RTP300 - WOW!

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 24, 2005 Posts: 10

Just received my RTP300 today - after a tech agreed to replace my RT31P2 due to heat and reboot issues - a problem which I actually fixed before I received the replacement.

The voice quality is like night and day compared to the RT31P2. No white noise, and I can actually turn my volume down to low on my phone - clarity is that much better. Initial dial tone is immediate compared to the 1-2 second wait for the RT31P2.

However, like the RT31P2 I do not suggest having this run behind a cable or DSL modem if you tend to use applications which can run multiple tcp/udp sessions simultaneously like bittorrent. I believe these linksys routers are unable to handle the load. I myself had my RT31P2 reboot/lock up many times when running bittorrent.

I also have a Cisco Pix 501 and I am able to monitor how many simultaneous sessions an application like bittorrent can use. A Pix 501 can handle 2000 sessions I believe and bittorrent will use well over a 1000 depending on download/upload connections. A friend of mine was able to lock up a Netscreen 5GT with bittorrent and it can candle the same amount as a Pix 501.

I currently have a NetGear FVS124G - Gigabit Router which is able to open the many ports that Voip requires. It also has QOS capabilities. Also attached to this is my Pix 501 which hosts my Internal network and of course the new RTP300. The NetGear with a 200mhz RISC processor and 16MB of memory is able to handle around the same amout of sessions as a Pix 501.

I also found success with my linksys ATAs by disabling the NAT/firewall feature - this will not work for anyone who runs this device on the Internet edge - hosts will be unable to reach the Internet without being natted with the routable outside IP of the router.

This is the combination that works fine for me and I wanted to share my findings. I believe reboots, router lockups, and dropped calls are not so much the result of the ISP - but linksys hardware placed at the Internet edge to perform NAT, SPI, and handle all Internet sessions which overloads the devices. Just one more quick note. Running bittorrent from two computers on my internal LAN will cause my RT31P2 to overheat to the point where I cannot touch it - kinda tells you something. I've experienced that pleasant burning plastic smell many times Smile

I'm looking forward to any responses.

Somewhat Happy Vonage customer

Posts: 1389 · Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 4:38 pm Post subject:

Show off!

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 4:58 pm Post subject:

Not all Linksys routers suck... My WRT54GS routers have 200Mhz procs, 32MB RAM, 16 MB ROM, and multiple users running BIttorrent on them doesn't phase them. I think the RT31 is just a piece of junk all-around. If they're too cheap to put decent filtering/shielding on the analog side of the phone adapter, they certainly aren't going to spend the $$$ on the router side either, especially when it's a "free" router like this. I can't vouch for the RTP300's routing abilities, but as a voice adapter, the hardware rules. Considering the RTP300 runs on Linux, I'd assume that after a few firmware updates it too will be stable. Don't know the detailed specs on it though (CPU/RAM/etc).

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 24, 2005 Posts: 10

Ya I am a bit of a show off. I am just so damn happy its working. I've wasted many hours of my life trying to use the RT31P2 as a router - not to mention configuring a pix to use FIXUP protocols to dynamically open 10000 RTP ports when I switch my configuration around.

As for my opinion on linksys products. I do believe they make some good hardware - especially their business router/VPN solutions.

I do tend to blast the home gateway/router products since I work with business/enterprise class routers and firewalls everyday.

I think Vonage would increase the quality of their product by using quality hardware in the their Voip solutions. With the amount of people joining daily - I think they could take a bit of the cost on better quality hardware. How about taking that useless connection fee and putting it toward providing a router that has a decent proc, memory, and cooling.

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

From what I have been able to gather the RTP300 runs a compiled version of Linux for the MIPS based processor with ~14MB of memory and CPU equivalent to a 175 or 200Mhz processor.

Posts: 30 · Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 7:19 pm Post subject: RTP300 sounds like the thing...

Well, I've had upload/download interuptions since I installed my RT31P2 router. I thought it was one thing, then another, and now it might be fixed... wheew! It's annoying. Could it really be the router? Should I ask for a RTP300 to replace it, or maybe wait a few months and see what happens (and wait out the firware upgrades)?

L8R

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 24, 2005 Posts: 10

I had the exact same problem with my RT31P2. My connection kept on dropping every 5 minutes or so. My IP kept on changing so I thought maybe my router wasn't replying to ARP requests from the ISP router and the PPPoE session timed out or maybe it was actually rebooting... not sure. But since I changed routers and moved my linksys behind it I have not had any issues.

I haven't tried using the RPT300 as a router since I got it so I don't know if it is any better.

If it is working well for you now, then I wouldn't replace it - but mine had the latest firmware and it was still having issues.

Posts: 244 · Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:37 pm Post subject:

The RTP300 is a much better ATA than the RT31P2 but the routing capabilities are about the same.

Voice is mmmmmmmmmmmmm good with the RTP300.

Get yourself a good router with QOS and let it do the routing and just use the Vonage device for your phone service. Ever since Ive done this Ive had excellent results.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 24, 2005 Posts: 10

Since I moved the voice adaptor behind the router all my problems went away also.

My FVS124G handles forwards all voice traffic to my adapter. It also does QOS very well.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:02 am Post subject:

Keep in mind that the Linksys RTP300 and upcoming Motorola VT2442 are actually Texas Instruments devices, not Linksys, and shouldn't be grouped the the same category/class, as the superior voice quality of the RTP300 clearly shows.