To make a long story short -
I run an Asterisk server in my house, connect to external voip SIP trunking provider (LES.net). I have a dozen or so extensions in my house (family, kids, different rooms, etc). Here's what I've run into:
Old netgear router (WNDR3700v3) - running Netgear firmware - everything is great and everyone is happy - used for almost 5 years.
Upgraded home internet service to 1 gigabit fibre connection. Kept old router - everything still fine and dandy, but throughput is only about 300 mbps due to PPPoE overhead and the slower CPU in the WNDR3700v3.
I ask around and a friend has a Dell/Sonic Wall T2400W not being used - it's way more complicated than I really want to deal with but it's supposed to be fast and rock solid. Install it and I can't get incoming voip calls and about 50% of my outgoing voip calls fail. I reset the PBX and it'll connect for 60-120 seconds, drop connection, fail miserably, and my family is all very unsatisifed (router speed was great though - about 900mbps throughput). But the bad VOIP connectivity is a no-go so I give router back to said friend.
Wife gives "OK" - so I order a refurb R7800 last week from Amazon (good deal - less than $100). It arrives all well and good, I set it up, it works great on the factory firmware - everyone is happy and everything is working good (about 800mbps throughput) - but as always I yearn for a few more features (SSH access to router, maybe OpenVPN server, etc) -- I poke around and everyone says "DDwrt is working great and rock solid on the R7800" -- so I put it into recovery mode, flash DDwrt onto it - go through all the configs again (all my port forwards, static routes, etc) - fire it up - speed is great (about 850mbps) but I run into the same VOIP issues I had with the SonicWall - about every 5-10 minutes the Asterisk VOIP server loses its registration to the trunking provider and says "service unreachable" and the trunking provider reports "Remote disconnect" -- if I reboot the server it'll reconnect for 5-10 minutes and same deal. Hard reset of router, try another reprogramming od DDwrt - same story - still no improvement. Back into firmware recovery - re-flash stock Netgear FW - back to where I was a week ago -- VOIP works great, speeds are normal (still about 800mbps), and I'm still yearning for more features on my new gadget.
So - I found this forum - found Voxel FW - and I really want to try it out - upgrade my router to the 1.0.2.61SF firmware - then I can have remote SSH and various other features "unlocked"... BUT - if it's going to farkle my VOIP service and cause my Asterisk server to constantly drop the SIP service to the trunking provider like all the other alternatives I've tried.. it's a no-go (By the way I always disable SIP ALG gateway settings - I know those are nothing but problems for *).
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Just go for it!. Voxel 1.0.2.61SF i.e., or his latest version.
No settings are lost or changed if you come from stock Netgear.
You can easily go back to Netgear if you want, without having to redo settings.
You have nothing to lose.
(Only DD-WRT and OpenWRT requires you to redo all settings)
Once Voxel, you don't wanna return to stock.
Thanks! That's what my take on it was from all the threads I had read - it's as close to "stock + goodies" as you can get (as opposed to the DD/Open WRT's and tomatoes and all of those that run their whole own stack). I've backed up my Netgear config file "just in case" and will run the upgrade to 61SF tonight and report back with how it went for any who have the same question down the road.
Good idea!
Try the Astrisk server in the routers DMZ for VOIP services.
I use it for my cell phone microcell. Keeps services going. Seen odd port issues with various VOIP services.