Linksys OGV200 is Junk

Posts: 36 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Feb 22, 2005 Posts: 36

I just purchased a Linksys OGV200 and wanted to share my experiences.

I moved my RT31P2 behind my Netgear router after having some problems with my previous configuration when I added an XBOX 360 to the mix.

A QoS optimizer seemed like it would fit the bill for letting me have the network arranged however I liked yet still getting prioritization of Voip services.

I was going to purchase the Hawking Voip optimizer but noticed a post here about the OGV200 being a newer/better piece of gear.

I purchased the unit from Buy.com and it arrived today.

The unit advertises a setup in which it can simply be placed between your cable-modem and your router/gateway and it will do everything including auto configuration of all settings.

When I installed it in this fashion it failed to prioritize Voip traffic when my pipe was saturated (I was still getting choppy/broken audio).

The unit CAN be configured through a basic web interface, where you can try to auto-detect upload speeds, and change a few other very basic settings (cable modem, dsl, etc).

The auto rate detection feature did not work properly. Finally I had to statically set the upload bandwidth based on test results from dslreports.com.

After doing this I got some limited success with the unit. Voip traffic seemed to be shaped to the level that I was intelligible on the other end to callers, but still some distortion in the audio stream. Additionally with the rate manually programmed the OGV200 showed that it was throttling the MTU size to 1300 bytes, which might cause problems with some other applications.

I contacted Linksys tech support and they claimed that this was a "Bad unit" and that auto detect and other bugs I found in the setup should work properly. I highly doubt this and instead suspect the unit is simply not ready for prime time (I'm running the latest FW too).

Just be ware of this box, I'm not too impressed with it, although it is cheap ($52 with a coupon I had for buy.com).

Buyer beware!

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 05, 2006 Posts: 10

jmpage2 wrote:

I just purchased a Linksys OGV200 and wanted to share my experiences.

I moved my RT31P2 behind my Netgear router after having some problems with my previous configuration when I added an XBOX 360 to the mix.

A QoS optimizer seemed like it would fit the bill for letting me have the network arranged however I liked yet still getting prioritization of Voip services.

I was going to purchase the Hawking Voip optimizer but noticed a post here about the OGV200 being a newer/better piece of gear.

I purchased the unit from Buy.com and it arrived today.

The unit advertises a setup in which it can simply be placed between your cable-modem and your router/gateway and it will do everything including auto configuration of all settings.

When I installed it in this fashion it failed to prioritize Voip traffic when my pipe was saturated (I was still getting choppy/broken audio).

The unit CAN be configured through a basic web interface, where you can try to auto-detect upload speeds, and change a few other very basic settings (cable modem, dsl, etc).

The auto rate detection feature did not work properly. Finally I had to statically set the upload bandwidth based on test results from dslreports.com.

After doing this I got some limited success with the unit. Voip traffic seemed to be shaped to the level that I was intelligible on the other end to callers, but still some distortion in the audio stream. Additionally with the rate manually programmed the OGV200 showed that it was throttling the MTU size to 1300 bytes, which might cause problems with some other applications.

I contacted Linksys tech support and they claimed that this was a "Bad unit" and that auto detect and other bugs I found in the setup should work properly. I highly doubt this and instead suspect the unit is simply not ready for prime time (I'm running the latest FW too).

Just be ware of this box, I'm not too impressed with it, although it is cheap ($52 with a coupon I had for buy.com).

Buyer beware!

Thanks for the review!

I almost went to buy this unit to compare with the Hawking...

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Download_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115417109974&packedargs=sku%3D1146774321820&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

FWIW: Did it come with the firmware linked above or did you have to flash to this latest version?

Posts: 36 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Feb 22, 2005 Posts: 36

somms wrote:

jmpage2 wrote:

I just purchased a Linksys OGV200 and wanted to share my experiences.

I moved my RT31P2 behind my Netgear router after having some problems with my previous configuration when I added an XBOX 360 to the mix.

A QoS optimizer seemed like it would fit the bill for letting me have the network arranged however I liked yet still getting prioritization of Voip services.

I was going to purchase the Hawking Voip optimizer but noticed a post here about the OGV200 being a newer/better piece of gear.

I purchased the unit from Buy.com and it arrived today.

The unit advertises a setup in which it can simply be placed between your cable-modem and your router/gateway and it will do everything including auto configuration of all settings.

When I installed it in this fashion it failed to prioritize Voip traffic when my pipe was saturated (I was still getting choppy/broken audio).

The unit CAN be configured through a basic web interface, where you can try to auto-detect upload speeds, and change a few other very basic settings (cable modem, dsl, etc).

The auto rate detection feature did not work properly. Finally I had to statically set the upload bandwidth based on test results from dslreports.com.

After doing this I got some limited success with the unit. Voip traffic seemed to be shaped to the level that I was intelligible on the other end to callers, but still some distortion in the audio stream. Additionally with the rate manually programmed the OGV200 showed that it was throttling the MTU size to 1300 bytes, which might cause problems with some other applications.

I contacted Linksys tech support and they claimed that this was a "Bad unit" and that auto detect and other bugs I found in the setup should work properly. I highly doubt this and instead suspect the unit is simply not ready for prime time (I'm running the latest FW too).

Just be ware of this box, I'm not too impressed with it, although it is cheap ($52 with a coupon I had for buy.com).

Buyer beware!

Thanks for the review!

I almost went to buy this unit to compare with the Hawking...

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Download_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115417109974&packedargs=sku%3D1146774321820&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper

FWIW: Did it come with the firmware linked above or did you have to flash to this latest version?

The unit was manufactured in 04/06 and shipped with the 1.07 FW which I believe was released in February.

That's a long time with no further updates. My biggest beef with the unit is that the "auto rate" detection feature seems to be junk and Linksys doesn't provide the right tools to help "dial in" the settings that will work.

There should also be the means to choose services for prioritization, but I know the Hawking doesn't provide this functionality either.