Comments on: Technology Review: Comparing Primus VoIP vs. Telus Analog line (UPDATED)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 07:50:00 +0000

I take it since you cancelled your account, you’ve never gone back. Fast-forward to 2006, just curious if you’ve heard of any improvements with Primus’ service (or customer support for that matter). I’m thinking of switching from Telus landline, but I would switch to Primus DSL (from Telus DSL) instead of Shaw. An article explaining why higher transfer rates are not always better is here:

http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/content/view/653/34/1/2/

Of course, that can all be Primus PR. *shrug*

Cheers!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Jul 2004 08:01:00 +0000

Hi Troy,

I’ve spent the last two months with Primus trying to get the most optimal performance. So far the most helpful changes I have made are:

- Getting a DOCSIS compliant modem from Shaw (reduced my round-trip latency from 270ms to 85ms)

- Moving back to the higher bit-rate, uncompressed codec (G.711)

So far so good. I highly recommend the DOCSIS changeout. Shaw allowed me to do it without having to go up to the “Extreme” plan which the DOCSIS modems are usually reserved for. I went in person to get the exchange and it was no hassle (don’t call tech support, they will give you the run-around).

Jamie

http://jamie.typepad.com

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 28 May 2004 04:03:00 +0000

Just read your stuff on Primus VOIP and your experience mirrors mine. What’s funny is that Primus treats call quality issues as an end user problem and tells you on the phone that they talk to customers all the time and that their service is better than Telus. I migrated my number last week after a two-month trial of Primus VOIP and customer service sent me a second DLINIK gateway. When I called in customer service did not know if I needed a new box because of my number migration and I would send the first one back–or it was just sent to me by mistake. I had to call in twice because I was on hold for 30 minutes when technical support put me on hold to talk to customer support to teach them about this new technology. Funny when I called back the second time the first two persons I called did not included detailed notes of my call and I had to explain my story all over again.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 May 2004 07:01:00 +0000

I believe you have to reset the D-Link to get it out of bridge mode. I tried a 192.168.15.x address and I could not get back in.

I think I may set up the serial port on my computer so I can access the console. I knew I would find a use for my serial ports one of these days!

You know, if you get a 24.x address then you should be getting first-hand DNS server information, therefore you should not need a fully qualified mail server name. Plain old “shawmail” should work again.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 May 2004 06:22:00 +0000

Yes, it is now in bridge mode, with my computer behind it picking up a 24.x address and my email working with the fully qualified domain. Thanks. But I had an “oops, locked my keys in my car” moment when I realized that now that the router is in bridge mode and I have a 24.x address, I can’t get to the router anymore at 192.168.15.1 without doing a hard reset on the router. Or setting up an alternate manual configuration for my computer at 192.168.15.x so that it can see the router (if that is still its address in bridge mode.) I have used routers in “pass-thru” mode before and we used to run into this exact thing and then have to use the serial port to access them since they became invisible on ethernet. Thoughts?

Troy

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 May 2004 05:57:00 +0000

Yes that was me. That is the way I set it up at home. My wireless router is behind the D-Link and it receives a 24.x.x.x address. This setup should work for you too.

Jamie

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 May 2004 05:46:00 +0000

I’m not sure. I saw that in the settings after you mentioned it (oh, was that you? Jamie?) but I’m not sure if that then means that it passes the outside WAN IP address right through into my machine? I have never used such a thing. One more thing to test later. If so, then I would get the QoS prioritization that I’m looking for and people would still be able to log straight into my machine. Thanks for the suggestion.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 May 2004 05:31:00 +0000

If you put the D-Link in bridge mode wouldn’t that effectively make it transparent, thus accomplish the DMZ you require?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 May 2004 05:10:00 +0000

Jamie,

Yes, I just re-read that note at Primus/Rogers about this issue and you were right – they suggest using the fully qualified domain names.

However, the D-Link also has no DMZ so I can’t map its outside IP to a fixed internal IP so that people can always reach my computer. So that’s a no-go.

But thanks for the info that this D-Link does protect the 2×128Kbps channels for voice and then route the internal network data after that. That is useful information.

Also, I just got off the phone with my friend in Columbus Ohio who just received his Vonage/Motorola kit. His calls to Canada are crystal clear…..until he calls me. Then he gets the same low white noise that I hear on all of my calls. And at one point, our call dropped entirely but we don’t know whose line it was.

It’s DEFINITELY not there yet. I have heard good things about the Motorola gateway over the D-Link but this early as they move into the sub-$100 range, it’s probably going to take a while to sort out.

Best of luck with your connections. I too get the choppy audio, particularly when trying to use the duplexing. I have had to adapt my speaking method to ensure that both parties have finished before the other speaks —- wait a minute —— that’s probably a good idea anyway!

Troy

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 May 2004 04:42:00 +0000

Why can’t you send mail to your SMTP server? It is the same as if you put a router or wireless gateway in between your computer and your cable modem. All you need to do is specify the full name of mail server:

For Vancouver it is: shawmail.vc.shawcable.net

For Victoria it is: shawmail.gv.shawcable.net

More at: http://support.shaw.ca/customercare/faq.htm#email

The D-Link device does have rudementary QoS – outbound voice is prioritized over data as long as you let the VoIP gateway gatekeep the data – that is the D-Link box need to be connected directly to the cable modem and everything else behind it. You can go into the D-Link configuration and turn on “bridge mode” such that you don’t have to worry about another DHCP or NAT interface. The user name and password of the D-Link box is admin/primusvoip.

That said, I’m still having quality problems on my VoIP line from Primus. The last two conversations I’ve had were unbearable as the voice was and choppy and in one case I had a HUGE echo delay. My alternate number still doesn’t work (those who call get a fast-busy), and either does my phone’s voice mail notification.

I’ll stick it out a little longer and hope for a firmware update!

Jamie – http://jamie.typepad.com

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 07 May 2004 17:59:00 +0000

I just looked at my bill and I’m wondering if they have buggered it up. Perhaps it is just pro-rated. The numbers are lower than they should be:

1 TalkBroadband Basic 04/20-05/07 11.81

2 Unlimited Bundle 04/20-05/07 15.39

3 Alternate Number 04/20-05/07 2.37

4 PST (BC 7.5%) 2.22

5 GST (89139-5618RT) 2.08

I’ll know better after a full month of usage. I expect that this is a pro-rata pricing schedule.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 07 May 2004 17:51:00 +0000

The service is $45.95 a month, but in the fine print it mentions a $3.95 per month network charge for all LD plans. Does this apply to the VoIP bundle you got? Have you received a bill yet?