Cheap Long Distance With Your Household Broadband, But Better Choices Exist

The D-Link DVG-1402S router is a home and small office router that allows an Internet connection to be shared among multiple network devices/computers. There is one standard network connection for connecting to your WAN or Internet access point. There are four local network connections. It also provides two standard telephone ports that access Internet for their service via SIP and Voice over IP (VOIP). The approximate cost of the unit is $99 depending on where you purchase it and what telephone service provider you use. The documentation claims the router uses a type of quality of service (QoS) to prioritize voice data higher than regular network traffic. Comparable units include the PAP2 and RT31P2 series from Linksys, the Grandstream 486, and Sipura 2000. I have also reviewed the Linksys RT31P2 unit.

There are two versions of this router available, the DVG-1402S and DVG-1402S/L. The DVG-1402S/L is locked to only access Lingo as the telephone service provider. For this review I am referring to the DVG-1402S model, purchased from a company called Sipphone.com. That model is not locked to any specific provider so you choose freely who will provide your telephone service. Most of the models found on Internet are the S/L model so beware.

For the non technical reader and user, the DVG-1402S acts as a type of “splitter”. It goes between your home computers and your Internet connection. In the most basic of home networks you should be able to disconnect the home PC(s) from the Internet connection, connect the D-Link router in its place, and then reconnect the home PC(s) to the D-Link. Then setup your telephone service and connect your telephone to the D-Link unit. That’s it. There is no need to install any special software on your computer. Any changes that are needed are handled via an Internet browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape. I used both and both worked fine.

For the technical network user …. The D-Link WAN connection supports DHCP, Static IP, and PPPoE. Depending on the Internet service you are using, one of these options is sure to work on your network. I tried Static IP, DHCP and PPPoE. I was unable to get the router to successfully authenticate with PPPoE with my ADSL modem, a disappointment. As an alternate and less preferred method I decided to use DHCP and then later a static IP with my ADSL modem. The WAN side also supports RIP-1 and RIP-2 for dynamic routing but I left this disabled. The LAN ports are configurable to support to DHCP or static IP addresses. You can also set the network range of addresses the DHCP server will issue, as well as the static IP address used by the router. For those that are interested in NAT configurations, the router fully supports port forwarding. I was able to get several Internet applications working that do not play well behind NAT boxes.

The voice settings allow for only one SIP server to be entered for both telephone lines. You can enter a display name to identify each line, pre selected telephone number, authentication user and password, and the SIP server. You may specify NAT traversal settings if necessary for your SIP provider. There are a host of caller ID and call waiting settings and your SIP provider will give you this information as appropriate. The router supports voice quality settings (CODEC) including G.711u, G.711a, G726, G.723 and G.729a. I have always been successful with using the best quality setting of G.711u. Your SIP provider may specify something else. You may prioritize the order of the CODECs, or specify to only use as few as one CODEC. You may also specify the packet delivery time in milliseconds for each CODEC. Most users will be confused by these options and may not understand what they mean or how they will affect the telephone call quality. In my testing I was able to get slightly better reports on voice quality by adjusting the packet delivery time. The router also supports Peer to Peer settings that are supposed to allow it to work with SKYPE. I did not test this part of the router.

The front of the unit has green LED indicators for power, a separate LED for link and line activity for the LAN and WAN ports, and one LED for each telephone port. The WAN and LAN LEDs blink to indicate traffic. The phone LEDs blink when the line is in use.

In use I noticed no difference in throughput by having the router in between my PC and the DSL modem. Network lines always negotiate to 100Meg/Full duplex. I did have problems when using the router in a small office environment. There were times when it prevented Outlook 2003 from connecting to the office server. The telephone section worked well most of the time. There were times when the router would not connect to the SIP server, requiring me to restart the router. Voice quality was good on every call and the person I called never reported any problems hearing me. I left test messages on different voice mail systems and listened with a hard line phone. The quality of the sound was good, but not as clear or sharp as a standard telephone. I did notice an occasional break in the sound I was listening to. Overall the sound was acceptable.

If you are the type of person that likes to tweak internal settings on your network components, this may be a good choice for you. By using TELNET, I was able to access the router’s administrative console. There are a plethora of settings that can be interrogated or set. Most users will not ever even see these things.

If you are fed up with paying outrageous taxes and phone bills for long distance, and you have some type of broadband Internet connection, the D-Link router will give you an alternative for long distance telephone service. It allows you to share your Internet connection with multiple PCs, and to have the voice traffic prioritized for the best telephone clarity. I recommend you shop around for VOIP/SIP providers. Some offer pay-as-you-go plans, the choice I prefer as most of my calls are international, not domestic. If you wish to use your D-Link router for incoming calls or you make mostly domestic calls you will find other plans that give you a dedicated telephone number and some amount of minutes per month. I would recommend looking at Inphonex.com, Broadvoice.com, Stanaphone.com, and netphone.click4.com. There are many many other vendors so look around.

In conclusion, this router is definitely not my first choice as a home router that supports telephones. I would recommend you look for other choices and I highly recommend the Linksys RT31P2 (unlocked version) as a better choice.