RT300 upgrade

Posts: 14 · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 2:21 pm Post subject: RT300 upgrade

I talked to a Vonage rep today and he said there is a standard upgrade option open to Vonage customers with older TAs.

They will send a new RT300 overnight for $99.40 plus prepaid return shipping for the old device. After receipt of the old device they will refund the $99.40. You have 14 days to return the old device. This is an even exchange.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 10:03 pm Post subject:

I'd hold off on getting one for now... I have no doubt that the hardware is superior to what they've had in the past (maybe except the Cisco 186's), but the software on them is nowhere near ready for primetime... Give it at least another firmware update (or two) before jumping for one.

Posts: 159 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Aug 05, 2005 Posts: 159

I totally agree with VonageTPA.

Posts: 646 · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 10:14 pm Post subject:

If you just want phone service, stick with the RT31P2.

If you like playing with new stuff, and you don't have a wife/family who will complain if there's problems, then it could be better to switch.

Posts: 159 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Aug 05, 2005 Posts: 159

What if it's both? Very Happy

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2005 10:30 pm Post subject:

The phone side's actually been superior, it's the router & web interface of the box which is dodgy. From the best info I have, Linksys doesn't actually make these. They appear to be made by a company called CyberTan out of Taiwan. The chipset is actually made by Texas Instruments, appears to be an AR7-V, but I've not had a chance to throw the router on a microscope and peek through the ventillation holes. Ironically, the new Motorola adapter coming out in the fall also uses a TI chipset, although it'll be a different one than this router uses. Same basic design though.

Really, the sound quality's amazing. I've sent a few faxes now, 33.6K connects with ECM enabled & no problems whatsoever. Send times were very similar to what I would get on my POTS line. Dial-up modems also work amazingly well with it, been getting 50.3K connects, which I never even got with the land line.

That said... I'd still say to someone who has an older working phone adapter to hang onto it until they get a few more firmware updates out. It's working very well for me now, but that's not to say that hte next firmware update won't totally hose it.

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 01, 2005 Posts: 9

Have you had any problems hooking it up to a network port off an existing router..

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:06 am Post subject:

No problem running it off a network port of an existing router... but it flat-out refuses to run if I connect it directly up to my DSL modem. I've tried MAC address cloning, but the #@$@#$#@ RTP300 won't save the settings and keeps defaulting to a MAC address other than the one I've specified. VERY buggy firmware.

Posts: 159 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Aug 05, 2005 Posts: 159

VonageTPA, have you tried hitting save instead of the Clone button after changing the MAC? I had problems with it too until I realized that I had to do it this way.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:58 am Post subject:

I'm definitely hitting Save Changes... I don't want to hit the Clone button b/c it'll clone the PC's MAC address rather than the existing router's MAC. Clicking the Save Changes button seems to be the equivalent of hitting Clone then Save Changes all in one.