Advice on router QoS for voip.co.uk

I've never managed to get voip.co.uk working properly and my contract
is up for renewal in February (IIRC) and I would like to get it working
reliably before February to renew.

I'm currently experiencing dropped and poor call quality, which I think
is due to improper config of QoS on my DSL router. My set-up is
represented thus:

ADSL --> router --> voip MTA (supplied by voip.co.uk) --> DECT phone
|--> wireless router --> wireless laptops
|--> PC

I understand that voip.co.uk recommend that all machines should connect
from the MTA, but as there is only one network port, I'd rather use the
4 on my router. Also, I'm sure this can be done as my router allows for
QoS.

As stated, my router allows for QoS configuration, but I've yet to
manage to configure it happily with my MTA. The MTA is set to receive a
fixed IP from the router (192.168.1.5) with the router on 192.168.1.1.

I've set up a router LAN QoS rules for the traffic between 192.168.1.1
and 192.168.1.5, for high priority, medium priority (with 80%, 20%) but
nothing seems to connect nicely. The MTA also has QoS enabled, but with
no settings. You can see the MTA QoS config screen at:
http://www.monkeez.org/publicpics/voip/voip3.png

You can see the current config that I have on my router at:
http://www.monkeez.org/publicpics/voip/voip1.png

and then the config screen where I am entering information at:
http://www.monkeez.org/publicpics/voip/voip2.png

Basically, any advice you can offer on this last screen to get an
optimal setting for my MTA would be gratefully received. Am I correct
in focusing on port 5060? Are there any other ports that I should allow
for?

TIA
Adam

"Kabads" <kabads@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1167304345.197696.92850@a3g2000cwd.googlegrou ps.com...

Hi Adam,

I`m also finding QOS on my router to be just soggy fish, may I ask which
router you have?

My moneys on a Linksys? If it is i`ve tried the DD wrt firmware which is
suppose to work well for QOS but i`ve had no luck with that either.

I`ve been reading the Drateks are good for QOS but they are abit pricey (to
say the least).

Kabads wrote:
> I've never managed to get voip.co.uk working properly and my contract
> is up for renewal in February (IIRC) and I would like to get it working
> reliably before February to renew.
>
I've got a Zoom x5v in this configuration (running in Franceusing
voip.co.uk), it is a combined ADSL modem and 1 port Voip router which
handles the QoS for you.

Worth a shot if you know that that is what is wrong.

Have you done any tests on your internet connection and the bandwidth
you get to voip.co.uk's servers? (latency etc.)

In article <1167304345.197696.92850@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.c om>,
Kabads <kabads@gmail.com> wrote:
>I've never managed to get voip.co.uk working properly and my contract
>is up for renewal in February (IIRC) and I would like to get it working
>reliably before February to renew.
>
>I'm currently experiencing dropped and poor call quality, which I think
>is due to improper config of QoS on my DSL router. My set-up is
>represented thus:
>
>ADSL --> router --> voip MTA (supplied by voip.co.uk) --> DECT phone
> |--> wireless router --> wireless laptops
> |--> PC

Have you gone back to basics to work out if you really do need
QoS? ie. unplug everything from your router except the MTA and make some
calls... Of-course if you're constantly down/up loading from the other
PCs then you might well need it, but I've found that in-general QoS isn't
needed in a typical home environment, but if you have it, then enable it.

Another thing to remember is that QoS is only really effective in one
direction - ie. data leaving your network to go out to the big-bad
internet. You have very little control over data coming in (because the
data has already come in and by then it's too late to do anything with it,
so it might as well just pass it throught to the much higher speed LAN)

>I understand that voip.co.uk recommend that all machines should connect
>from the MTA, but as there is only one network port, I'd rather use the
>4 on my router. Also, I'm sure this can be done as my router allows for
>QoS.
>
>As stated, my router allows for QoS configuration, but I've yet to
>manage to configure it happily with my MTA. The MTA is set to receive a
>fixed IP from the router (192.168.1.5) with the router on 192.168.1.1.
>
>I've set up a router LAN QoS rules for the traffic between 192.168.1.1
>and 192.168.1.5, for high priority, medium priority (with 80%, 20%) but
>nothing seems to connect nicely. The MTA also has QoS enabled, but with
>no settings. You can see the MTA QoS config screen at:
>http://www.monkeez.org/publicpics/voip/voip3.png
>
>You can see the current config that I have on my router at:
>http://www.monkeez.org/publicpics/voip/voip1.png

Ah. You're QoSing SIP. What you need to QoS is RTP, and that will depend
on the ports your MTA uses (and voip.co.uk). The default is 10000 through
20000. If you can, just QoS on the IP address and match all ports. (or
1 through 65535)

>and then the config screen where I am entering information at:
>http://www.monkeez.org/publicpics/voip/voip2.png

See if you can not enter any port numbers. Also, you want to QoS on UDP
(which is how SIP and RTP is carried), not TCP, so set that to UDP or
both if it has a both setting.

Remember: SIP just controls the call, RTP carries the data for the call.

>Basically, any advice you can offer on this last screen to get an
>optimal setting for my MTA would be gratefully received. Am I correct
>in focusing on port 5060? Are there any other ports that I should allow
>for?

Find out what ports voip.co.uk uses for RTP, or QoS on IP address only.

Gordon

In article <3uOkh.24444$HV6.10791@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net>,
Meggahurtz <nobody@here.com> wrote:

>I`ve been reading the Drateks are good for QOS but they are abit pricey (to
>say the least).

You can get bargians on eBay - eg: 230069053456 which can be re-flashed
with the latest firmware without any problems. (I use Drayteks a lot -
they do have their limitations, but are OK for most people)

Gordon

Hi Adam,
As I understand it (but I could be very wrong!) sip is only used for
the initiation of a session. The data itself is transfered using the
Real-Time Protocol (RTP), so this should also be entered in your qos
table. The ports my sipura uses for RTP are 16384-16684, and I guess
these are pretty standard, although you should look at the sip page of
your atm to check it uses the same ports. The protocol used for RTP
is UDP ( not TCP). It's also worth putting any p2p stuff on low
priority.
Having said this, QOS has a rather bad reputation. I think you would be
better putting the ATM first (dumping your modem/router) and plugging
it into a router, then your would not have to worry about qos.
Bill

Bill49 wrote:

> Hi Adam,
> As I understand it (but I could be very wrong!) sip is only used for
> the initiation of a session. The data itself is transfered using the
> Real-Time Protocol (RTP), so this should also be entered in your qos
> table. The ports my sipura uses for RTP are 16384-16684, and I guess
> these are pretty standard, although you should look at the sip page of
> your atm to check it uses the same ports.

The only standard for RTP is >0 and <65536 ;-)

alexd

Bill49 wrote:
> Hi Adam,
<snip>
> Having said this, QOS has a rather bad reputation. I think you would be
> better putting the ATM first (dumping your modem/router) and plugging
> it into a router, then your would not have to worry about qos.
> Bill

Just an update on what I'm trying here (without any reliability test
here yet). I plugged in just the voip MTA all by itself and it seems to
work (ADSL -> router -> MTA). I put a laptop in to the MTA and got a
terribly slow internet connection on the laptop (probably due to a high
QoS setting on the MTA).

When I plugged in my wireless router, everything went pear-shaped with
voip, so this is obviously using more bandwidth, or whatever the MTA
needs. So, instead of just promoting the MTA, I'm limiting the wireless
router through QoS. I'll report back if this resolves (wishful
thinking).

Thanks for all the help offered. Just shows how clueless I am in this
area :->

Adam