I've written scripts in Python to handle those menus before. My current modem is a Zyxel that does have a CLI though.

I'm sure it is possible, but in the time it would take me to do it could earn far in excess of the cost of a new router with a simple web interface that he could actually use to swap account detail

If I remember rightly my Dad's Zyxel also has a CLI, but you can't access any of the ADSL or firewall settings from it, doh !

He could do with a new router anyway. He currently has a router, hub and WAP, the last two of which he only actually needs when we go to visit.

And after years of working with DSL everyday I would have to agree. The Thomson routers are by far the best for long line performance. For example I get an extra 1Mbps over any other modem, and it hardly ever drops sync. Even when my cctv PSU was failing recently and chucking out loads of REIN it still kept sync.

Cheers

Cris.

I just came to the realization that my cordless Uniden phones operating at 5.8GHz completely trample my 5GHz 802.11n WiFi signal.

I've been on hold with some company now for 10 minutes or so ad noticed that I was getting really long load times on some webpages. Then the browser timing out. Even just connecting to my base station via Airport Utility or my Linksys router (acting as QoS gateway only) was taking forever.

Switch over to the 2.4GHz network and poof. Everything's going relatively smooth again.

I just hung up the phone and switched back to the 5GHz network and confirmed, everything flies.

When are those Siemens DECT handsets going to be available again?

It could be some time yet, I think.

And they'll be very expensive initially too, I imagine.
So for a stop-gap measure, that could equally be a permanent measure, go to Costco and pick up a 3, 4, or 5 handset DECT 6.0 system (non IP) now for a touch more than $100 or so.

Cheers

Look like I'll be moving to voip.ms as well. Lingo, while they have been decent, are currently unable to update my CC info. That tied with them disconnecting me without notice last year when my CC expired - I'm partially to blame, but...voice quality has gotten worse, lots of echo currently, and coupled with their parent declaring bankruptcy last month I'm going to walk.

I gather all I need to do is pickup a PAP2T-NA, register with voip.ms, configure and all will be better?
Are there any other ATAs I should consider? This would just before typically home usage with a run of the mill cordless phone.
Off to voip.ms for further reading.

The PAP2T is the first gen ATA from Linksys. I am (still) *very* happy with it, and with the ability to totally customize it (without needing to customize it).

But it lacks T.38 FAX support, so if you want slightly better odds of a fax machine working, then look for one with that feature. The very similar SP2102 has T.38. There are others, too.

If your internet arrives over DSL, then consider the SpeedTouch 780wl DSL modem / wireless / VoIP unit. It can probably do a really good job of QoS without fuss, since it "knows" about the underlying ATM transport. Plus, it's a *Speedtouch*, which means it can work wonders on an otherwise flaky DSL loop.

Internet is shiny fiber from Verizon FIOS, into a Linksys router running WRT firmware.
I'll read up on the SP2102.

Before considering VoIP.ms as the provider, first look into how close their servers are to your particular locale. This probably isn't a big deal, but some people do care about it.

They have access servers in Montreal, Toronto, New York, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and London (UK). If any of those are "internet close" to you (extremely likely), then there's unlikely to be an issue with it. They say their main servers are the Dallas and Houston ones.

Ping times can be an indication, but a traceroute will really tell the story. Eg.

Code:

traceroute to sip.ca2.voip.ms (24.102.60.67), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
 1  zippy.localnet (10.0.0.2)  0.328 ms (my local firewall)
 2  lo-100.erx05.tor.packetflow.ca (206.248.154.105)  54.735 ms
 3  2120.ae0.bdr02.tor.packetflow.ca (69.196.136.66)  54.803 ms
 4  gw-mountaincable.torontointernetxchange.net (198.32.245.17)  58.049 ms
 5  colo4500-to-core-main.bgp.mountaincable.net (24.102.5.13)  60.621 ms
 6  cn45-core.mountaincable.net (24.102.5.18)  61.529 ms
 7  ca2.servnet.ca (24.102.60.67)  66.465 ms

Note that our DSL line is "interleaved", which means those times are 35ms longer than they would be on a regular "fast mode" DSL line.

-ml

Lucky bugger.

Some of the best reading at voip.ms is available only after login. So create an account (free!) and login and poke around some more.

If you like it, then deposit the $25 minimum via Paypal and grab a DID or two. Actually, request several, and then return the ones that aren't catchy numbers. It's only $2-3 or so per DID to do that.

And there are lots of cool tricks you can play with extra DIDs..

Cheers

More reading: voip.ms discussion forum.

