ItalkBB troubles

[yemmie]

Hey Guys,

 

I need some help. I recently switched from Cox to Verizon Fios because my wife said cox internet was too slow. Now, my ITALKBB does not work, and the internet is only marginally faster. Italk worked fine with Cox, but the internet was slow.

 

Now, cannot call out. When you try to, sometimes it connects but the person on the home phone can¡¯t hear the person on the other end. Sometimes it does not connect at all. Incoming calls work fine.

 

I have been in contact with italkbb and Verizon many times. Italkbb said it sounded like a settings issue that would have to be resolved by Verizon. Verizon seemed unable to help ME by phone, so I paid $196.00 to bring an IT expert into my home to trouble shoot the problem. He did some research on line, made some settings adjustments, opening all the necessary ports. It worked for one call, and then the signal was blocked again. He tried this several times. He decided, for sure, it was/is being blocked externally somehow. He called Verizon and spoke to them. They referred him to Actiontech. He called them and they REFUSED to talk to him because he does not work for Verizon.

 

Verizon came here today and talked to Actiontech on the phone and tried to do some things to fix it. They finally concluded that the italk router and the verizon fios router/modem are not compatible because of the two firewalls. Basically the tech said there is nothing anyone can do to make italk work with verizon fios. Anyone else here experience anything similar? What do I do? Is there some other company that will work well with Fios that is cheap like ITALKBB? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[dnoblett]

Routers are cheap, I would simply replace it.

 

http://www.geeks.com...M-PB-2R&cat=NET (Linksys WIFI / 4 port Router) ($25)

 

Or are you talking about some device like a magic jack device??

 

In my case we have been using Skype for calls to China, 2 cents per min does not break my budget with the amount of calling my wife does, perhaps $30 - $60 per year at most.

Edited October 21, 2010 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[credzba]

I need some help. I recently switched from Cox to Verizon Fios because my wife said cox internet was too slow. Now, my ITALKBB does not work, and the internet is only marginally faster. Italk worked fine with Cox, but the internet was slow.

 

My wife sometime complains "the internet is slow", but it really has nothing to do with the internet speed, rather it is the fact she is watching video, or looking at web pages hosted from China.

When you pay for "faster" internet, it is only faster from the provider (verizon/cox) to your house, does nothing to get those packets across the ocean faster.

 

As you noticed, fios is only marginally faster than cox because the bottleneck was not the path from the provider to you, but rather that darn ocean.

 

My opinion, save your money, go back to Cox.

We could probably make fios work if you want to mess with it.

[C4Racer]

I had Comcast for a long time. Hooked up Italk on it and my wife would always complain about the connection when calling China.

 

I switch to Verizon FIOS for years. Never had any problems. It was so much better than Comcast.

 

ITalkbb is crystal clear. Like you are next door. Even when calling China.

 

Have you tested your download / upload speeds to make sure you are getting what you are paying for?

 

What package did you sign up for? 5MB, 15MB or 20MB?

I would not run ITalk or any VoIP on any connection less than 10MB.

 

I did a test shortly after install. Verizon had to make some changes to get the speeds correct.

It wasn't much faster than Comcast at the start. Once Verizon made the adjustments it started flying.

 

I am in Oregon. Verizon FIOS here is now Frontier. Same great connection.

Edited October 22, 2010 by C4Racer (see edit history)

[george lee]

did you try the tracert command to the website? here is a link explaining tracert command, http://www.mediacollege.com/internet/troubleshooter/traceroute.html. i do it when i have network issue at home and work.

[tonado]

I had Comcast for a long time. Hooked up Italk on it and my wife would always complain about the connection when calling China.

 

I switch to Verizon FIOS for years. Never had any problems. It was so much better than Comcast.

 

ITalkbb is crystal clear. Like you are next door. Even when calling China.

 

Have you tested your download / upload speeds to make sure you are getting what you are paying for?

 

What package did you sign up for? 5MB, 15MB or 20MB?

I would not run ITalk or any VoIP on any connection less than 10MB.

 

I did a test shortly after install. Verizon had to make some changes to get the speeds correct.

It wasn't much faster than Comcast at the start. Once Verizon made the adjustments it started flying.

 

I am in Oregon. Verizon FIOS here is now Frontier. Same great connection.

 

Same here. I had problem with COMCAST but with Verizon FIOS, I never have a problem using my ITALKBB.

[NewDay2006]

I've had comcast for 4 years with ItallBB... never a problem.... last week my box went out... they sent me a new one and I'm up again.

[SleepyGuy]

What type of cable do you have between the Actiontech and Verizon's Optical Network Terminal(ONT)? Is it coax or CAT5?

 

Is your installation using PPPoE or DHCP? PPPoE was used in early FIOS deployment but has been replaced by DHCP.

