Pause downloads during calls

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 10:24 am Post subject:

DallasFlier wrote:

You mean as opposed to the Vonage router always having the same MAC address? <grin> (Sorry, couldn't resist...) Actually, as I think about it - since you tried out both, you already have the MAC address typed into the Device Priority field - so using port priority allows you to be lazy how?? lol

Touche'! (big grin).

Actually, I thought the filtering might be simpler, since it doesn't have to determine MAC, but what do I know? I just push the buttons until something works, and obviously both work. So since I had wiped out the MAC field to try port priority, I left it set at the last one that happened to work. Like I said, lazy. Wink

DallasFlier wrote:

Actually, as I mentioned to the OP, the selections seem to be "finer grained" within device priority, for some reason. Not sure why, and not sure if it makes any difference, but that's why I decided to use Device Priority, because I could set it not just to "High" but to "Highest" that way. <shrug>

True. I have no idea why the ports have "low/high" and the MAC has so many more settings. With everything else set to LOW, and only port filtering on, and Port 4 set to HIGH, it works great. However, when I eventually build out my separate BitTorrent box (so my wife can have the desktop without putting up with the local box slowdown), I may need "Highest" (Vonage), "Medium" (rest of LAN), and "Low" (BitTorrent), then I'll have to go to MAC filtering. Wink

Either way, though, QoS in HyperWRT is da bomb. And working UPnP is nice, too. And it's great that there are multiple ways of solving the problem so we can be discussing the relative merits of them, as opposed to the native firmware where it doesn't work at all.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 01, 2005 Posts: 4

Thanks for all the replies.

I have tried setting up QoS both by port and by MAC address (as well as doing both at the same time) with no substantial increase in performance. I have changed the upstream speed from Auto to Manual and set it to 480kbps (my advertised upstream is 512kbps, I get around 495 in speed tests).

Also, I don't get an option for "Highest" anywhere in the QoS settings, even when specifying by device. Is this a feature of a different firmware?

Any more suggestions for how to get QoS working properly will be greatly appreciated. I'd also still like to hear if anyone has any crazy ideas for how to make the PC aware of when a call is in progress, since, while quite likely an impossible option, this seems like it would be the best solution.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:29 pm Post subject:

bl00d wrote:

Thanks for all the replies.

I have tried setting up QoS both by port and by MAC address (as well as doing both at the same time) with no substantial increase in performance. I have changed the upstream speed from Auto to Manual and set it to 480kbps (my advertised upstream is 512kbps, I get around 495 in speed tests).

Also, I don't get an option for "Highest" anywhere in the QoS settings, even when specifying by device. Is this a feature of a different firmware?

Any more suggestions for how to get QoS working properly will be greatly appreciated. I'd also still like to hear if anyone has any crazy ideas for how to make the PC aware of when a call is in progress, since, while quite likely an impossible option, this seems like it would be the best solution.

Earlier, you stated that you had the "latest HyperWRT release". Precisely which release do you have? The original HyperWRT team is pretty much out of business, so if you went to hyperwrt.org and got "stable 2.0", you're running old stuff and I don't think the QoS was the best.

Go to www.linksysinfo.com and go to the HyperWRT discussion board, and download (for the WRT54G) the version listed under the discussion "Tofu 11". That is identical to Tofu 10, which I am running, with some fixes to support old V1 routers. Tofu 10 is based on HyperWRT's final release, 2.1b1, with backfixes to Linksys's latest beta release v4.30.1, and a little special sauce from Tofu to make it all work. 1 day, 20 hours, 24 minutes of uptime (my personal record for stability on a router under the loads I give them) tells me Tofu 10's ready for prime time. Use at your own risk.

WRT54GS (or WRT54G V4, if you want to add SpeedBooster as a free upgrade, and are willing to take the risks to do so) are supported by the "Thibor" builds.

I know that my torrents are using less bandwidth than your apps probably are, but I have tested my QoS by pulling a few popular files, getting it so I am uploading with several dozen connections and at nearly the limits on my bandwidth, and picking up the Vonage phone and calling voicemail. My Torrents suddenly "crash" down to a much lower upload number. Hang up the phone, and they jump right back up again.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 01, 2005 Posts: 4

NateHoy wrote:

Earlier, you stated that you had the "latest HyperWRT release". Precisely which release do you have? The original HyperWRT team is pretty much out of business, so if you went to hyperwrt.org and got "stable 2.0", you're running old stuff and I don't think the QoS was the best.

