[WXC/VFX] VFX and Linksys SPA2102 a PITA to setup, now VFX call quality abysmal :-(

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › [WXC/VFX] VFX and Linksys SPA2102 a PITA to setup, now VFX call quality abysmal :-(

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#115285 7-Mar-2008 19:23

I'm interest to see how much spam you will receive after posting your e-mail address, and how long before someone breaks into your home since everyone now knows when you are at work. But rest assured, after this post no one will pinch you router.

Wizardling, I suggest you edit your post to remove those details.

You can never have enough Volvos!

coffeebaron

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#115287 7-Mar-2008 19:27

grant_k:
Wizardling: ...One reason I went ZyXEL is it had a good reputation and my success with ZyXEL gear - till now (assuming it is at fault) - seemed to bear that out.

That was my experience too... until I entered the world of VoIP.

I have had 3 different ZyXEL routers now and this is how they responded to VoIP:

P324: No QoS functions at all, VoIP passed through without any hassles (I still have it as an emergency standby).

P334W: Had QoS and Bandwidth Management, but the QoS was unable to recognise VFX traffic, Bandwidth Management sort of worked, but was buggy. A lot of playing around needed to successfully reserve bandwidth for VoIP, if you entered the bandwidth budgets in the wrong order, the router would crash and require a cold reset to get going again, at which point you were back to square one with all settings lost. Lightning got this one in April last year.

P335U: Also had QoS and Bandwidth Management, but the QoS was still unable to recognise VFX traffic, Bandwidth Management sort of worked, but was buggy in different ways than the P334W. Some of the Bandwidth Management functions no longer worked at all. It seemed like a step backwards from the P334W. Lightning got this one in July last year.

Since that time, I've had a Linksys WRTP54G, and everything just plugged in and worked with one or two minor gremlins before the firmware got upgraded remotely by WxC. Never a problem in the 5 months since then.

I am reluctant to completely write off ZyXEL as I still think their hardware is good. But their software seems to be pretty crappy, especially where VoIP is concerned. Unless there was no alternative, I wouldn't buy another ZyXEL.

P.S. Why don't you use a cellphone to talk to the techs at WxC. Their 0800 number is accessible from cellphones. Just a thought until you get VFX up and running?

I've been assessing some of the ZyXEL gear recently, so this has been a post of interest to me. I like the range of features within much of the ZyXEL range such as the ability to email logs. This has been very useful for monitoring suspect ADSL connections. I've not come across any VoIP issues with the units I've used so far, and in fact a ZyXEL 661HW has come to the rescue of an ongoing unsuccessful VFX install.

This problematic VFX install is on a marginal DSL connection 6.5km+ from the exchange. VFX would turn to custard anytime additional activity occurred through the DSL connection - especially youtube. Unsuccessfully tried two WAG54GP2's. The solution was using the bandwidth management in the 661HW to throttle back the web traffic. Moved VFX onto an SPA2102 that plugs into the ZyXEL.

Jamie, do you live in Auckland? If so I'd be very interested in helping you out here.

Fraser

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Wizardling

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#115341 7-Mar-2008 22:51

Niel: I'm interest to see how much spam you will receive after posting your e-mail address, and how long before someone breaks into your home since everyone now knows when you are at work. But rest assured, after this post no one will pinch you router.

Wizardling, I suggest you edit your post to remove those details.

First of all I'm unconcerned about spam and make no attempt nowadays to fudge my email address. It has been out in public for years now and I have a highly effective anti-spam setup anyway. Moronic spammers can waste their time sending spam to jamiekg@wizardling.geek.nz all they like. They won't get anywhere at all.

As for my security - there are always people around here pretty much 24/7 so a thief would have to be mad or very stupid to try their hand here. Still, maybe it is prudent to remove details of where and when I actually am, though not because I'm concerned about robbery. And perhaps I'll leave my ZyXEL router unsupervised by the roadside for a while... (still assuming it turns out to be at fault).

Not to say I don't appreciate your concern - but I assure you I'm no noob online :-)

Cheers,
Jamie Kahn Genet

Wizardling

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#115343 7-Mar-2008 22:56

coffeebaron: I've been assessing some of the ZyXEL gear recently, so this has been a post of interest to me. I like the range of features within much of the ZyXEL range such as the ability to email logs. This has been very useful for monitoring suspect ADSL connections. I've not come across any VoIP issues with the units I've used so far, and in fact a ZyXEL 661HW has come to the rescue of an ongoing unsuccessful VFX install.

This problematic VFX install is on a marginal DSL connection 6.5km+ from the exchange. VFX would turn to custard anytime additional activity occurred through the DSL connection - especially youtube. Unsuccessfully tried two WAG54GP2's. The solution was using the bandwidth management in the 661HW to throttle back the web traffic. Moved VFX onto an SPA2102 that plugs into the ZyXEL.

Jamie, do you live in Auckland? If so I'd be very interested in helping you out here.

Fraser

That's very interesting to hear about the 661HW - just a step up from my 660H. As for where I live - sorry, I'm in Tauranga, though thank you very much for your offer :-) BTW - ZyXEL gear isn't easy to come by IME - where did you get the 661HW, if you don't mind me asking?

