Setting up Vonage on ATT DSL with Motorola 2210 modem - fixing the phone connection.

I recently had to replace my Vonage phone modem and ATT DSL modem as both died of a single lightening strike in our neighbor's yard (sure I will use a surge protector from now on). Called Vonage and got the modem for free (thanks Vonage) and had to buy the DSL modem from ATT - whopping $75 at a local ATT store for an otherwise $30 modem on the internet.

The set up was easy. I first had to connect my Motorola 2210 to my computer, go to att.net/activate to start the activation process, which was smooth. The real problem started when I wanted to insert the Vonage modem in between the computer and the DSL modem. No set up is required on the Vonage box (even though the literature that comes with the Vonage box tells you to go to v-configure.com and do the basic set up, you dont have to when you are using a Motorola modem and did the previous "activate" step) and it connects seemlessly to the internet.

The trouble is, getting your Vonage modem to work with this. I had to spend an hour each with Vonage and ATT, trying to fix this. Vonage's take is that their modem is able to communicate to their servers, but the server's response is being blocked by the DSL modem and I dont get my phone to work. They gave up and asked me to contact ATT. ATT tried to send me to Motorola but stopped and sent me to their 2nd level. The 2nd level said they can fix it if I agree to a paid support agreement of $15 per month and a 12-month contract (Yeah right!!).

I hung up and tried it myself and this is what worked:
Remove the Vonage modem, connect your computer directly to the Motorola, go to http://192.168.1.254 on your browser (default address for Motorola modem), go to the Advanced tab, Connection Configuration menu, choose "Smart KeepAlive" for "Connection Type" and voila!! you are all set.