Newbie with VoIP questions

[touchthewindrider]

Greetings, I am totally flying by the seat of my pants regarding networking, but am willing to learn and give it a whirl....

My cell phone service is with Verizon. I must live in a "hole" because I'm one of those people who have to go outside and walk around to get decent reception when making, or receiving, a call.

Our ISP is via Earthlink (well, Time Warner provides the cable, etc...) The cable "box" is located at the top of our driveway, 1200' from the house. They, Time Warner, ran a cable, and included an amplifier.

My son is an online gamer and is generally complaining about the connection speed.

Back to cell phone. I recently received a "Network Extender" from Verizon in hopes of being able to use our cell phones at home. Didn't turn out so well. Tech Support said our wireless router, LinkSys "G" router was not optimum and we needed an "N" type router. My son states that we've had an "N" type before, but the internet connection/speed for his games was flaky and dropped out often.

I know this is long, sorry, but does anyone have any ideas of how to utilize the Network Extender and not interfere with the kid's gaming? Or should I just move?

Thanks in advance. And, again, sorry about the length.

 

[thiggins]

The Verizon Network Extender is a cellular femtocell. It connects to your network via an Ethernet connection. So the router's wireless performance has nothing to do with any problems you experienced.

I need to know exactly what kind of Internet service you have (cable, satellite, DSL, fiber) and what the down and up speed is to help you further.

 

[touchthewindrider]

Okay, here ya go Tim.

Cable service. Testing via "Speedtest.net" Ping: 57ms DL: 6.98Mbps
UL: 0.31Mbps

Testing the VoIP box via "8x8.com" DL: 1.25Mbps UL: 243 kbps QoS: 93% Jitter: 17.2ms Packet Loss: 0.0%

LinkSys Router: WRT54GL

Thanks for your help!
Cliff

 

[stevech]

0.31Mbps is marginal for VoIP. I use a provider named VoIPo, having been through two others that had poor service (VoicePulse and ViaTalk). Vonage too expensive for what it is. I have also found a big difference between VoIP ATAs: The Linksys PAP2 is not recommended by me. Problems with touch tone (DTMF) distortion. The Grandstream that VoIPo send is problem free.

I have TimeWarner cable, 12Mbps down (bursts to 20) and 0.9 up. Ideally, 64Kbps (0.064Mbps) is enough for VoIP, but due to the Internet's latency variations, I think one needs at least 0.5Mbps on the uplink. Even so, of course, don't expect wireline quality with Internet-based VoIP. Mine's pretty good. But there are occasional dropped syllables, big hassles getting the router configured properly for the firewalling and VoIP audio (bearer) that can use any port, and so on.

But I pay $18/mo (or less with an annual contract) for essentially unlimited minutes in the US and Canada. And lots more features than Ma Bell gives, such as white/blacklisted numbers. Versus $60+ per mo from my ONLY choice in wireline. Digital phone from Timewarner is too expensive for me.

The forum on VoIP in DSLreports.com is insightful.

 

[thiggins]

You download speed is ok. Upload is iffy, as Stevech notes.

The WRT54GL supports 50 Mbps up and download so isn't ta bottleneck.

Basically, you need more upload speed to support multiple applications, especially those requiring real-time response like gaming and VoIP.

What were the problems with the Network Extender?

 

[touchthewindrider]

Basically, the problem is the same without the Network Extender. Cell phone reception is choppy. The Extender claims a 5000 square foot coverage, but as you move into another room call reception just gets worse. I called Verizon Tech Support and they indicated that the "G" router was the problem and that for "best" results we needed an "N" router. My son complained that the "N" router doesn't work well for gaming.
Is any of this worth switching routers? Would cell phone reception improve,you think? What's the deal with "G" vs. "N" routers and gaming?
Thanks

 

[touchthewindrider]

btw...how do you improve upload speeds? As I mentioned in the original post, we are 1200 feet from the cable "box" at the road. A, I think, 75 db amplifier was added at the house. Could this distance be the problem? Any way to improve?

 

[stevech]

Not sure from the initial postings
They, Time Warner, ran a cable, and included an amplifier. But it sounds like you have a cable modem. Not DSL (is delivered via ye ole phone wires).

If this is the case, then Time Warner Cable (TWC) should have by now checked the cable modem signal strengths at the far end of your coax cable to the "box". This would be right at the cable modem. Their amplifier has to be bi-directional, so the modem-to-TWC (upstream) signal passes by the amplifier.

I have TWC and an amplifier. The coax from my home to their demarcation point (box) is about 300 feet. It's old crummy RG59. Yours hopefully is lower loss/better coax.

So you cable modem's signal strengths can be easily seen by the tech support guys, remotely. The upstream signal needs to not be too high, as a higher number means there's more attenuation between your modem and their head-end. The upstream number can vary by weather, hour and day, due to interference entering their cable, or flakey connections. The signal strength of the upstream signal (modem's transmitted power) is controlled automatically by the TWC head end.

Be sure the cable modem does not have more than one splitter in the coax line in your home, between it and the line up to their box. This splitter needs to be two-way, not three or more-way. More splitters for TVs can be "downstream" of this initial splitter for the modem.

The downstream (them to you) is the opposite- higher is better.

Some good numbers:
upstream: 35-40dBmV. The modem maxes-out at about 55. If it's in the 50's, somethings wrong with the coax arrangement (as above).

downstream: -10 to -1 or 0 dBmV. the more positive (stronger) the better. Might even get to +5 or so. Weak is -15 or more negative.

Out of bounds upstream or downstream signal strengths (observed at different times/days) can cause lower throughput on your PCs connected by wire or wireless, due to higher error rates.

On my Motorola cablem modem, one can see the signal strengths yourself by taking a web browser to
192.168.100.1/signal.html
Yours may differ.

Hope this helps.
If this is all OK, then you can turn your attention to proving that PCs connected by cat5 wire to the home router provide the promised speed. That done, then the WiFi issues can be addressed.

Your question on higher WiFi speeds: Generally, the stronger the WiFi signal the higher the connection speed (reported by the client PC software).

 

[lifespeed]

Even so, of course, don't expect wireline quality with Internet-based VoIP. Mine's pretty good. But there are occasional dropped syllables, big hassles getting the router configured properly for the firewalling and VoIP audio (bearer) that can use any port, and so on.

That's kind of a blanket statement based on using an ATA and possibly some other issues.

In my case, VoIP is better than any land line I've ever used. However, I have proper QoS set up in my network and don't use an ATA to double-convert my audio, using proper IP phones instead, both wired and wireless.