Zoom VoIP Router 5567 Review

First Impressions

Looking for an all-in-one solution that would serve as a router and sip based voip adapter, the Zoom VOIP router seemed a great choice as an unlocked SIP adapter and full featured router complete with firewall and what Zoom calls the Teleport. The retail box is definitely a nice package and makes you want to buy the router outright. So, does the Zoom v3 router deliver or does it leave you hanging wanting for more ? Let's find out.

Package contents

In Zoom's case, this is what $99 (SRP) will bring :

- a good looking Zoom 5567 v3 router with 1 USB port (for broadband connection with an ethernet-less PC), 4 ethernet RJ45 ports, 1 ethernet WAN RJ45 port and 2 phone ports RJ11 - a power supply

- ethernet and USB cables

- a decent quick start guide

- an installation CD


Installation

For anybody used to configure a router, the Zoom v3 is rather the same old news except for the VoiP features of course. Here you should note that o­ne of the phone ports actually is what Zoom calls a Teleport, which allows you to make regular calls through a regular landline or even a cell phone if you're lucky enough to have a Dock'n'talk device. The advantage here is that you can use o­nly o­ne regular phone, be it wired or wireless, for ALL of your calls. Since I don't have a landline, I wasn't able to test that feature, but I think that if it works well, this is a great trick that

ufacturers should provide.

Everything was rather straightforward and set up through the usual web interface. A lot of features are packed in this little box, like an extensive firewall and the possibility to hook up to 5 computers (one through USB).

There is no need to install the software that comes with the box, unless you run an oudated OS and need USB drivers and such. I installed the Zoom o­n a Windows XP network (2 PCs and 1 laptop), and everything seemed to work like a charm.

Setup

I will not describe the router setup as this is something that anybody who ever used a router will be familiar with. Furthermore, what interests the reader more o­n such a website as voipuser.org is the Voip feature.

I tried the RJ45 phone port with two different wireless phones, everything worked great. Sound quality from SIP to SIP or SIP to PSTN or PSTN to SIP was flawless. The Voip setup pages allow you to change everything in your SIP setup down to compression codecs, echo cancellation, silence deletion and more advanced parameters that shouldn't be messed with in 90% of situations. It is nice to know however, that should you need to, these are available to the more technically advanced people.

First, I used the router with the included voip service called globalvillage.com, which is a pretty cool service as voip providers go. But since my goal is to have zero cost calls to my country of origin from the USA, I changed the settings to my SIPphone account parameters o­n the VOIP page of the router configuration. Mind you, SIPphone o­nly gives me 5 free minutes of calls to any PSTN phone each day, but that will have to do until I can get more minutes for the same price, a nice $0. I'm expecting a lot from voipuser.org in that regard, but my experience has been that
these guys deliver, so I am ready! For now, I use the router mostly to call other SIP users as far as Voip is concerned.

Issues

Of course, there had to be some minor inconveniences in an otherwise perfect package. These issues could be a deal breaker depending o­n what you use your broadband connection for... They sure are for me, so until Zoom releases a firmware update that addresses both of the problems I have with their v3, it's going back where it came from and the search goes o­n for a perfect router (does it really exist ?).

So, by now, you're dying to know what are these problems I'm talking about. o­nly two, as far as I can tell, at least with my configuration.

The first o­ne, which is huge for me : it doesn't look like the router is UPNP compatible, at least with the 1.0 firmware. I have a Play@ TV streaming unit that I use to play music and videos in my living room from the office PC, and I was absolutely unable to use it with the Zoom 5567. A big bummer for me and a total deal breaker. Hopefully Zoom will fix this in an upcoming firmware release, as I really really like this box...

The second o­ne, which could be a huge o­ne for you also but that I am ok to deal with for now, is that with my cable ISP, Road Runner, I have a 5 Mbps download speed. Unfortunately, o­nce the Zoom enters the picture, that speed drops down to 2.5 Mbps, 3 Mbps if I'm lucky. If I put back my old Linksys router, all of a sudden it's back to 5 Mbps! I tried o­n three different occasions and at different times of the day, same thing. So this is another issue that hopefully will be fixed in an upcoming firmware release.

Conclusion

Other than these two hiccups, I didn't notice anything wrong over a 3 week period of use, so it really breaks my heart to send the unit back, but I must have the UPNP o­n my router, so I have no choice. I checked the Zoom website in hope of finding a firmware upgrade, but as of 01/06/05, there is no mention of the 5567 router in the support section of their website, so I decided to try a Dlink 1402s instead and see how it compares. I will try to update this review as I get new information but I can o­nly keep the Zoom o­ne more week before my 30 days return window expires.

I would give this router a 7 out of 10 in its current state, but if they would fix the two issues mentioned, it would definitely be a 10 out of 10.

Links:-

Datasheet : .pdf datasheet

Zoom : www.zoom.com

Added:  Saturday, January 08, 2005
Reviewer:  tututiti
Score:
hits: 13615
Language: eng

  

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Posted by nicch on Jun 23, 2005 - 01:06 PM Your rating: I have a Zoom x5v (5565) and can press # to change to VoIP from PSTN (to go back you need to put the receiver down for a couple of seconds). The other problem is bandwidth limitations. When using Usenet or P2P the full bandwidth isn't used (unlike my old Netgear router). Even with new 2.01 firmware this problem that existed on the X3 still exists.

Posted by danyall on Feb 13, 2005 - 11:32 PM Your rating: I have just purchased a ZOOM X5 (Model 5565) and have configured it for use with SIPGATE.CO.UK. The voip seems to work almost perfectly apart from the fact that I was led to believe from the manual and the ZOOM website that I could press hash to swap between PSTN and VOIP. This doesn't seem to work. I have spoken to ZOOM and they said - if you don't use their approved SIP provider, they won't offer any support!