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Unuseable Vonage with Linksys WiFi router

Is it possible that the WiFi radio waves are the problem? Assuming the ATA is close to the WiFi router, maybe you might want to move it away from it.

reply to mrloopy
Hi-

I had a very similar experience with Vonage and the SMC Barricade router. I actually gave up on the problem and sold the router to a friend, but I think I know the answer.

Basically the problem is going to be one of two things:

1) WiFi routers do not get along very well with 2.4 and 5ghz phones (many 5 gigahertz phones also use 2.4 as well). So turn off any 2.4 ghz phones to see if that has any affect on your problem.

2) You may have to have a look at the firewall configuration on your router. Vonage needs certain ports open. I forget which ones though. To test if this is the problem, disable the firewall on your router.

Hope this helps you. Please write back with results so everyone will benefit. This is cropping up more and more.

reply to mrloopy
What type of phone are you using? Is it a 2.4ghz cordless phone? If so, it is more than likely that the actually phone is interfering with your 802.11b router.

reply to mrloopy
ECX is right, despite being anonymous

Not enough is made of the radio-frequency conflict between 802.11b wireless networks and the average cordless telephone. Most phones you buy now are going to conflict. Try your Vonage phone with a plain old corded phone and see if you continue to have trouble. I suspect you will be pleased.

Opening certain ports may be helpful but it seems that only addresses the problem of the phone not ringing when people call you. Wouldn't help the cutting in and out.

Wow, thanks for the fast responses!

I have forwarded the ports. No change.

There are two cordless phones in vicinty. One is 900Mhz. The other is 2.4Ghz. The phone connected to VOnage is 900Mhz.

When you say that there is interference from the cordless phone, where is the interference accuring? Is that what would cause the problem where I can hear the other person talking, but they can't hear me?

reply to mrloopy
Am also using the BEFW11S$ and have the exact same problem of losing outgoing voice. I hear the called party just fine but they can't hear me. Vonage suggested opening a few ports and running pingplotter - which I did. Last night every call I made had this problem seconds into the call. I ran pingplotter all day and latency was fine (80ms to Vonage). Upload speed is consistent @ 180Kbps. Verified ports were still forwarded to the ATA. pingplotter was using a 1200 byte packet.
Interestingly, I ran pingplotter while I made the Vonage calls. Latency was great until my call was connected. Then it all fell apart. Lost packets, ERR's and latency in the 3000ms range as soon as the call connected. This was immediately followed by the called party saying they couldn't hear me anymore. As soon as I hung up pingplotter returned to 80ms latency and no lost packets or ERR's. I repeated this a dozen times - all with the same results. Prior to this testing Vonage blamed the problem on ISP latency. It seems that latency indeed may be the problem but Vonage may be causing it on call connection.
I think Vonage needs to run some more comprehensive diagnostics on the outgoing voice problem rather than using the blanket "your ISP has a latency problem" excuse. I even volunteered to help them diagnose it on my end. It seems to me that they'd want to get to the bottom of the issue and fix it rather than blow it off as an issue between me and my ISP.

eganov: But that doesn't explain why it would only happen when using the WiFi router. When I used a non wifi version, there were no probs at all

reply to mrloopy
Even if Vonage's folks don't know what the problem is, hopefully we can all figure it out together here. I wish I would have had this thread before I gave up.

First, even though your 2.4 ghz phone isn't connected to Vonage, just humor me, and unplug it (turn its power off) to see if this has any affect.

Also, if you have the option to completely disable your WiFi router's firewall, that should tell us alot. You said before that Vonage isn't even going through the WiFi's router, if I understood you correctly. In that case, this gets more convoluted. I just don't understand why the ATA 186 would be affected by the WiFi's radio waves. I didn't think it was a radio device...

PS-I know the poster above was joking, but why does anyone care if I post anonymously? The only reason I don't have an account is basic laziness and the fact that I already have enough accounts to keep track of. If it really matters to ya'll, then I'll step up and create an account.

Nope, not the 2.4Ghz phone. Unplugged it. Still the same problem.

Now, when there is a connection to the WiFi router, I get the problems. But if I disconnect the WiFi card from the PC (ie so there is no connection to the WiFi router, but it is still on), then the problem seems to go away. Very strange.

I can't disable the routers' firewalls. Just to make it clear, the WiFi router is going through the normal router. The normal router has the ATA connection. The wireless router only has one PC connected to it (via wireless).

OK, so I also connected the wireless card on the PC to another random access point I found and the calls work fine. So it has something to do with when there is a WiFi connection on my network. Argghhhhh. Anyone have any idea how to pinpoint what might be the problem?

Should I try changing MTUs? I did on the wired router, but would it make a diff on the WiFi router?

Turn on the 128 bit encryption and also try changing the channel on the router and your PC and see what happens.
--
My Web Site »centralofficeonline.com

Changed channels and WEP. Still didn't work.

HOWEVER: I tried setting up a spare laptop. It runs a Windows ME. When I ran the WiFi out of that PC, the calls seemed fine again! Very wierd.

My wife's laptop (Windows 2000) that the wireless card was orginally in seems to be the problem somehow. When Iw as chatting to Linksys customer support, he suggest that the firewall on the Laptop may have been having issues with the Linksys router. It is running Cyberarmour firewall. It is also running a few other apps fomr her coporate work. Could this be the culprate?

Believe it or not, it SEEMS to be the firewall on the PC. I don't understand why this would be the case, but I killed it, and Vonage SEEMs to work OK now.

And of course the powers that be at her work have a you can't change it policy. So looks like I may be out of luck. Anyone have any ideas?

reply to mrloopy
I agree that WiFi in and of itself should not make a difference as the ATA is not an RF device. Even though I have a WiFi router, I'm not using the WiFi function at the time I am making a Vonage call. I'm not using cordless phones either. What MAY be the problem is that your non-WiFi router is just plain different from the hw/fw on your WiFi router. Another distinct possibility is that both routers are capable of working in a Vonage environment - they are just too distracted with growing to spend the time needed to understand how to support the various configurations. I haven't changed anything in my setup and haven't been able to make a call w/o losing outgoing audio in 3 days. Incoming calls were automatically routed to vmail for some reason and to my suprise the stutter dial-tone (for vmail notification) started working (it never had before). We can only hope this is a part of progress!

OK, can't fix it, back the router goes. I'll try a netgear one and see if any diff.

Mr. Loopy--

I feel your pain.
It might be safe to assume that the SMC Barricade 802.11G router doesn't work with Vonage either. I sure wish we knew why though. Has anyone checked with Cisco to see if they have any comments about this...

And by the way, there must be plenty of people with working WiFi setups who aren't having problems with Vonage. Can we hear from more of you?

I have a Linksys BEFSR41 and a Linksys WAP54G in my home. I have seen no problems like has been mentioned. My WAP54G is in a separate room from my BEFSR41 though. My ATA is plugged directly into my BEFSR41. I do have a cordless phone as well, but I can't remember the frequency of the phone. I have used my cordless phone right next to my laptop (which has a Linksys WPC54G card) and had no problems with my call.
[text was edited by author 2003-08-22 12:34:21]

Thanks for the replies, but it was actually because of the corporate firewall installed on the PC that was using the WiFi. We still don't know why this was affecting Vonage service or why it was only happening when connected via WiFi.

Um, well, I put back my original network (without the WiFi) and guess what. I'm getting the same problems. I give up. This is my orginal configuration that worked fine. Maybe the problem wasn't anything to do with my network in the first place, it was just a coincidence that there were Vonage issues at the same time as me installing the WiFi router.

I really can't pin point this problem anymore. Maybe it's time to go back to At&T.