Cisco Systems Linksys VoIP boxes NOT tied to a particular provider?

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Linksys VoIP boxes NOT tied to a particular provider? Ramon F Herrera 02-13-06
Posted by Ramon F Herrera on February 13, 2006, 11:28 am
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If you look in the Linksys pages, you will find that they only offer
two devices which combine NAT routing and SIP telephony, for domestic
use:

http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C1&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1118334687006&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper


1) PAP2: This seems to be a Sipura (now Linksys). In the manual they
refer exclusively to Vonage. In my experience the Sipura boxes don't
have the capacity to drive a LAN, as their NAT capabilities are lacking
and the most you can connect to them is ONE PC (in the PC port).
Sometimes not even one connected PC will work, because as soon as you
connect it, the audio will become impossible to understand.

2) RT41P2-AT: This is a much more capable device, combining the NAT
abilities of a Linksys product with the SIP abilities of a Sipura.
Looks like it should fill my needs. EXCEPT that this product only
works in conjunction with the AT&T CallVantage service.

So, it looks like the folks at Sipura/Linksys/Cisco believe that if you
want to experience IP telephony from your home, you have to sign with
AT&T.

Isn't there a RT41P2-NA??

-Ramon F Herrera

Technical note: I have assembled a SIP network with about a dozen ATAs
in 4 countries, and have seen all kinds of NATs, etc.


Posted by Norm Young on February 15, 2006, 12:36 pm
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Ramon F Herrera wrote:
> If you look in the Linksys pages, you will find that they only offer
> two devices which combine NAT routing and SIP telephony, for domestic
> use:
>
>
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C1&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1118334687006&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper
>
>
> 1) PAP2: This seems to be a Sipura (now Linksys). In the manual they
> refer exclusively to Vonage. In my experience the Sipura boxes don't
> have the capacity to drive a LAN, as their NAT capabilities are lacking
> and the most you can connect to them is ONE PC (in the PC port).
> Sometimes not even one connected PC will work, because as soon as you
> connect it, the audio will become impossible to understand.
>
> 2) RT41P2-AT: This is a much more capable device, combining the NAT
> abilities of a Linksys product with the SIP abilities of a Sipura.
> Looks like it should fill my needs. EXCEPT that this product only
> works in conjunction with the AT&T CallVantage service.
>

Well I hope the RT41P2 is better implemented than the RT31P2.

I had nothing but grief with that box whenever the LAN/WAN ports
were heavily loaded (hanging & self-rebooting). I suspect a very
badly implemented NAT which can't handle a large number of
connections.

I finally convinced Vonage to swap it out for an RTP-300 which
is more stable under heavy load but doesn't seem to implement
any QoS/priority for the voice stream. Under heavy load you
can't even originate or receive a call and although the RTP-300
doesn't crash or hang, you can forget about making/receiving
phone calls while running a bit-torrent for example.

Overall I'm very disappointed with the Linksys products I've
tried, they are certainly not what I've come to expect from a
product with the name Cisco on the box.

Norm

Posted by Ramon F Herrera on February 15, 2006, 2:01 pm
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[Norm Young:]
> I had nothing but grief with that box whenever the LAN/WAN ports
> were heavily loaded (hanging & self-rebooting). I suspect a very
> badly implemented NAT which can't handle a large number of
> connections.

Well, you have to keep in mind that the NAT devices we are talking
about are designed for *domestic* networks, with only a handful PCs.
If I am connecting an office, I would use a real Cisco router.

-Ramon


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