Question Concerning Linksys Vonage Hardware

[Slaughter]

Ok, here's the deal. A buddy of mine has a WRT54g and has 4 computers hooked up to it. Now, he wants to add a Linksys Vonage router to the mix AND add a 5th networked device. The question is, can I uplink to the Vonage hardware to the switched ports from the WRT54g and access Vonage through the WRT54g and not have to double NAT for the 5th device, or am I stucking doing double NAT through the WAN link on the Vonage hardware just for stinking phone and 5th device?

 

[brisco]

Just hook that vonage router into any available network port on your Linksys. It will work fine. Mine does.

 

[Thoreau]

Since you have a slight port shortage there, I'd recommend picking up a decent switch to add more ports. I have a similar type of network setup with Vonage that goes something like...

Internet -> WRT54GS -> 5 port GB switch and Linksys PAP2 Vonage adapter

Since I only have two computers running (both GB, hence the GB switch being there) I still have 2 ports open on the WRT54GS and 2 on the GB switch as well. In your friend's case, just substitute the Linksys PAP2 adapter for the crackpot router that Vonage sends. Oh, and have yer friend flash the WRT54G to something like Sveasoft's Alchemy or some other 3rd party firmware that supports QoS. Set the Vonage port to have highest priority and it should be smooth sailing from there.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Yep...go out and buy a small switch and a crossover cable. You can then extend your setup by the number of ports that are on the small switch...minus the port for the uplink. That'll run you about $40-50 probably for the switch and cable.

 

[Thoreau]

Oh, about the crossover cable mentioned above, I didn't need one for my setup. I forget which device in my setup is the one, but one of the two apparently had auto mdi/mdix and crossed itself for me. Most new switches have this these days, so there's a good chance you can avoid a crossover cable. Just check the packaging when shopping. Of course, if you aren't that lucky, crossover cables should be cheap anyway. =)