Connect TA to hub or switch? Or router only?

[uo_mba]

I'm not seeing this specific topic elsewhere in the forums or FAQs. If I've missed it, please redirect me.

Virtually everything I've read about TAs (I use a Sipura SPA) is that they should be directly connected to a router. Is it possible to connect a TA to a hub or switch placed elsewhere on a LAN? If it is possible, is it considered suboptimal? If so, why?

Thanks for your help.
Randy

[PhoneBoy]

VoIP is kind of latency sensitive. Each router/switch between the VoIP endpoints introduces some latency. In the case of routers and switches on your local network, that delay is usually very minimal. As long as you're hooking it into switches that go into the router, you're good to go.

If you start using hubs, especially if there's a lot of other traffic being used through the hub, you might experience some additional issues with your VoIP connection.

[uo_mba]

Similar to testing the router DMZ performance with the SPA-3000 (in another post), I decided to test the unit on an old Asante 10T hub and a much newer Linksys 10/100 Ethernet "Switch" (quote marks are mine). Linksys model #EF4124. I used only the G711u codec for my little "test".

I did notice increased latency with the Asante hub. It wasn't unbearable, but it was noticeable. Using the Linksys "switch" on the other hand, I did not notice any qualitative difference in call performance.

A few notes:
The hub and switch were located about 30 feet from my Netgear WGT624v2 router. The SPA was behind the firewall (not in the DMZ). Roughly 50 feet (total) of Cat 5 connected the SPA to the router. The Cat 5 cable is about 3 years old, but was previously unused and had been packaged with some Polycom IP video conferencing hardware that was part of interesting project I worked on.

The Cat 5 cable has the following markings (if it makes a difference):

• Pan-International Patch Cord
  24 AWG
  4PR
  2835
  E87647-M
  RU (the "R" is reversed and integrated w/ the "U" - I know this is probably some symbol related to electrical current of some sort, but I have no clue as to what it means)
  AWM
  60C (degree sign)
  30V

The Cat 5 cable also entered one wall outlet and exited another (standard interior 2"x4" wall construction). The outlets were installed by me (i.e. definitely *NOT* professional quality) using equipment made by a company called Leviton.

I hope this helps someone...