SunRocket VoIP *Everybody is reporting that this is DEAD!* (Free phones, extra number, etc.)

[georgepa]

well, you had it working before you moved it behind the router. Are you sure you did not plug the Ethernet cable into the WAN port (when it was BEFORE the router) but then into the LAN port when you placed it BEHIND the router? I am in no way saying that you don't know your connections, but you don't give enough information to know for sure how it was set up.

Did you try to check the gizmo settings? Go from your computer's ethernet port to the gizmo's LAN port, open an Internet browser and type in the URL window 192.168.251.1
When the setup screen comes up use the following login info:

user id: user

password: welcome


Check to see what firmware version you have and if the gizmo is logged.


Let us know here.

 

[iamme]

i can say with 100% certainty that i used the correct cables in every setup (modem+gizmo+pc, modem+gizmo+router+pc, modem+router+gizmo+pc). i must have went through every combination at least 7-8 times each with various techs repeating the instructions.

btw, the one time it was on, was after i had moved the gizmo behind the router for the umpteenth time. i told the level 2 tech again that nothing had happened after about 10 minutes of just waiting. right as he was about to get off the phone, the VOIP light flashed on. nothing that i did differently. i used it a few times and then got off the phone with him. i tried to switch the gizmo in front of the router and nada (resetting all the power lines and matching the cables of course). when i tried to go back to the config that worked, nada.

the problem seemed that the gizmo was seen by the SR tech guys, but the internet never went through the gizmo. when i had it with modem->gizmo->pc, i couldn't get internet access on my PC. logging into my gizmo, i wasn't getting an IP address (0.0.0.0). i enabled MAC cloning and was able to get an IP, but still couldn't get internet access. i didn't mess w/ any other options.

as far as firmware, i don't remember off the top of my head....i'll have to go home and find out.

also, i'm sorry if i seem snippy....it's just this whole ordeal has been ridiculously difficult. SR's support just BLOWS. every single time i spoke with a level 1 tech, i had to repeat the same things OVER AND OVER. every single one wouldn't listen to what i had to say, but would start asking me to disconnect all my cables to play musical-connections again. one guy kept blaming my ISP when i couldn't get an internet connection after the 5th cable swap. and i don't know how many times they've asked me if i was on DSL or cable. i'm giving it just a few more tries before i give up and try another service. i'd rather pay a few extra bucks per month for competent support.

 

[RideFree]

iamme,
This is crazy, but another poster just stated that he plugged the Gizmo's WAN and the router's LAN together, contrary to What S/R says. He said it worked like a champ after about 30 seconds. I've asked him for clarification.
If you try it, it can't hurt (at least NTIKO).

 

[RideFree]

iamme,
I just looked at mine and it is the router's LAN that is plugged into the Gizmo's WAN.
I have the Modem > Router > LAN > Computer(s)/Gizmo.
So S/R is talking about having modem > Gizmo > router > LAN - I don't like this.
It would mean that all the WAN traffic goes through the Gizmo. No Way!

Edited: Mine has been hooked up since Dec. 2004, so you'll have to excuse me if I didn't rush to get down on my hands and knees on the family room floor in order to look at the dumb thing.

 

[iamme]

ugh, now i can't even log into my gizmo for some reason.

when i have it hooked up: modem > gizmo > PC......my PC has a blank under Default Gateway. i tried 192.168.251.1 and nothing comes up. plus, no call from level 2 tech support.

is there a way to restore the thing to factory settings? and, how can i reload the firmware? what's the "RSTR" button on the back do?

 

[RideFree]

From the Command Prompt, type "ipconfig -all" & report what you get.

Also, after doing that,
type "ipconfig -release"
And then, "ipconfig -renew"

 

[iamme]

well, i left the gizmo hooked up overnight (after more failed attempts) and i wake up this morning to a VOIP light.

phone works and everything.

i have no idea what to think of this. i'm glad it's working, but what does this say about the reliability. i don't want to have to face hours of fiddling if/when i have trouble with the gizmo again. well, i've got 30 days to try it out, right?

but now i'm terrified of even touching the thing, lol.

right now it's modem>gizmo>router>pc. i would really like to have the gizmo behind the router, so all my internet traffic doesn't go through the gizmo.

