Wow, that’s all I can say.
I knew I had to do it but finally sat down and programmed my Cisco router to prioritize the VoIP traffic over the WAN.
Wow is all I can say. Upon testing I found delay on VoIP VLAN to the VoIP provider was cut in half!
Data speed when downloading a file then picking up a phone to make a call dropped ever so slightly but now there is virtually no lag in voice conversations over VoIP provider. Even my on-hold music has no break-up or hesitation!
My network consists of Cisco 7912G phones, catalyst 2900 XL series (wish I had POE) switches, two independent NAT firewalls which then tie into a little Cisco 827 DSL router that is NOT running NAT. I send voice packets out a separate IP than my data (but is not necessary) cause its all on the same PVC.
I set the Cisco router to package and prioritize all packets comming from my VOIP firewall to the precidence packet 5 (urgent) and to leave data as default.
I tested it by downloading a large file (Asterisk) from my pc on the Data VLAN, while monitoring bandwidth. Picked up the phone and made a call over the VoIP trunk.
No break up, no lag, download speed dropped very slightly maybe 40-50k at most.
I’t made a huge difference in conversation quality as well, very little little lag now.
FYI for those interested, Cisco 2900 switches can be had for about $100. The 827 I found on Ebay for $50. Asterisk was FREE, So this is quite the budget setup.
PS> using Iconnecthere.com (deltathree) for VoIP service provider. They are very good, pennies more than the competition but good service quality.