[WXC/VFX] Signing up to VFX

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ajhphd

37 posts

Geek

# 18219 2-Jan-2008 14:26

I have been browsing the forums for a few days, mainly to learn about VFX and to figure out whether I should join up or not, and have decided to give it a go.

I have broadband from Xnet and they were extremely helpful in getting me back on to broadband in August 2006.

I live 6 km from the exhange and I suspect this is the main reason for my low-ish connection speeds. (Although I am only 3 kms from industrial park at Hamilton airport and I wonder how they get broadband there...anyone know?)

I'm on FS/2000 down and 128 up but the actual speeds are;
650 down and 165 up (modem adsl status)
567 down and 101 up (xnet speed test).

Anyway, there have been many comments saying that the connections speeds are not too important. I believe that QoS interactions between the linksys SPA2102 and Xnet will be automatic to minimise break up of voice calls. Can anyone explain this in more detail please...

I have ordered a Linksys SPA2102 expect it to arrive next week... :-)
Not sure if it is preconfigured, how important is this? C1 had two SPA2102s on their website,
one specified that it was unconfigured, but the other did not mention
anything, so will have to wait and see what turns up on the doorstep.

I tried to sign up to VFX, but the online form doesn't like me "customer not found" ... not to worry as I will just phone in tomorrow. No one answered earlier today.

I plan to get a new Hamilton number to try out the service and port the existing number when naked becomes available.

Will let you know how it goes. Appreciate any comments.

Cheers
Justin

maverick

3594 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

WorldxChange

# 102567 2-Jan-2008 16:35

Hi Justin,

Your right, your speeds are related to the distance from the exchange 6km is quite some distance and you would not expect to much more than that I'm afraid.

Preconfiguration is not to important, preconfigured devives alraedy have the provisioning link in them, so will just save you a bit of setup time, all you will need to do is connect to the device, have to be on the LAN side, the web interface is not enabled on the WAN side, then you will need to put the provisioning link (this will be sent to you in a EMail when you are signed up) into the "provisioning rule", this is located in the Voice Section of the SPA2102, goto voice / admin / adavanced / provisioning
, any problems the helpdesk guys will help you out 080014HELP

As for QOS we do a bit of this in the network side but on the local LAN side i.e your home network there are some things you can do to help, by default all your internet traffic and voice (VFX) will have the same priority as your router will not know that voice should be more important than web browsing, email etc, so a couple of things to do is
1. Give your SPA2102 a Static IP
2. Give that Staic IP a Higher QOS / Priority in your router, there are a lot of different routers out there so each will be different, the support guys can give you a hand if your not sure on this.

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

https://www.facebook.com/wxccommunications

Niel

3267 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

# 102568 2-Jan-2008 16:48

Your speed is about right for being 6km from the exchange. If you want to save money, simply go for the 512k/128k connection since you are not getting much more than that anyway. But that is not an option with Naked Bitstream (what nDSL will be called in NZ), the only option is FS/FS.

No, the connection speed is not important. QOS will prioritise the VoBB packets, which requires only about 32k anyway (but a lot more if 3-way calling, I think 160k up and down).

Configuring the device is as simple as entering one short URL into the web-based config page similar to configuring an ADSL modem but a lot simpler. Once authenticated with the VFX server, it will automatically do firmware updates as/if required (the device might reboot a few times).

Today is a stat holiday, WxC is closed. I've found that even if you fill in the on-line form, they still phone you and ask the exact same details while recording the conversation. That was 6 months ago, hope it has changed by now. But you can not phone them until you have your SPA2102, because you need to give WxC the MAC address so they can allow it to connect to their server (and make double sure they get it right, else you will have to contact them again).

The business park will have a leased line (dedicated connection) for their access or perhaps wireless.

You can never have enough Volvos!

ajhphd

37 posts

Geek

# 103032 5-Jan-2008 13:05

I am unsure as to the placement of the VOIP hardware in my network set up. I have seen references to placing it inbetween the modem and switch and some other references placing it after the switch/router. My current network is set up as follows.

Line - Fuses - Modem - 4-port Ethernet Switch - Computer 1
- ADSL filter - POTS - Computer 2

The fuses are conical springs found in a small beige box. A technician said it's good to keep these in, (for some reason???) (Is the direction of the conical springs important?) (off topic, sorry)

The modem is bulk standard D-Link DSL-502T

Both computers are assigned static IP numbers in the Modem set up.

I see two options for adding the VOIP hardware....

OPTION 1
Plug the VOIP hardware into the modem, plug the ethernet switch into the SPA2102, computers plug into ethernet switch
Will the static IP numbers for the computers still work?

- VFX Phone 2
- VFX Phone 1
Line - Fuses - Modem - SPA2102 - 4-port Ethernet Switch - Computer 1
- ADSL filter - POTS - Computer 2

OPTION 2
Plug the SPA2102 into a spare port on the ethernet switch, assign it a static IP number in the Modem.

- VFX Phone 2
- VFX Phone 1
Line - Fuses - Modem - 4-port Ethernet Switch - SPA2102
- ADSL filter - POTS - Computer 1
- Computer 2

And to keep this Xnet related... I phoned up on 3rd Jan requesting VFX. Everyone was busy, so someone will be calling me back but they were not sure when. I said that my hardware will only show up next week so no real rush.