 

[stuman74]

Originally posted by: georgepa

stuman-

My TIVO works well, but there is some trickery if TIVO does not work for you right off the bat. It involves calling TIVO's 703 dialup # (in Virginia, where SR is located.) Here are some threads that deal with this:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,13406722

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,14973732

I'll have to test it later tonight, but I may have found the reason for my problem. I was placing a call from my SunRocket line this morning and since it was a work call, I pressed *70 to disable call waiting. Before even dialing the number, I got a busy signal. I know I have *70, in my TiVo settings. Perhaps I just need to remove that and it'll work.

Does SunRocket not use the *70 code to disable call waiting? Or is it just because I'm not able to receive incoming calls yet?

 

[georgepa]

stuman-

You are right, *70 is not used by SR.

 

[plasticfish]

Got my box in today. Put gizmo behind router and voip came on in less than a minute. Can recieve inbound calls and the sound quaility is good. Happy camper with it so far.

 

[plasticfish]

do have one question. I got the dct 648 phones that where on sale at staples last week. How do you get the voicemail indicator led to work...or does it not work with this model since it has an answering machine?

 

[imported_electron]

I just got my SunRocket Gizmo package and hooked it up to a single computer on a cable connection (OOL) and it all works except I get disconnected from online gaming servers every few minutes. I did the browser to 192.168.251.1 thing but I see a bunch of settings that i have no idea wht they mean. Like what is DMZ for example? Demilitarized zone? Maybe I need a router? I don't have one yet. Seems kind of overkill to get a router for just one PC but if it would get it all to work well I guess I'd do it.

Maybe I need a crossover cable to go from the gizmo to the PC? Right now it's Modem>gizmo>PC. Modem to gizmo is with the supplied yellow crossover cable but gizmo to PC is just a straight CAT5 cable maybe it should be crossover as well?

I have no disconnect problems when I hook up just the modem to the PC with the str8 CAT5. Only when the gizmo is connected to it. Maybe It'd be best to get a router so all the traffic isn't going thru the gizmo? Does anyone else out there use this without a router?

 

[stuman74]

I got the TiVo to work with SunRocket. I went into the TiVo phone settings and removed the *70, prompt as well as set the detect phone avail and dial tome both to NO instead of YES. Two test calls and then the main update call worked fine. I didn't have to use any of the Virginia settings.

 

[laketrout]

Some days more than others require you to be a little more reflective about life. So I just wanted to simply say, I am very happy with SunRocket.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: laketrout
Some days more than others require you to be a little more reflective about life. So I just wanted to simply say, I am very happy with SunRocket.

Definitely brings a tear to my eye...

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: georgepa
Re: Number porting. It usually takes between 3 weeks and 4 weeks for a successful number port, from my observations. Mine took a little over 3 weeks. Sometimes things happen to make the process take longer. If it took 3 months there was definitely something crazy holding up the port. To speed up the process you could start the port and then, after a couple of weeks, follow up with SR at their headquarters. The person you should call at SR headquarters about number porting issues is Carrie barr.

Her direct phone number at sunrocket is 1-703-394-4188.

From what I understand she is working exclusively on number porting issues. She seems to get to the bottom of holdups and clears them up right away. Calling her directly instead of going through Level 1 speeds up the process. Sometimes holdups can be something rather stupid, such as the POTS provider the transfer is coming from denying the transfer because there is a distinctive ring account on it. I have also seen it held up because a divorced couple had both names listed on the account, but only one person was cancelling it. Dumb stuff like that.

Call her at the number listed to find out about your specific account. I understand she usually picks up the phone directly, instead of it going to voicemail. Alternatively you could email her with a "finding out about my port status" request at carrie.barr@sunrocket.com

Hmmm... My number is still in 703 and I'm in 727. My number isn't ported and I have no clue as to the status. I called Carrie 3 times and went to voicemail on all of them. Left 2 messages with my name and cell phone callback number. Got no response to either one. I guess I'll try Emailing.

 

[hbsalesinc]

Received my Gizmo on Monday, setting up the gizmo was a breeze (Modem->Router->Gizmo)

Call quality is EXCELLENT, which surprised me after reading some of the complaints on this forum as well as DSLReports regarding echo, and etc.

I got in on the $199 for 2yr plan. Already owning a set of 5.8ghz phones, I found this deal to be hard to pass up.

Thanks again AnandTech forums for the info!

