my configuration:

1) Cable Modem -> Router -> ATA
2) I hard-coded my ATA for IP address 192.168.1.15 since I am using a Linksys router. I also setup port forwarding as detailed on the Vonage website for a Linksys. If you need specifics let me know.
3) My alarm is NOT dialing *99.
4) I called Vanage and had them set my "Packetization Level" to 10.
5) Rebooted my ATA.

That's all I did and it works. Let me know if you have more questions.

Nathan

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 03, 2004 Posts: 5

Just wanted to chime in with an update -- like Nathan, my setup now works!

Here is my configuration:
1) Cable Modem -> Router -> ATA (though I am going to move the ATA in front of the router, to get QoS, now that there have been reports of how to keep the Motorola from hanging)
2) Router is the newest (version 3?) LinkSys BEFSR41 (has a Cisco label on it - they bought out LinkSys)
3) Set the ATA up with a static IP
4) I do NOT have any port fowarding set up. (It appears this newest LinkSys supports UPnP)
5) Alarm is NOT dialing *99
6) Like others with successes, I called Vonage and had them set my "Packetization Level" to 10
7) I did NOT reboot my ATA. I simply tried it a couple of minutes after I hung up with Vonage tech support.

That's it. The "Packetization Level" is the magic. I'll be sure to post here later, as I continue testing the alarm (probably will each weekend for a couple of months), so people can get an idea of how reliable the setup is.

Cheers!
David

Posts: 21 · Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2004 12:09 pm Post subject: Packetitization Level

Okay, so I may not be able to spell it, but it works!! After reading the posts here I called Vonage Tech Support and asked for them to change the setting. I didn't reboot - just waited. And it works!!

The biggest question I have is why doesn't tech support know about this setting? Don't get me wrong - I talked to Michael at TS. He was extremely helpful, working through a number of attempts. He was great. He even called me back a number of times due to me being stupid and testing the ADT system when he was on the line. Hey, at least I know line seizure works like a charm!

I'm going to call back and talk to Michael tonight and let him know the resolution - maybe they have an internal knowledge base that they can look this type of thing up in.

Just wanted to echo the results - all is well. Now to move my ATA in front of my router so I can get QOS.

Thanks to everyone that posted - you helped save me!!

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 17, 2004 Posts: 3

ok, I get everything you guys are saying about reducing the Packetization level down to 10. However, I spoke with two guys at tech support and neither of them knew what to do or how to do it. I said "everybody says put the packetization level to ten and than will do what I need it to" but to no avail. The first guy didn't know what I was talking about AT ALL and the second guy said that the only options for my codec were 30, 70, and 90. Maybe he couldn't find the right area? This doesn't sound right or help me out.

Can someone help me out here? What do I tell tech support to provide the right level of detail to get this fixed? Is there someone there I should ask for in particular? Because I saw that Michael knew what he was doing, I tried to ask for him but there are apparently 25 Michaels working there.

I want to get my ADT alarm going some time in the near future...

Hey, thanks in advance.

Posts: 21 · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2004 1:17 am Post subject:

My only suggestion would be to call again. I called later in the evening PST time - actually close to midnight. The guy I talked to seemed to know what I wanted. I know the wait can be a bit much some times, but until you can get someone that knows - that is all I can suggest. If we knew what type of equipment was on the other end that might help.

When I called, I simply told the tech guy - " I need to set my packetization level to 10" I said I had been working on the issue all day and found this to be the answer.

Sorry, I know how frustrating it is....

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 17, 2004 Posts: 3

Although I hate waiting forever on hold, I will wait as long as it takes to get this problem solved. It's just that I've called 2x and people are still confused about what I'm referring to. The first guy was Indian and wasn't very knowledgable, but the second guy seemed knowledgable and was just unsure.

I am just looking for as much info as possible. I'll keep trying, but if anyone has anything to add I am listening.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 17, 2004 Posts: 3

Ok, so I finally found someone that understood what I was talking about and was able to change the packetization settings on my Motorola ATA from 20 down to 10. Unfortunately, that didn't solve my problem because I think I've got a ground loop problem. There's noise on the line whenever the ATA is routed through the regular phone lines, thus my assumption.

Anyone have any experince or guidance in troubleshooting this issue. I'd really like to get this working correctly so I don't have to pay SBC just to keep my alarm system working. Assistance appreciated in advance.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 29, 2004 Posts: 1

I read on these boards that it was necessary to have the Vonage device plugged in before the ADT system, but I have my Vonage device upstairs and the ADT system in the basement. I also didn't want to pay to have things re-wired. After much thought, I did the following:

1. I called Vonage to get the Packet Prioritization Level set to 10

2. I plugged the Vonage device into Line 2 of my house

3. In the box outside of my house, I connected Line 2 to Line 1 using a female-female connector.

That's it. Now, Line 1 works like a charm, even for my ADT system.

So, my setup looks like this:

Cable Modem -> Vonage -> Line 2 ->
Line 2 to Line 1 connection (outside of house) ->
ADT -> Line 1 for whole house