[General] "Sam Knows" routers and VoIP

Author	All Replies
scooper join:2000-07-11 Youngsville, NC kudos:2 Reviews: ·Time Warner Cable ·Embarq Now Centu..	[General] "Sam Knows" routers and VoIP I don't know how many (if any) of you are using the Sam Knows routers from the FCC for the Broadband measuring, but if your have one, and are relying on VoIP - this is for you. Since Saturday, I've been fortunate to work from home, using my Callcentric service with my PAP2T and using VPN for work. A couple times a day, all of a sudden I would not be able to receive phone calls - a rather serious matter for my work. Today - I figured out the problem (I think) - as part of the Sam Knows project, the routers are doing some broadband testing. This testing essentially takes all your bandwidth - leaving about zero for anything else. The solution for this is pretty straight forward - one of my early requests to the Sam Knows team was to put in an option to disable testing for a short period of time, such as working from home. Using this option (up to 24 hours), or swapping in another router, should make using VoIP much more feasible. I will say, even using an ATA, that my calls are clearer than at work - as long as they are getting in. I'll report back tomorrow if this takes care of my issue, but I have a feeling it will. Let me be clear that "more bandwidth" would not solve this (I have 10/1 M cable internet service). Perhaps having a VoIP device that would absolutely save bandwidth for itself on the WAN side of the router would accomplish the same thing - but this is what I have right now.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-25 17:19:05 ·
PX Eliezer Premium join:2008-08-09 Hutt River kudos:12 Reviews: ·voip.ms ·callwithus ·Callcentric ·Vitelity VOIP ·Optimum Voice ·Gizmo5	Re: [General] "Sam Knows" routers and VoIP Excellent points, thanks for the info! For those who don't know, SamKnows is a private company that offers router-based broadband speed tests. »www.samknows.com/broadband/about It has been used by the FCC (USA), Ofcom (UK), and by European regulators. ------------------------------------- Because of the US FCC program, folks mistakenly thought that "Sam Knows" meant "Uncle Sam" which is of course a general concern these days anyway! But actually it is because the company was started by Sam Crawford!
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-25 17:55:48 ·
ArgMeMatey join:2001-08-09 Milwaukee, WI kudos:1 Reviews: ·RoadRunner Cable ·AT&T Midwest ·voip.ms ·MyPhoneCompany	reply to scooper I've been on SamKnows for something like a year now. I use VoIP daily, but not heavily. I've never been able to track a problem specifically to a test, and that's the problem. It would be nice if they created a log entry at the beginning and end of each test ... could send SNMP to that effect ... could send logs to my syslog server. The larger problem I have always had with my Netgears & VoIP is that after I "apply" any change whatsoever, it breaks the NAT to the ATA, and I have to reboot one or the other. My daily routine now includes an echo test every morning when I get up. -- USNG: 16TDN2870 Find your USNG coordinates: USNGWeb
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-25 18:12:06 ·
Bink join:2006-05-14 Denver, CO kudos:4	reply to scooper If you are completely applying QoS to your VoIP, you should not have any issues with this.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-25 22:12:54 ·
ArgMeMatey join:2001-08-09 Milwaukee, WI kudos:1 Reviews: ·RoadRunner Cable ·AT&T Midwest ·voip.ms ·MyPhoneCompany	said by Bink: If you are completely applying QoS to your VoIP, you should not have any issues with this. Are you saying the SamKnows proprietary firmware that runs on the WNR3500L respects QOS rules? Do you have some documentation of this? I do have my ATA set for the "Highest" QoS.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-25 22:32:35 ·
Bink join:2006-05-14 Denver, CO kudos:4	I apologize. I was under the impression this was something that sat behind your router, not replaced it. If the latter is the case, my advice might not apply.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-25 22:45:23 ·
billaustin they call me Mr. Bill Premium,MVM join:2001-10-13 North Las Vegas, NV kudos:2	reply to scooper Have you updated your firmware? The latest version, V1.2.2.46_35.0.57SKWW, has an option to temporarily disable the tests.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 04:47:33 ·
billaustin they call me Mr. Bill Premium,MVM join:2001-10-13 North Las Vegas, NV kudos:2	reply to Bink said by Bink: I apologize. I was under the impression this was something that sat behind your router, not replaced it. If the latter is the case, my advice might not apply. It can be setup both ways. SK's preferred method is to just use it as your primary router. I did that for a while, but now have mine setup using their bridge mode. It sits behind the router, and all the devices connect to it.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 04:55:54 ·
scooper join:2000-07-11 Youngsville, NC kudos:2 Reviews: ·Time Warner Cable ·Embarq Now Centu..	reply to billaustin I'm not sure if I have that particular version, but I do have a version that does disable the testing. And QOS rules or not - when it starts testing - it does not respect the QOS rules. Edit - yes , I do have that version of SamKnows F/W.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 05:00:49 ·