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: electron
I just got my SunRocket Gizmo package and hooked it up to a single computer on a cable connection (OOL) and it all works except I get disconnected from online gaming servers every few minutes. I did the browser to 192.168.251.1 thing but I see a bunch of settings that i have no idea wht they mean. Like what is DMZ for example? Demilitarized zone? Maybe I need a router? I don't have one yet. Seems kind of overkill to get a router for just one PC but if it would get it all to work well I guess I'd do it.

Maybe I need a crossover cable to go from the gizmo to the PC? Right now it's Modem>gizmo>PC. Modem to gizmo is with the supplied yellow crossover cable but gizmo to PC is just a straight CAT5 cable maybe it should be crossover as well?

I have no disconnect problems when I hook up just the modem to the PC with the str8 CAT5. Only when the gizmo is connected to it. Maybe It'd be best to get a router so all the traffic isn't going thru the gizmo? Does anyone else out there use this without a router?

You should not need a router to use SunRocket but IMO you shouldn't have a PC on the 'net if it's not behind a router doing NAT just for security.

I had similar issues that you're experiencing when I had my router behind my gizmo (cable modem > gizmo > router > internal PC(s) ). The problem went away when I put the Gizmo behind the Router (cable modem > router > gizmo & internal PC(s) ). I had to put my Gizmo's IP address in the DMZ on my router for this to work.

I do have intermittent echo though. My side echos but the other side doesn't. Oh well, what can you expect for the price, right?

 

[FoBoT]

gack!
my gizmo has been down for 5 days

well, the phone is out, but my internet is working fine

when i reboot the thing, i get a dial tone for 10 seconds, then a slow busy , then a fast busy , then static. it acts like a phone is off the hook

i of course tried different phones plugged straight into the phone port

i have been doing email tag with support for 3 days (one email a day seems to be all they can handle)

last night they updated the gizmo, at least that is what they said , but its is still broke dick

i think my gizmo is dead. i hope to get them to ship a replacement before the weekend

 

[imported_electron]

Originally posted by: Robor

Originally posted by: electron
I just got my SunRocket Gizmo package and hooked it up to a single computer on a cable connection (OOL) and it all works except I get disconnected from online gaming servers every few minutes. I did the browser to 192.168.251.1 thing but I see a bunch of settings that i have no idea wht they mean. Like what is DMZ for example? Demilitarized zone? Maybe I need a router? I don't have one yet. Seems kind of overkill to get a router for just one PC but if it would get it all to work well I guess I'd do it.

Maybe I need a crossover cable to go from the gizmo to the PC? Right now it's Modem>gizmo>PC. Modem to gizmo is with the supplied yellow crossover cable but gizmo to PC is just a straight CAT5 cable maybe it should be crossover as well?

I have no disconnect problems when I hook up just the modem to the PC with the str8 CAT5. Only when the gizmo is connected to it. Maybe It'd be best to get a router so all the traffic isn't going thru the gizmo? Does anyone else out there use this without a router?

You should not need a router to use SunRocket but IMO you shouldn't have a PC on the 'net if it's not behind a router doing NAT just for security.

I had similar issues that you're experiencing when I had my router behind my gizmo (cable modem > gizmo > router > internal PC(s) ). The problem went away when I put the Gizmo behind the Router (cable modem > router > gizmo & internal PC(s) ). I had to put my Gizmo's IP address in the DMZ on my router for this to work.

I do have intermittent echo though. My side echos but the other side doesn't. Oh well, what can you expect for the price, right?

Thanks Robor, yeah I'm looking at getting a small 4 port router and see if that clears it up. I looked up DMZ on howstuff works.com http://computer.howstuffworks.com/firewall4.htm and the way they explain it it seems like DMZ is outside the firewall, but the gizmo doesn't have a firewall does it? So why does it even have a DMZ?

 

[stuman74]

Originally posted by: hbsalesinc
Received my Gizmo on Monday, setting up the gizmo was a breeze (Modem->Router->Gizmo)

Call quality is EXCELLENT, which surprised me after reading some of the complaints on this forum as well as DSLReports regarding echo, and etc.

I got in on the $199 for 2yr plan. Already owning a set of 5.8ghz phones, I found this deal to be hard to pass up.

Thanks again AnandTech forums for the info!

I got mine on Friday 4/7. Please let me know when you are able to receive phone calls and I will do the same of course. Just anxiously awaiting so I can compare with people calling me before I transfer my current Vonage number to it.

