Homeland Security: Dodge The Delay

This blog post references my hands-on feature article ‘Homeland Security: Monitoring And Manipulating Remote Residences‘ in EDN’s November 22, 2007 edition. It’s one of a series of web addendums to the print writeup.

An email I recently received from a reader reminded me that I owe you an update on my network setup described in the article, specifically on the ability to update my DynDNS and TZO accounts via the Linksys WRT54GC router’s built-in DDNS client. By removing the Linksys OGV200 QOS network optimizer from in-between the DSL modem and router, I also eliminated the lengthy connection interrogation cycle that the OGV200 incurs with each power cycle or other reboot, thereby enabling the WRT54GC’s DDNS client to function as intended. However, without the QoS prioritization afforded by the OGV200, I also end up with dropout- and delay-filled VoIP sessions unless I avoid simultaneously using the LAN and WAN bandwidth for any other function while I’m on the phone. And how realistic is that?

Ubicom makes the QoS processor inside the OGV200 (as well as the one inside Hawking Technologies’ similar-function HBB1 Broadband Booster, which I’ve mentioned before, and which is currently available for $20 after rebate). When I ran my problem by my Ubicom contact, Marketing VP Keith Morris, he responded with a suggestion that in retrospect should have been obvious to me from the start. The OGV200 supports not only default auto-configuration but also manually entered settings for parameters such as upstream bandwidth and connection type (therefore upstream MTU).

After noting the settings the OGV200 determined during auto-configuration, I then hard-coded those settings into the device via its web server interface. Voila…the QoS that I want, minus the auto-configuration latency that I don’t, and the WRT54GC’s DDNS client is once again happily doing what it’s supposed to. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to shovel snow before it gets dark. 2 feet of fresh accumulation in less than 24 hours; such is high-altitude winter living. Happy weekend, all!