 

1. If you are on DHCP (logging into the Actiontech router will let you find out which method is in use) AND the cable between Actiontech and ONT is CAT5, plug the LinkSys (or whichever OEM iTalkBB is using now) directly into the ONT. This by-passes the Actiontech and if the phone works you know Actiontech is the problem.

 

2. If you are on PPPoE, trouble-shooting is a bit more difficult as the LinkSys device only speaks DHCP. In that case, in the Actiontech router configure the LinkSys as a "DMZ host" - what it does is to forward all inbound connection request to the LinkSys.

 

In general, the workaround is to configure the LinkSys as a DMZ host. If the connection between ONT and Actiontech is already CAT5, you can buy a router from any electronics store (they all support both DHCP and PPPoE); if the connection between ONT and Actiontech is coax, you can switch it to CAT5 yourself but may need to call Verzion because the two ports have different MAC addresses, and once it's on CAT5 you can use your own router.

 

To answer your wife's original question: if the "slowness" she is complaining about only occurs with websites located in China, there is nothing you can do - you can increase the bandwidth between you and your ISP (Verizon, Cox, etc.) ten-fold and won't notice a thing, what's killing the speed is latency (just think about the length of the cables sitting on the ocean floor), plus the limited bandwidth between the two countries.

 

Hey Guys,

 

I need some help. I recently switched from Cox to Verizon Fios because my wife said cox internet was too slow. Now, my ITALKBB does not work, and the internet is only marginally faster. Italk worked fine with Cox, but the internet was slow.

 

Now, cannot call out. When you try to, sometimes it connects but the person on the home phone can’t hear the person on the other end. Sometimes it does not connect at all. Incoming calls work fine.

 

I have been in contact with italkbb and Verizon many times. Italkbb said it sounded like a settings issue that would have to be resolved by Verizon. Verizon seemed unable to help ME by phone, so I paid $196.00 to bring an IT expert into my home to trouble shoot the problem. He did some research on line, made some settings adjustments, opening all the necessary ports. It worked for one call, and then the signal was blocked again. He tried this several times. He decided, for sure, it was/is being blocked externally somehow. He called Verizon and spoke to them. They referred him to Actiontech. He called them and they REFUSED to talk to him because he does not work for Verizon.

 

Verizon came here today and talked to Actiontech on the phone and tried to do some things to fix it. They finally concluded that the italk router and the verizon fios router/modem are not compatible because of the two firewalls. Basically the tech said there is nothing anyone can do to make italk work with verizon fios. Anyone else here experience anything similar? What do I do? Is there some other company that will work well with Fios that is cheap like ITALKBB? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edited October 22, 2010 by SleepyGuy (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

What type of cable do you have between the Actiontech and Verizon's Optical Network Terminal(ONT)? Is it coax or CAT5?

 

Is your installation using PPPoE or DHCP? PPPoE was used in early FIOS deployment but has been replaced by DHCP.

 

1. If you are on DHCP (logging into the Actiontech router will let you find out which method is in use) AND the cable between Actiontech and ONT is CAT5, plug the LinkSys (or whichever OEM iTalkBB is using now) directly into the ONT. This by-passes the Actiontech and if the phone works you know Actiontech is the problem.

 

2. If you are on PPPoE, trouble-shooting is a bit more difficult as the LinkSys device only speaks DHCP. In that case, in the Actiontech router configure the LinkSys as a "DMZ host" - what it does is to forward all inbound connection request to the LinkSys.

 

In general, the workaround is to configure the LinkSys as a DMZ host. If the connection between ONT and Actiontech is already CAT5, you can buy a router from any electronics store (they all support both DHCP and PPPoE); if the connection between ONT and Actiontech is coax, you can switch it to CAT5 yourself but may need to call Verzion because the two ports have different MAC addresses, and once it's on CAT5 you can use your own router.

 

To answer your wife's original question: if the "slowness" she is complaining about only occurs with websites located in China, there is nothing you can do - you can increase the bandwidth between you and your ISP (Verizon, Cox, etc.) ten-fold and won't notice a thing, what's killing the speed is latency (just think about the length of the cables sitting on the ocean floor).

 

Note for the NON-Techies out there.

 

PPPoE = Point to Point over Ethernet, this is a VPN tunnel

 

DHCP = Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, this is a method used to automatically assign IP addresses to hosts, unless you are told an IP address to manually enter into your Router's WAN port settings, the address is assigned by DHCP. All computer networks use DHCP to assign IP addresses to the devices attached to the network.

