Anticipating Problems

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 17, 2004 Posts: 4

I just ordered Vonage yesterday, and am waiting for the Phone Adapter to arrive.

Reading several threads, the biggest problem I am anticipating is where to put the Phone Adapter.

Should it be in front of or behind my router?

I am definately a novice when it comes to home networking, IP routing, etc. so for me it's challenging enough just to get everything "working", let alone get everything working in optimal fashion...

So I thought I'd explain my set up, then ask for suggestions. I have the following setup now:

1) Broadband Internet service via Insightbb, my local Cable company.
2) ARRIS CABLE MODEM -- supplied by Insight
3) Linksys Wireless G router including 4 ports for wired ethernet
4) HP Desktop PC connects via wired Ethernet cable to Linksys router
5) TIVO connects via wireless NIC
6) Dell Laptop occasionally connects via wireless NIC.

I think IP addresses are assigned using DHCP, and that NAT is enabled as well as the firewall in the Linksys Router.

When I place the Motorola/Cisco Vonage box in the mix, I'm terrified I'm going to mess everything up!

It sounds like it would be best to put it directly behind the Cable Modem and in front of the Linksys Router so QoS works, but how do I configure the Vonage box & Linksys Router together to make everything work? Sounds like that could be diffficult...

It seems easier to me put the Vonage box behind the router, but then I'm concerned that I'll lose QoS and get lousy VOIP service...

I guess I'll find out when I try, but if anyone has some SIMPLE advice, it would be most appreciated.

Posts: 41 · Full Forum Member Joined: 1064934432 Posts: 41

Here's a couple of thoughts that popped into my head:
1. Put the Motorola device behind the router unless you really need to implement QOS. I have my ATA device behind the router so I can't do QOS (the ATA device isn't actually capable of QOS...) and I only experience issues if I'm trying to do some major uploading while using the phone. If I'm just surfing the web or downloading files, I don't have any issues. P.S. - I have 2MB down / 128K up.

2. If you wanted to do a partial QOS, you could hook the Motorola device behind the router and then plug your desktop into the Motorola device. This would allow other devices to bypass the Motorola device, but not your desktop. I'm not really sure what issues you would run into in terms of NAT or DHCP as I'm not very literate on how to set up multilple network devices.
NOTE: You will need to plug the computer directly into yhe Motorola device in order to access the configuration page of the Motorola device, so this may be a good setup to start with.

It has been noted by several people here that placing the Motorola device in front of the router causes it to be unstable because it can't handle being the "front man" to the internet.