I have a Balance 20 running firmware 6.3.1. There are 3 subnets set up which are 10.0.0.x, 10.0.1,x, and 10.0.2.x (all are /24). I need to setup bandwidth control to prevent users on the 10.0.0.x & 10.0.1.x subnets from consuming too much bandwidth which causes problems with the IP phones on subnet 10.0.2.x.
I set up User groups for each of the subnets and selected the Subnet option. I entered the subnet address as 10.0.0.0 and selected the Mask of 255.255.255.0. (Created groups for the other subnets the same way.)
After creating the groups, I set the 10.0.2.0/24 group to Manager and all the others, including the 2 default groups, to staff. Under Bandwidth Control, I enabled ‘Group Bandwidth Reservation’ and set the Manager group to 75%, the Staff Group to 20%, and the Guest group to 5%.
This apparently did not work, since I still have problems with the IP phones when computers are downloading large files on the other subnets. I was just on a phone call with terrible quality and saw that a client in the 10.0.1.x subnet was downloading at nearly 9 Mbps (our connection max is 10). Can anyone help me figure out what I’m doing wrong?
I run several Peplink routers in environments with a mix of VoIP and other traffic. The bandwidth reservation method is not necessary. Use QoS > Application and set All Supported VoIP protocols to High. All other protocols will default to normal. I set email protocols to low.
VoIP call quality is highly sensitive to latency. What type of internet connection are you using? Do you have guaranteed bandwidth? All my call quality problems went away when I changed to fiber internet.
We are using cable internet service at 10/1 Mbps but no guaranteed bandwidth. VoIP issues normally only occur when various other network users are downloading files. I will try the QoS by Application and see if that helps. We are also about to add a DSL connection as a failover, but I may just direct all non-VoIP traffic to that connection and leave the cable connection for VoIP only. I may also upgrade the cable connection bandwidth.
10/1 cable internet is not going to provide reliable VoIP unless thats all it does. Theoretically a SIP call only takes 100k but if the line is congested you will get choppy calls. How many simultaneous VoIP calls are you making? The book says you can put 10 calls on 1M but I would not plan on more than 4. Since the bandwidth is not guaranteed you are also subject to whomever else in the neighborhood is streaming.
DSL will be absolutely horrible for VoIP. Latency is too long and quite variable. Your plan to use cable for VoIP only will work. Outbound rules set the IP of your VoIP provider as Priority to Cable. Second rule set Priority to DSL for “everything”.
Leave the QoS rules in place so that if the DSL fails and regular internet gets pushed back to cable you will still have priority for voice.
Do not use the Peplink DSL/Cable optimization on your VoIP link. I can’t explain why but trust me… a lot of my VoIP call quality problems went away when I turned off that feature. QoS | Application page. If you have that checked now, try removing it, might fix your problem.
I’ll disagree with your comment about DSL being horrible for VoIP. For several years we used a 6/768k DSL line for VoIP with mostly positive experience. The reason I qualify it somewhat is because we were using a non-Peplink router at the beginning and it is difficult to tease out what was responsible for what. In general, it was more reliable than our cable HSI connection.
Since that time a fiber product has been made available to us in the building, and we jumped at that opportunity for a faster, lower latency, and more reliable connection. It has met our expectations. We still fail VoIP over to the cable HSI on the rare occasion when the fiber connection is down.
Must be just the area I am in.