[yemmie]

I thank you all for answering, but your answers assume too much technical knowledge. I am relatively ignorant so I don't understand what you are telling me to do. I see from some of your answers that it is possible to make italk work with verizon fios. Some of you have both and have no problem. I just don't know how to do it. Italk doesn't know how to do it. Verizon says they don't know how to do it. Actiontec says it can't be done. My IT guy says it can, but he does not know how to do it.Those of you who are very computer capable can probably do it, but to tell ME how to do it, you need to explain/define each term you are using. Speak to me kindly, but as if I am a complete moron. I don't have the vocabulary. I know what a coax cable looks like, but I don't know all the other jargon I am reading. I know how to plug things in. I can use a computer. I can change settings if someone explains each step, what to click, what I will see, and tells me what each thing I am doing means. I can even solder connections, make coax cable end connections, etc. But my ability is quite limited.

 

Maybe I CAN simply replace the actiontec router/modem with a different model, but which model? I have googled this question a million ways. I see no clear answers for any of this. I am just about ready to throw the whole system (computer, modem, router, phone converter, phones, etc.) out the window. I knew I should not leave Cox. It was slow, is slow, does have problems from time to time, but it did work most of the time, and it did work very well with italk. I knew changing was going to cause all kinds of problems, and I knew it was going to cost me more money, in the short term, but I did not know I was going to have to go out and find a second job to pay for the extra costs of just getting it to work. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[C4Racer]

Lets start at the basics.

 

What model router do you currently have?

What is the download / upload speeds on your plan.

 

My router is an Actiontec Wireless MI424-WR.

My speeds are 15MB down / 2MB up.

[yemmie]

Lets start at the basics.

 

What model router do you currently have?

What is the download / upload speeds on your plan.

 

My router is an Actiontec Wireless MI424-WR.

My speeds are 15MB down / 2MB up.

Hi£¬ same router as you MI 424-WR. On a speed test it downloads at about 15 MB, uploads at about 5MB. I believe the plan calls for the same as you as well.

[C4Racer]

Lets start at the basics.

 

What model router do you currently have?

What is the download / upload speeds on your plan.

 

My router is an Actiontec Wireless MI424-WR.

My speeds are 15MB down / 2MB up.

Hi£¬ same router as you MI 424-WR. On a speed test it downloads at about 15 MB, uploads at about 5MB. I believe the plan calls for the same as you as well.

 

We may be getting down to the issue. What device do you have from ITalkbb. Is it a Linksys SPA1001 or an SPA2102

Sounds like the router SPA2102? Usually not a good idea to have two routers on the same network, unless you are sub-netting.

When you have two, usually it is best to turn off some capabilities of one which turns it basically into a network switch.

 

I opted to get just the Analog Telephone Adapter (Linksys SPA1001) from ITalkbb. I did not want an additional router on my network.

As you can tell, the firewalls and other protocols will fight each other. Best to avoid the configuration nightmares you can have with this setup.

I would see if ITalkbb will change your router for just an Analog Telephone Adapter.

[yemmie]

Lets start at the basics.

 

What model router do you currently have?

What is the download / upload speeds on your plan.

 

My router is an Actiontec Wireless MI424-WR.

My speeds are 15MB down / 2MB up.

Hi£¬ same router as you MI 424-WR. On a speed test it downloads at about 15 MB, uploads at about 5MB. I believe the plan calls for the same as you as well.

 

We may be getting down to the issue. What device do you have from ITalkbb. Is it a Linksys SPA1001 or an SPA2102

Sounds like the router SPA2102? Usually not a good idea to have two routers on the same network, unless you are sub-netting.

When you have two, usually it is best to turn off some capabilities of one which turns it basically into a network switch.

 

I opted to get just the Analog Telephone Adapter (Linksys SPA1001) from ITalkbb. I did not want an additional router on my network.

As you can tell, the firewalls and other protocols will fight each other. Best to avoid the configuration nightmares you can have with this setup.

I would see if ITalkbb will change your router for just an Analog Telephone Adapter.

Thanks. Yes, I believe you are right. I called Italk and told them about it, but of course they are just like American doctors. If you are sick in America and you believe you know what is wrong with you, American doctors will test you for every other kind of illnes first, no matter how rare the others are, before they will even consider that you could be right. Hence, they will send me another SPA 2102, even though the one I had worked fine until the day I switched from Cox to Verizon. Also, they don't have the SPA 1001 boxes anymore. Now, I would even be willing to buy one for myself, and I see them on line for sale right now, but they say no, let them try to help me solve the problem first. So, here we are. No phone since 09-25-10, waiting for a new box that I know will not work. Why am I stupid enough to do this, because my wife wants me to. I have learned that, most of the time, it is best to do what our Chinese wives want.

[warpedbored]

Why am I stupid enough to do this, because my wife wants me to. I have learned that, most of the time, it is best to do what our Chinese wives want.

 

Which just proves you aren't stupid afterall. Hang in there Yemmie, I have every confidence Mike will get you fixed up.