So now I finally have things working with my new Vonage service, but it required some additional configuration.

In my previous post, I made some changes to IP addresses on my routers to get everything connected.  However, something was not quite right – when talking on the phone, the sound would fade in and out, and was basically unusable.  I also noticed that I could only get DHCP addresses on one of my routers, and only if I was directly connected to it.  Clearly, this was no good.

So, to recap, my network layout is like this:

I have a cable modem, addressed at 192.168.1.1.  Directly attached to it is a Linksys WRT54GX wireless router, addressed at 192.168.1.3.  I have another router, a Linksys BEFSR41 addressed at 192.168.1.2 connected to the wireless router via cross-over cable, and the Vonage Linksys RTP300 router also connected to the wireless router via cross-over cable.  Its address is 192.168.2.3.

I logged into the BEFSR41 router, and disabled DHCP.  I was getting conflicts by having two DHCP servers on the same subnet dishing out address to multiple clients.  At this point, I could only get an address if I was physically connected to the wireless router, which still had DHCP enabled.  That’s when I discovered the Advanced settings on the BEFSR41 router.

First, I had to go the Dynamic Routing table, and set the working mode from Gateway to Router.  I then set Dynamic Routing TX and RX to RIP2.  This changed the behavior of the router, and made it act more like a switch, leaving my wireless router to act as the sole gateway on my home network.

Surprisingly, I discovered that my Vonage phone service suddenly became usable.  The sound quality was fantastic, there was no dropped sound, and no chirpiness to the sound quality.

Life is once again happy.

Vonage, routing, Linksys, gateway, DHCP, switch, RIP2, dynamic, VoIP

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