 

[georgepa]

stuman-

I would imagine hbsalesinc was able to make and receive calls right away. About 90% of new SR customers are. Only those who happen to live in an area where FOCAL is the issuing CLEC have a delay in getting incoming calls. Unfortunately, in your case, FOCAL is holding up incoming calls for a little longer.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: electron

Originally posted by: Robor

Originally posted by: electron
I just got my SunRocket Gizmo package and hooked it up to a single computer on a cable connection (OOL) and it all works except I get disconnected from online gaming servers every few minutes. I did the browser to 192.168.251.1 thing but I see a bunch of settings that i have no idea wht they mean. Like what is DMZ for example? Demilitarized zone? Maybe I need a router? I don't have one yet. Seems kind of overkill to get a router for just one PC but if it would get it all to work well I guess I'd do it.

Maybe I need a crossover cable to go from the gizmo to the PC? Right now it's Modem>gizmo>PC. Modem to gizmo is with the supplied yellow crossover cable but gizmo to PC is just a straight CAT5 cable maybe it should be crossover as well?

I have no disconnect problems when I hook up just the modem to the PC with the str8 CAT5. Only when the gizmo is connected to it. Maybe It'd be best to get a router so all the traffic isn't going thru the gizmo? Does anyone else out there use this without a router?

You should not need a router to use SunRocket but IMO you shouldn't have a PC on the 'net if it's not behind a router doing NAT just for security.

I had similar issues that you're experiencing when I had my router behind my gizmo (cable modem > gizmo > router > internal PC(s) ). The problem went away when I put the Gizmo behind the Router (cable modem > router > gizmo & internal PC(s) ). I had to put my Gizmo's IP address in the DMZ on my router for this to work.

I do have intermittent echo though. My side echos but the other side doesn't. Oh well, what can you expect for the price, right?

Thanks Robor, yeah I'm looking at getting a small 4 port router and see if that clears it up. I looked up DMZ on howstuff works.com http://computer.howstuffworks.com/firewall4.htm and the way they explain it it seems like DMZ is outside the firewall, but the gizmo doesn't have a firewall does it? So why does it even have a DMZ?

I do believe the Gizmo is a router or firewall of sorts. If you put it between your cablemodem and PC it is going to give you a private IP address and NAT the traffic. I don't know if it actually filters/blocks traffic though. My guess would be yes because of the DMZ feature. I haven't been in my Gizmo since coming back to Sunrocket. One of these days I'll connect my laptop to the LAN port and have a look at it.

 

[Project86]

I have a few semi-off topic questions:

1)I got the free uniden 2 phone system when I signed up. I get voicemail, and the red light blinks indicated that fact. When I listen to it, the red light will sometimes stop, but many times will not. What is the deal with that? Is there a way of manually clearing it?

2)I am considering purchasing a router for my simple setup. I have only 1 PC in my house, and right now it is just cable in from wall->cable modem->gizmo->PC. I do notice that when the VOIP light goes off on my gizmo, I can't get online either. The lights on my modem all stay lit like normal, which leads me to believe the gizmo is doing something or SR is down for a minute. Then it comes back on, and everything is normal. I'd like to get my internet seperated from the gizmo... that is if my diagnosis is even correct, which it might not be.
In any case, I see several routers on newegg for around $25. Would there be any benefit to getting one? Or any benefit to getting a more expensive router? If so, why?

 

[georgepa]

plasticfish-

I bought the same phone last week. What a deal. $20 in a blowout. I wondered about the notification light myself. I'll try setting up that phone system tonight and let you know what I find.



Project 86-

The Uniden phones sometimes don't clear the notification lights. Just a quirk with those particular phones. To clear it go to the base of the main unit and press the PAGE button for 6 seconds. That'll clear the VM notification light.

Getting a router is always a good idea when dealing with VOIP. That way you separate data from voice and, as you noted, don't have your internet rely on the gizmo anymore. Routers usually come with a pretty tough firewall, adding security to an otherwise open system. Of course, in the future you may want to add a computer to your system, which would make a router necessary anyway. Get a wireless router if you are planning to go for a laptop at some point. The low priced routers work well with SR. Two brands I would avoid are Speedstream (Siemens) and Belkin because they require some legwork. The others are fine (Netgear, Dlink, Linksys.)