Regards,
Jamie Kahn Genet

grant_k

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#115350 8-Mar-2008 00:40

Wizardling: BTW - ZyXEL gear isn't easy to come by IME - where did you get the 661HW, if you don't mind me asking?

Campbell Software in Wellington are the distributors for NZ:

http://www.campbell.co.nz/

maverick

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#115647 10-Mar-2008 07:42

I do have a loan unit, I can provison this up and send it to you, however your SPA2102 will lose it's config after a reboot, if this is okay I will do this today.

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

https://www.facebook.com/wxccommunications

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Wizardling

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#115701 10-Mar-2008 12:37

maverick: I do have a loan unit, I can provison this up and send it to you, however your SPA2102 will lose it's config after a reboot, if this is okay I will do this today.

G'day Maverick.

That is outstanding news :-) I take it the loaner is a WAG54GP2v2?

As for losing my config - I've done minimal custom configuration of my SPA2102 so far so that is no problem at all for me :-)

Well, you have my address obviously. If you could email me when to expect the loaner so I can ensure someone is looking out for the courier - that would be great :-) Cheers again and here's hoping this works (otherwise it's going to be a much more expensive problem... *gulp* )!

One last question: what ADSL routers are known to always work with the SPA2102? Money is a huge issue for me right now so, for example, I'd love to save money by grabbing a cheap secondhand ADSL router off TradeMe, rather than buy the WAG54GP2v2. OTOH if you really think the WAG54GP2v2 is the solution for me, I will take your advice as the expert in these matters.

maverick

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#115757 10-Mar-2008 15:17

Okay a WAG54g is on the way for you to try, it should go by courier today so should be there tomorrow one would hope.

EDIT: btw the device is fully configured with your DSL setup and will only need to be plugged in

As for the routers, there are a number and people will have their own preferences, post a thread and ask around, The combined unit of the WAG should take care of the Voice QOS so it does make it easier, wih a SPA2102 you have to setup QOS on your router, so in the end it's what you feel most comfortable with.....but see how you go with this unit.

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

https://www.facebook.com/wxccommunications

Wizardling

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#115902 11-Mar-2008 10:10

maverick: Okay a WAG54g is on the way for you to try, it should go by courier today so should be there tomorrow one would hope.

EDIT: btw the device is fully configured with your DSL setup and will only need to be plugged in

You're going to laugh... or maybe not... WAG54GP2v2 loaner did not come with the power cable that fits into the power adaptor. I've taken a look at the specs of the power adaptor for my SPA2102 (which isn't broken into two parts) and it has a slightly different output, so I'm not willing to risk trying it instead. Especially for a loaner :-( Or am I being over cautious?

Well, I'm not sure what to do now. It's not that I don't appreciate the effort, but where to now?

Regards,
Jamie Kahn Genet

maverick

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#115905 11-Mar-2008 10:29

argh crap....this was me to much of a rush to get it out the door...one on the way now

Yes I am a employee of WxC (My Profile) ... but I do have my own opinions as well

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Wizardling

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#115908 11-Mar-2008 10:34

maverick: argh crap....this was me to much of a rush to get it out the door...one on the way now

Ever feel like nothing's going your way? :-D But seriously - thank you Maverick.

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kristofer

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#115941 11-Mar-2008 13:15

Can someone explain the difference between the WAG54GP2 and the WAG54GP2v2. Pricespy and Dick Smith Etc, all state they sell WAG54GP2, whereas Xnet shows the product as WAG54GP2v2. Any clues?

Wizardling

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#115949 11-Mar-2008 14:37

kristofer: Can someone explain the difference between the WAG54GP2 and the WAG54GP2v2. Pricespy and Dick Smith Etc, all state they sell WAG54GP2, whereas Xnet shows the product as WAG54GP2v2. Any clues?

Well - this is just a guess, but a solid one I think - the lowercase 'v' followed by a number usually stands for 'version'. This is quite common in software and hardware naming. In other words I don't think there is ANY difference :-)

Regards,
Jamie Kahn Genet

Niel

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#115979 11-Mar-2008 16:51

The v1 had problems and went obsolete long ago. Now you only get the v2 except if you buy second hand or if it is old stock. Also, the v1 was never sold with a VFX sticker on the box, only the v2. So if you see on the box that is has a VFX sticker on it, then it is a v2. Also, Phil (Maverick) has stated a few times that if you find yours is a v1 then they can arrange for an exchange.

You can never have enough Volvos!

coffeebaron

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#115993 11-Mar-2008 19:20

Wizardling:
maverick: Okay a WAG54g is on the way for you to try, it should go by courier today so should be there tomorrow one would hope.

EDIT: btw the device is fully configured with your DSL setup and will only need to be plugged in

You're going to laugh... or maybe not... WAG54GP2v2 loaner did not come with the power cable that fits into the power adaptor. I've taken a look at the specs of the power adaptor for my SPA2102 (which isn't broken into two parts) and it has a slightly different output, so I'm not willing to risk trying it instead. Especially for a loaner :-( Or am I being over cautious?

Well, I'm not sure what to do now. It's not that I don't appreciate the effort, but where to now?

Regards,
Jamie Kahn Genet

I think you'll find this is just a standard power cord that plugs into the power adaptor. So just flog one of the computer or monitor or something else to get ya self started.

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