Finally got QoS working right

The router I use at home, Linksys BEFSX41 with the latest firmware, has QoS configuration available. It only allows two device priority settings and three custom application/port settings. The ability to add devices for QoS isn’t as extensive as the WRT54 but I really only needed to add my Vonage PAP2 device.

The only time I have a problem with my Vonage service is when I am downloading/uploading torrents. The incoming voice is great but everyone complains that my voice is choppy or skipping. When that happens, I have to turn off my torrents (I use µTorrent) and then start them back up when I’m done on the phone. I’m sure you can see that this is very annoying. I started just running my torrents at night and turning them off during the day.

I think it’s finally working right now. The only thing I really had to change on the router was the Upstream Bandwidth setting. Everything I read had warned me to leave it set to Auto but that wasn’t working. So, since my upload speed is 256 Kb, I set it to Manual and entered 230 Kb. Why 230 and not 256? I figured 90% would be a good top out number after reading several other ways people had configured QoS on their home routers.

After I set the upload rate, I made sure that the PAP2 device was set to High priority and the application port for my torrents was set to low priority. I then called my cell phone in order to test it out while uploading a couple of torrents. I left myself a message and there wasn’t a single skip in the entire 15 second message. Usually I can’t get two seconds worth of voice audio out without getting a skip.

*Update: Yep, it’s working great now. I finally was able to call my brother in Florida and he said the call was crystal. I had called him before I made the upload speed change and he had complained about the skipping.

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. – M. Kathleen Casey

29.Apr.06 Networking, Technology

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2 Responses to “Finally got QoS working right”

SD | July 17th, 2006 at 10:25 pm
Thank you, this has allowed me to get my QoS to work too. I for some reason never tried the Upstream bandwidth limit. Thought auto should work, but it doesn’t. Once I set the Upstream bandwidth to 512 (that’s my cable modem limit) it worked fine.
wyckedone | July 18th, 2006 at 5:41 am
You’re welcome. I’m glad the information helped.