Go to www.linksysinfo.com and go to the HyperWRT discussion board, and download (for the WRT54G) the version listed under the discussion "Tofu 11". That is identical to Tofu 10, which I am running, with some fixes to support old V1 routers.

Yes, I have installed HyperWRT 2.0. Having never flashed the router with third party firmware, I decided to take what I thought was the safe route. I'm at work, but I will try the firmware you mentioned when I get home, and see what happens. Thanks.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:38 pm Post subject:

bl00d wrote:

Yes, I have installed HyperWRT 2.0. Having never flashed the router with third party firmware, I decided to take what I thought was the safe route. I'm at work, but I will try the firmware you mentioned when I get home, and see what happens. Thanks.

Easy mistake, trust me. Wink

The original HyperWRT team really should put a notice on their page, or give the domain up and expire it.

I mean, they are to be commended for all the hard work they put into the firmware, and their firmware is certainly better than the stock firmware they replaced when they did it, but I shudder to think of how many people download 2.0 and load it up...

Anyway, www.linksysinfo.com is a GREAT resource for the Linksys routers, just as vonage-forums.com is for Vonage users (yeah, yeah, you gotta suck up to the site admin every now and then to stroke his ego (grin)).

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 10, 2005 Posts: 6

bl00d wrote:

This might not be possible, and it may well be an unreasonable thing to be trying to accomplish, but I am wondering if anyone has found a way (or can think of a way) to slow or pause downloads on a PC during a Vonage phone call.

I have the Motorola adapter which I do not use as a router. It is connected to a Linksys WRT54G router. I download from Usenet using the NewsLeecher application. When it is downloading at full speeds, the sound on Vonage calls are delayed and/or choppy.

I have tried adjusting the QoS settings on the router to no avail. It doesn't seem to place the adapter at a high enough priority for it to get all the bandwidth it needs (latency is an issue as well).
So I'm basically wondering if anyone knows of a way for my PC to find out when a call is in progress, so that it can initiate some sort of flow control for the duration of the call. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

hi it seems tht u are having problem with the speed of the internet. while u were on the call try to run the speed test by going to www.dslreports.com
also try to run the speed test when u are off the phone. compare the speed. You can also disable the QOS on the web interface of the router. Still if u have the same problem try to set the bandwidth to high (50kbps) on the web account. If still u have problem in accessing both the phone n the internet simultaneously check ur isp.
are u downloading larger files while u are on the call. Even when u try to download larger files u can have the packet loss. so try to do a speed test while u r on the phone /off the phone .....bye

Posts: 277 · Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 4:24 pm Post subject:

bl00d wrote:

Yes, I have installed HyperWRT 2.0. Having never flashed the router with third party firmware, I decided to take what I thought was the safe route. I'm at work, but I will try the firmware you mentioned when I get home, and see what happens. Thanks.

Here's the exact link to the download:

http://tofu.polarcloud.com/HyperWRT_G_tofu11.zip

This is new enough that linksysinfo.org still appears to be a release behind in their download section, although I agree with Nate, its a great resource site - along with

http://www.hyperwrt.org/forum/index.php

which is where I got the link to this release (under "Advanced Help", the tofu10 thread.)

(Nate - while the hyperwrt.org homepage is WAY out of date, the forums keep up with everything. Specifically, monitor the "Advanced Help" section for latest releases and discussion of same - it takes 2 or 3 days before they show up on linksysinfo.org sometimes.)

This firmware revision should be dramatically different in performance from your HyperWRT 2.0, which is close to a year old now. Hope it solves your problems!

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 4:52 pm Post subject:

[quote="DallasFlier"]

bl00d wrote:

This is new enough that linksysinfo.org still appears to be a release behind in their download section, although I agree with Nate, its a great resource site - along with

http://www.hyperwrt.org/forum/index.php

Thanks.

Actually, Tofu 11 is on the Linksysinfo discussion boards. It's just not on the download section yet. But, since it only includes fixes for WRT54G V1.0, and I have a V4, I'll stick with 10 until 12 comes out (assuming there's anything really good in 12).