Dropped Calls

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 07, 2005 Posts: 7

Ok i've had my service for 3 days. The last time I was so Stressed was when I made the mistake to get Earthlink DSL.
Like Earthlink, Vonage ships theres calls to INDIA. I was yelled at by Kevin (In India) for calling him sir. I have only been able to get ahold of support 2 times. Ive called over 12 times and sent about 5 emails and still no help. I have tried every configuration
possible with the Linksys RT31P2 and still have dropped calls.
I have replaced my Linksys router twice and same problem.
So ive decided to call the B.B.B and My lawyer. Im Embarrassed to even make a call to anyone in my family. This company really needs legal action taken against them. There putting peoples lifes at risk. My ISP (RoadRunner) has been testing my system for 2 days and they have found no problems on my side its Vonage. When I received my Linksys I knew nothing about a Router, Now I feel like I could Write a 100 page report on it. Sorry this message is so long my next posts will be much shorter.

Posts: 112 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jan 17, 2005 Posts: 112

Im sure you are frustrated, but lets get some details about your environment?
What ISP -
What Modem -
What Router - If you have one
What phone Adapter -

How is this all setup?

There are tons of people here that can help you like they helped me through the obsticles I ran into....please have some patience...it will work and save you tons of $$ in the long run.

You have to understand, if you are taking the leap from the prehistoric POTS, you may need to spend some time and money to get the hardware updated. For instance...I had a 5 year old modem. Toshiba PCX-1100. Its old, and it couldnt keep up with the latest technology.
I paid 300.00 for it 5 years ago....yes, expensive, but I got my moneys worth.

Give it some time and patience and a little $$ if it comes down to it.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 07, 2005 Posts: 7

I just said that if I get this fixed that I will not abandon this
forum and that i will help everyone I can. And your right I was paying $58 dollars a month without Long distance for SBC.

My info

ISP Insight Road Runner

Cable Modem SurfBoard SB3100 (Less then a Month Old)

Modem is connected to the Linksys RT31P2 (Router & Phone Adapter All in One) firmware 1.28.00

The RT31P2 is connected to The Computer.
And a New Phone Directly Plugged into the RT31P2

After about 1 minute to 11 minutes the Phone 1 Light goes out
and call is dropped. Then both Phone lights come on like it is rebooting but None of the other lights flash. After about a minute the Phone Light comes back on and I can dial again.

Things Ive Tried
Ive tried the Bandwidth setting on my Vonage account
Ive disabled Local DHCP Server (Nothing)
Mac Clone service (Phone would not work)
Disabled Nat (Nothing)
Modem reset So many time cant remember
Also tried the Unplug Cable Modem and Unplug RT31P2
Plugged Cable Modem in waited 3 minutes then plugged RT31P2 and still getting dropped calls
ISP has ran tests for 3 days and just called and said everything is ok on this side. Also tried PingPlotter and
Ethereal on Freebsd and everything looks ok.

My Results
Download 2,950,736 bps
Upload 326,776 bps
QOS 99%
RTT 54 ms
MaxPause 124 ms

Said I could handle 4 High quality phones
I really thank you for any help you can give.

Posts: 112 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jan 17, 2005 Posts: 112

Im not familiar with your linksys, because I have a wrt54g running sveasoft software and a PAP2 phone adapter. Have you tried getting a firmware update for the linksys?
Also, may be a long shot, but have you tried different cat5 cables?
Have you thought about nixxing the linksys all in one and get a regular LinkSys router and a PAP2 device? Im sure others have the same configuration you have and have no issues. Would Vonage even do the swap...I dont know? Did you get the all-in0one at a local retailer? If so, return another and get the 2 seperate peices of hardware. If you cant update the firmware on the router because of the phone adapter being part of it, you are kind of stuck. What are your options? Have you reset the all-in-one back to factory settings? Could it be your phone? just shooting in the dark...

