The Router
A router is a device that connects all your computers and network equipment to your Internet connection. It is often overlooked and can have a major impact on the success or failure of your voice-over-IP implementation. There are many routers on the market, some are very cheap and others can cost you thousands of dollars.
Your router needs to be powerful enough to handle the number of phones you will have in your office and should also work flawlessly with voice-over-IP equipment. A good place to start when deciding on your router is to speak with your IT Service provider or to contact our customer support team and check to make sure that your router is compatible with voice-over-IP services.
The following is a list items which will help you to determine whether your router is right for voice-over-IP:
- How many voice-over-IP phones will you be connecting to the router? The more phones you will be connecting, the more powerful the router needs to be. Don't use a $40 router to run an office with 10 IP Telephones
- Will your voice-over-IP phones have their own dedicated Internet connection? If not, a router with a quality of service (QoS) setting to prioritize voice traffic over regular traffic is an absolute must. Without QoS you will encounter poor quality telephone calls regularly.
- What other functions will the router need to perform? You might need your router to handle VPN connections, allow WiFi (wireless) connections or perform other tasks.
- Make sure you can bridge your router to your modem. Routers that are not bridged can cause problems with voice-over-IP installations.
- Never use more than one router or nat gateway on the network at a time as this will cause problems for IP Telephones when they attempt to do NAT.
- Disable SIP ALG wherever possible. It’s a function on your router that can negatively impact call quality.
- Check our Router Compatibility Guide to make sure your router is compatible.