That cost sounds about like the average when I looked into it, but I couldn't convince the significant other to try a new technology. It's easier when it is just me that is affected. There are Linux alternatives to the QOS router. I hate to beat a dead penguin, but I think IPCop or one of the other firewalls can do this if you already have one in place. Basically you are giving priority to the voice packets so you don't get noticeable gaps in your conversation. Kind of like having static on the phone line or watching a digital cable movie and the signal starts to drop out, screen goes blank for a second or you get blocks on the screen. Also used for realtime video streaming.

Look for a QOS packet scheduler option on your firewall. I recall that you assign the priority to a port or a range of them and the internal IP of the phone. Might be something like "altq" or "frottle" (Freenet Throttle).

From Distrowatch:

Linux LiveCD Router 1.9.4 A new version of Linux LiveCD Router has been released. From the changelog: "Version 1.9.4 Jun 2004. Added Frottle (Freenet Throttle) Packet Scheduling and QoS for Wireless Networks and Mesh WiFi at /opt/frottle; new default config for MRTG graphical network statistics; updated documentation."

For IPCop, there is a add-in here: http://ipcop-pro.dyndns.org/download.php?view.72

Brian Kelsay

...

...

"Daniel Siemens" <> 02/15/05 07:16PM >>>

<snip> Setup cost was like $40.00 for a "router with QOS". If you sign up, say I refereed you, I think I think we each get a free month. Number to use is 816 875 4282 if you do.