Ordered a PAP2T from Amazon on Saturday, with standard shipping it arrived on Tuesday - apparently there is an Amazon warehouse just over the MA/NH border.
Upgraded the firmware, painless as long as you know the IP which can be gotten via phone. Getting the IP via phone is about all the Linksys manual is good for. I pulled the IP from my router's DHCP client list.
Configuring the PAP2T isn't simple, there are many many options, the vast majority of which can be ignored. The more important setting are under Line1 or 2 and Mark has posted a PDF of his settings in the voip.ms discussion forum linked above.

voip.ms is very advanced user friendly, lots of things to play with and tweak, unlike Lingo - this is both good and bad, but I'm finding it interesting to peak into.
I do like that I can select Premium or Basic call quality and cost settings independently for International and USA/Canada calls, as Premium quality calls to Irish landlines are actually cheaper then Basic quality.

Will have to get SWMBO to make some calls to see how it sounds to her before porting our number - unfortunately we only have one handset in the house, so it may be a while before we fully move over.

Yup, I know I am a lucky bugger to have FIOS. We've had it for the past 3 years, I think our town was a test town. We get solid 3mbit down and 700kbit up.
I did tracert to their four servers. While NY is geographically and one hop closer, I was getting timeouts on the 9th of 11 hops. So I went with their us1 server.

Well it only took 8 months, but I finally got around to doing something about this, the call quality has gotten too bad with Lingo, plugged in our only phone and did a test call and verified the issue was with Lingo.

So I got the ball rolling by ordering a new cordless phone from Amazon to replace our aged one and let us have both phone lines running so that we'd be able to test voip.ms and have a seamless change over when the time came, and then started reading the 90 page thread that Mark links to above.
About 20 pages into that someone suggests using grabbing a temporary number and using Call Forwarding while transferring from ones old provider - a serious light bulb moment for me, and I checked to see if Lingo offered call forwarding- they did.

Within a few minutes Iwas able to move everything over. I'd ordered and received a new number, I skipped getting a number from my local exchange for one a few towns away that ended in 1984, this was processed and available instantly. A few clicks on the Lingo site and incoming calls were forwarded to the new number. A few more clicks on the voip.ms site, and our out going calls on the voip.ms network show our Lingo phone number. Finishing up with a quick test call to my cell phone to verify things were working correctly. All that is left to do is to have our number ported over.

Initial feed back from SWMBO on sound quality is positive. I'll be calling Ireland tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.

One of the great features that we'll be able to use is CallerID Filtering. While the Do Not Call Registry has done a decent job of reducing the amount of telemarketers we get, we still get some, eg we dropped DirectTV last year,so they call legally call us for I think 18 months to woo us back, but almost always from the same number, that number will soon begetting routed to "I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is not longer in service".

Feature wise, voip.ms has more knobs and dials to play with then any home phone system should, and a lot more then I'll ever need. If you can think it, they probably already offer it.

Now if only I could get a similar deal for our cell phones.

Great.

And here, no change from before. Except we now have two DSL "dry loops", each at 3008/800, bonded with MLPPP to give us decent (nowhere near FIOS) speeds (6000/1600).

Still with voip.ms, and see no reason to look elsewhere.

Cheers

Mark, should I do QoS on my router (Asus 520 running Tomato) given my internet speed (FiOS 10/2) and don't typically don't consume the bandwidth? If so can you point me at a reasonable how-to? I've googled many, but I'm no a good judge. David

Yeah, should should set up the QoS, at least for VoIP. A more elaborate config would speed up web browsing, too.

For just VoIP, you need to go to QoS->Basic and enter your max outbound bandwidth (measure it on a speedtest site, and enter the result there), and then your max inbound bandwidth (same thing). Since our connection here is dodgy, I fudged the numbers to be somewhat lower than the true max throughput.

Then, on the same screen, set up the traffic classes (Highest, High, Medium, Low, and Lowest) with whatever percentages you feel like. I'll attach a screenshot of mine here shortly.

Then, on the QoS->Classification screen, just create a rule for your PAP2T to place all traffic from it into the "Highest" class. Then add other lower priority classes to suit for other stuff.

Screenshots coming shortly.

Thanks Mark, the screenshots make it very easy to understand.

Yeah, except there's no screen for setting INBOUND classifications.. duh. I wonder where that went to?

You'd need to set that up on the ISPs router at the other end.

I know that.

But there is a way to gain some of that effect with back-pressure,
which is how Linux (and thereby Tomato) does it.

Just kind of odd they don't provide settings for it.
Especially since it's already half there on the QoS->Classification page.

Cheers