OBiTALK Community

I recently acquired an Obi202. I had an Ooma already. Since I put the Obi202 on the network the Ooma doesn't sound as good as it did without the Obi202. When I first plugged in the Obi202 the voice quality was even better than the Ooma. Now I notice after a week and a half that it stutters from time to time.

Obvious question for me are these devices clashing with each other?

I have a Linksys 4200 dual band router running the Tomato RAF firmware. Both the Ooma and Obi202 have give themselves priority with the internet connection. I am thinking that when 2 devices are doing the same thing you will have a bit of a war going on. At this point it is just a theory.

Has anybody else have these 2 devices setup on the same network? If so have you noticed any of the above symptoms going on that I mentioned?

Thank you in advance for any and all answers.

 :)

I have an Ooma and Obi110. They have always worked flawlessly. Make sure the Qos settings in your router are turned off.

I originally had this setup working on DSL (3Mb) without a problem. If your bandwidth is greater then this, then bandwidth shouldn't be an issue.

It's fine to use multiple VoIP devices on a single LAN (big companies do this all the time).  Sporadic audio quality is most often (but not always) due to excessive bandwidth consumption by some other device.  You can test this by disconnecting all computers from your router and disabling wireless.  Now, make a test call.  If the symptoms do not occur, the problem can be solved by turning QoS on (and correctly configuring it).

Let us know the results of this test and we'll go from there.

Thanks for your suggestion.

I do have the QOS set.

I'll have to make the adjustment and turn them off.

Thanks again.

 :)

Ok, I tried sailing's suggestion and turned off the quality of service.

I made a call to my wife and gauged it and it seemed to be good. We kept talking and all of a sudden the Obi202 line started distorting again. It did not solve the problem. I did save the configuration and it supposed take new settings live right away. Incidently my bandwidth is 17Mb/S down and half Mb/S up.

I may have to give a try to Mango's suggestion. My time is limited right now however and I am wondering if I can skip a part of the procedure and ask if there is a preferred QOS configuration that gives proper priority to VOIP?

Thanks sailing and Mango.

 :)

Tomato QoS Basic Settings:
Enable QoS: (checked)
No Ingress QoS for UDP: (unchecked)

The class names vary from build to build.  Pick two, like "Normal" and "High".  If you don't have these names, you can use other names.

Default class: Normal

Outbound rates / limits:
Max bandwidth limit: 400 (this is ~80% of 0.5 Mb/s)
High: 80% / 100%
Normal: 20% / 100%

Inbound rates / limits:
Max bandwidth limit: 14000
High: 80% / 100%
Normal: 20% / 100%

Classification:
Src IP: (your OBi's IP address)
Class: High

Classification:
Same as above, with your Ooma's IP address

Thank you for your reply Mango.

I tried to follow the instructions that you gave. I know you did your best to post but I am neither familiar with how to adjust all these settings and change names to normal and high and then be able to select them. I therefore decided to post some pictures in hopes you can steer me in the right directions.

For the source IP setting it will not let me enter that number I have typed. It is the router address for the Obi202. When I try to add that it says "invalid length, please enter at least one character. Ok, I had to put the address of the router 192.168.1.1 in order for that entry to work. It is actually space reserved for the device name ... this makes much more sense the what I previously thought. However the software does not let me access the names I put in as you suggested Normal and High. Ok ... I edited the entry and found I could change the WWW to High label. It is there, I just was not looking in the right spot. Now I am trying to do it to the Ooma and I do not know what address it is on the network as it is un-named. How do I get over this hump? Ok, by the process of elimination I identified the only address that was totally unaccounted for via name, the Ooma, and now included that in. All right ... I went back to check the Inbound and Outbound and I see I set the numbers wrong. I went in and modified it to your specified settings. It's been a real fight as you can tell by my strike-outs. I think I may now actually have it. This form seems to limit uploaded pictures. I don't know if it is by kilobyte or number of pictures. I compressed my images to 100k and it only allows 4 to be posted.

What say you Mango?

Do the other pictures look right for the settings you wanted them to be?

Thanks Mango.

Last update. I changed the Source IP's so that Obi202 and Ooma are at the top and dusted off most of the rules for software I don't use. This should now be the cat's meow.

 :)

In the first screenshot, I see that your Max Bandwidth Limit is set to 10000.  You should set it as per the instructions in my last post.  I'll watch this thread for further screenshots.

I see the second screenshot now.  This certainly would cause problems with VoIP service.  Why not give the configuration I suggested a try and see if it works?  If you like, update your screenshot after you're done and I'll give you some feedback.

Re: fourth screenshot.  I would delete all the rules and just use the two I suggested - unless you are using them for something specific.  You can leave any that you know you are using for a specific purpose.

Re: "invalid length, please enter at least one character."  It looks like it requires a description.  You can put anything you want in there.  I forgot about that requirement.

You can check Device List to find your Ooma's IP.

Looks good.  I would remove all the non-VoIP rules, or reorder them so that the OBi and Ooma rules are at the top.  Make sure you save your settings (I see in the screenshot they weren't saved, though maybe you just took the screenshot before saving).

Good luck!

Hey Mango.

I can't thank you enough.

I just tested all this out with another 2 calls to my wife. Obi202 crystal clear as the day I fist plugged it in. Was on the line for first call way longer than when I removed the QOS settings, and the connection remained crystal clear.

I then picked up the Ooma and went ahead and called my wife again. It was giving twings in the conversation before I did this change. It also seems to have gone back to the crystal clear, unwavering great call quality I have grown used to.

Yes. I may have saved it after I did the screen print. I went out and back in and everything is set as you suggested in your post.

I'll see if I can figure out to do as you say about putting them (Ooma and Obi202) at the top.

Once again I really appreciated your input. These two are working great together now.

 ;)

I am very happy to hear that!

You may wish to try these settings for a few days.  If you feel like tinkering later, you could either relax or make more strict the bandwidth limits.

For example if everything continues to be perfect, you could try 450 instead of 400, and give normal internet use an extra few kb/sec.  If you occasionally hear some problems later on, you could try 350 to restrict it further.

Hey Mango.

For now I think I will leave it alone. I believe in "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Thanks to your input, it now is not broke.

I will keep in mind what you say however, and if there is a problem down the line, I will experiment like you say. You actually forced me to learn how to do the QOS settings by the well thought out instructions that you gave me.

How do you know all this, if you don't mind me asking?

 :)

Lots of trial and error.  :)

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r25663571-Epic-Tomato-QoS-Tests

Good for you!

Blood, sweat and tears, aka the school of hard knox.

That is the best school in town.

 ;D