billaustin they call me Mr. Bill Premium,MVM join:2001-10-13 North Las Vegas, NV kudos:2	I wouldn't expect it to obey the QOS rules when testing. They want the tests to be as accurate as possible. It probably ignores all LAN traffic headed for the WAN port while testing. I would try using the SK router in bridge mode. The only change I would make is to connect the phone to the router, along with the SK unit, instead of behind it.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 05:15:02 ·
scooper join:2000-07-11 Youngsville, NC kudos:2 Reviews: ·Time Warner Cable ·Embarq Now Centu..	said by billaustin: I wouldn't expect it to obey the QOS rules when testing. They want the tests to be as accurate as possible. It probably ignores all LAN traffic headed for the WAN port while testing. I would try using the SK router in bridge mode. The only change I would make is to connect the phone to the router, along with the SK unit, instead of behind it. I believe that was my original reason on requesting the disable testing function - testing starts - all network connectivity to the outside quits. And this was well before I had started using VoIP - my work VPNs did not like Sam either. Using bridge mode wouldn't help either - the SamKnows router is still going to be saturating your internet connection when it's doing its testing. Either shutting off testing while working or just replacing SamKnows completely with another router will be the best solutions.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 05:46:03 ·
billaustin they call me Mr. Bill Premium,MVM join:2001-10-13 North Las Vegas, NV kudos:2 1 edit	It will saturate the connection while testing, but you won't lose your phone like you do now. Just remember to log into the SK box before you connect the VPN, and turn off the testing while working. I used the SK box as a router for quite a while, and it works fine, but lacks some WAN capabilities that I need. Eventually, I put back my router and put the SK box in bridge mode. Now, everything works the way I want, and they still get their test data.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 06:00:57 ·
scooper join:2000-07-11 Youngsville, NC kudos:2	You gave me something to think about Bill - thanks. What other WAN capabilities did you need that SK didn't provide ?
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 06:24:39 ·
billaustin they call me Mr. Bill Premium,MVM join:2001-10-13 North Las Vegas, NV kudos:2	I have several printers that I need to access from the WAN side. Like most of the other residential style routers, the SK box only allows one address on the WAN port. I tried to work around it for a while, but it was annoying. It works quite well this way. My RB750 is more flexible, and the SK box provides the wireless capability the RB750 is missing.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 06:40:15 ·
robhouston join:2001-09-15 Chester, NJ	reply to scooper Scooper: Thanks for bringing this up. I'm also a SK tester, and over the past couple of months, I've had several intermittent problems with my Voipo account that suggest local network issues. I haven't changed anything with my network and haven't definitively found the cause of the problems, but I have been suspicious of the SK testing, and it makes it particularly difficult since I can't figure out when that testing actually occurs. I'm thinking of flashing the SK router to a non-SK firmware version for a few days to see if that completely resolves the problem. Thanks again!
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 07:40:41 ·
scooper join:2000-07-11 Youngsville, NC kudos:2	If you have signed up for DSLReports monitoring - it's real easy to tell when testing is going on - your ping times skyrocket.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 07:47:23 ·
robhouston join:2001-09-15 Chester, NJ	Good point. I think I'll just reflash the router with some standard firmware this weekend and see if that resolves my Voipo problems. Thanks again
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 07:59:18 ·
billaustin they call me Mr. Bill Premium,MVM join:2001-10-13 North Las Vegas, NV kudos:2	There's no need to re-flash the router. Just login and disable the testing. It's under the SamKnows Settings link on the bottom left. If it's not there, then update your firmware to the latest version. »fcc.samknows.com/firmware.html
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 08:11:50 ·
robhouston join:2001-09-15 Chester, NJ	Yes, but that only disables it for up to 4 hours. I need it disabled for a couple of days, since my issues are very transient and intermittent.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 08:52:29 ·
billaustin they call me Mr. Bill Premium,MVM join:2001-10-13 North Las Vegas, NV kudos:2	Have you updated your firmware? The current version lets you select up to 24 hours. Just log in every day and set it until you find where the problem is.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-01-26 09:02:52 ·

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Re: [General] "Sam Knows" routers and VoIP