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 07, 2005 Posts: 7

I just read that Norton Firewall might make calls drop. So I De-Installed it. And to my Amazement, Ive made about 8 calls to numbers Ive been dropped on. I also had Bittorrent download and upload going at full speed and so far Ive not been dropped once. So now im wondering why would norton cause this? I've got to boot FreeBSD up and see if I start getting Dropped again. I have a Firewall on Freebsd and I did get disconnected while using unix. This does give me Hope. Ill let everyone no how it goes.

Posts: 162

Kcross wrote:

I have tried every configuration
possible with the Linksys RT31P2 and still have dropped calls.
I have replaced my Linksys router twice and same problem.
So ive decided to call the B.B.B and My lawyer. Im Embarrassed to even make a call to anyone in my family

I see things are very much the same (ref http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic2861.html) even months after I switched back to POTS. I can tell you the problem isn't the router, your computer, your phone, your settings, your network or your attitude. It's the Internet.

This means NOBODY is responsible. NOBODY can fix YOUR problem.

I said this before: Voip will never work until someone, somewhere, is accountable.

Unfortunately, only the BIG players can make this work. Sorry, ain't Vonage.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 07, 2005 Posts: 7

I cant believe with All the post ive read of yours that you dont think theres any fault with Vonage. When you provide a service in the USA and you ship your calls to INDIA theres going to be problems. Its funny after I sent emails to Vonage that I have contacted the B.B.B and a Lawyer that my service has just amazingly stopped dropping calls. I use FreeBSD more then I use WinXP but last night I de-installed Norton Firewall and the dropped calls stopped. But when I went to FreeBSD and started Bittorrent and had it at Full Upload and Download speed i still was able to make calls for over 15 minutes without 1 drop or any drop in sound quality. So im starting to believe that the Tech that I email my problem to in this forum has fixed something on his end. Earthlink sends there calls to INDIA and I lasted 4 days with them before i had to have my credit card company issue me a new card. Because somehow my credit card info was put on the wrong persons account. And I had his credit card info on my account. So it is Vonages fault. If you provide a service in USA, calls should go to USA. If they provide service in INDIA then have people in INDIA answer the calls. I believe Vonage has out grown its self and
if they cant handle the growth then stop taking new customers till problems are fixed. And they need to stop blaming everyone else for there problems. If I can go more then 1 week without a dropped call then I will Promote the Heck out of Vonage. Because even with all the problems ive had im still amazed with Vonage.If they would just fix there customer help probelms they could put these other greedy phone companys out of business.

Posts: 162 · Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:57 am Post subject: Dropped Calls

I known how you feel. Been there.

One day you think you've isolated the problem, the next day your calls will drop again.

BTW the OS, firewall or bittorrent had nothing to do with it; my computer wasn't even powered up and was still having dropped calls.

I even switched ISP. I did have less dropped calls, but the audio was noisy and full of echoes. Different ISP, slightly different problem.

"Perhaps your ISP is blocking Vonage packets? Perhaps you have a bad cable? Perhaps you have a bad splitter somewhere? Perhaps the cable network junction box is faulty? Or too many people in your block share the same Internet bandwidth? Maybe your cable modem needs to be replaced? And the router? Did you try tweaking the Bandwidth Saver? Got the latest firmware? Oh and lets not forget that you may also have a problem with your phone as well. Is it wireless? Aaaaaaah... "

I've heard them all.

Or the problem is Vonage.

Posts: 492 · Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 8:30 pm Post subject:

http://www.vonage-forum.com/sutra28237.html#28237

Posts: 162 · Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:16 pm Post subject:

Typical phone conversation (8 bit mono, sampled at 5KHz = approx 5 KB/sec) can be compressed such that even a dial-up connection at 2KB/sec should accommodate a stupid phone conversation without major issues.

Here we are talking about 10 to 100 times that bandwidth with broadband!!! Give a break with this QoS hs!

The real problem is latency, and the fact that the TCP/IP protocol isn't designed for critical synchronous data transfer. Voip with TCP/IP CANNOT work reliably and, in the long run as the Internet gets even more crowded, will only get worse.