QoS on a Router / Switch

[mpm]

Please excuse if off-topic, but I figured you guys would know.
I'm setting up a new office, 4 employees, + 2 more who will come and go randomly with laptops. There will also be the occasional visitor who may wishto connect wirelessly. This is not a call center sweatshop. Here's what I want:

I want the option to do VoIP (Skype, SIP phones, FreePBX, etc..) and NOT have to worry about garbled audio when (perhaps?) network resources are in high demand.

The technology is bewildering to the uninitiated: ToS, QoS, QoE, 802.1p, etc... WTF?

Current plan is to feed a Netgear 24-port switch (JGS5214 Prosafe Gigabit Ethernet) with a 24MB U-Verse circuit. For the convenience of the occasional visitor or outside employee, we'll also deploy a Netgear N900 (WNDR4500).That said, none of the SIP phones or other permanent office gear (printers, etc..) will connect wirelessly - they will instead hardwire over to the aforementioned 24-port ProSafe Gigabit Ethernet switch.

So, my question is: Can we reasonably expect good voice over this setup, or should we do something different?

We can port the inbound 888# if needed, but I believe the back end of our existing VoIP server is fairly robust. And I don't mind over-provisioning the local circuit - I just don't want to have to deal with crap audio ever again.

Thanks,
-mpm

 

[[email protected]]

Please excuse if off-topic, but I figured you guys would know.

I'm setting up a new office, 4 employees, + 2 more who will come and go randomly with laptops. There will also be the occasional visitor who may wish to connect wirelessly. This is not a call center sweatshop. Here's what I want:



I want the option to do VoIP (Skype, SIP phones, FreePBX, etc..) and NOT have to worry about garbled audio when (perhaps?) network resources are in high demand.



The technology is bewildering to the uninitiated: ToS, QoS, QoE, 802.1p,etc... WTF?



Current plan is to feed a Netgear 24-port switch (JGS5214 Prosafe GigabitEthernet) with a 24MB U-Verse circuit. For the convenience of the occasional visitor or outside employee, we'll also deploy a Netgear N900 (WNDR4500). That said, none of the SIP phones or other permanent office gear (printers, etc..) will connect wirelessly - they will instead hardwire over to theaforementioned 24-port ProSafe Gigabit Ethernet switch.



So, my question is: Can we reasonably expect good voice over this setup,or should we do something different?



We can port the inbound 888# if needed, but I believe the back end of ourexisting VoIP server is fairly robust. And I don't mind over-provisioningthe local circuit - I just don't want to have to deal with crap audio everagain.



Thanks,

-mpm

Hello Sir,
VOIP can be set up in a number of ways. A simple way would be to
use Google Talk -- allows real-time conversation between US and
Asia. Or one could use a Brekeke VOIP server and then use an
softphone on any PC, configured to use that VOIP server. Skype
is definitely an option, and does not require and Brekeke server
configuration. So, one might start with a simple solution and
then refine the system.

 

[miso]

Newegg lists the switch is unmanaged, so I don't see how it is relevant.
[I find netgear products to be flaky.]

QOS (well at least with DD-WRT can be a port range, ip range (net range,
or a specific MAC address. It seems to me all you can do is spec a port
range in your situation since all the ip addresses are essentially peers.

If you want to through some money at this, you can put all the SIP
phones on their own lan, then have the router QOS that ip range (net
range). I've eyeballed the dedicated lan for SIP in businesses, but
don't know for a fact if they use QOS or just provide a separate line.
[Like I'm going to track down the IT guy and ask.] With enough users,
the lan segregation isn't that big of a deal, considering what employees
cost.

 

[Ralph Barone]

Hello Sir,
VOIP can be set up in a number of ways. A simple way would be to
use Google Talk -- allows real-time conversation between US and
Asia. Or one could use a Brekeke VOIP server and then use an
softphone on any PC, configured to use that VOIP server. Skype
is definitely an option, and does not require and Brekeke server
configuration. So, one might start with a simple solution and
then refine the system.

You do realize that you are not answering the question that was asked.

 

[Martin Riddle]

Please excuse if off-topic, but I figured you guys would know.
I'm setting up a new office, 4 employees, + 2 more who will come and
go randomly with laptops. There will also be the occasional visitor
who may wish to connect wirelessly. This is not a call center
sweatshop. Here's what I want:

I want the option to do VoIP (Skype, SIP phones, FreePBX, etc..) and
NOT have to worry about garbled audio when (perhaps?) network
resources are in high demand.

The technology is bewildering to the uninitiated: ToS, QoS, QoE,
802.1p, etc... WTF?

Current plan is to feed a Netgear 24-port switch (JGS5214 Prosafe
Gigabit Ethernet) with a 24MB U-Verse circuit. For the convenience of
the occasional visitor or outside employee, we'll also deploy a
Netgear N900 (WNDR4500). That said, none of the SIP phones or other
permanent office gear (printers, etc..) will connect wirelessly - they
will instead hardwire over to the aforementioned 24-port ProSafe
Gigabit Ethernet switch.

So, my question is: Can we reasonably expect good voice over this
setup, or should we do something different?

We can port the inbound 888# if needed, but I believe the back end of
our existing VoIP server is fairly robust. And I don't mind
over-provisioning the local circuit - I just don't want to have to
deal with crap audio ever again.

Thanks,
-mpm

Get a managed switch, this way you can adjust the speed per port. If you
have multiple IP's available the you can split the network and with a
good Qos router you can control the bandwidth in each segment.

Cheers

 

[miso]

Hey, I only report what I see. Basically SIP phones with their own
connection.

I haven't seen it on the left coast but I was in Wally World where all
the phones were SIPs.