Cisco/Linksys/Sipura end user support hell [Telecom]

A few months ago, I purchased a Linksys 3102 VOIP ATA. This box allows me to connect an analog phone and a regular PSTN external line to my IP based switch. Many people use this with asterisk. I use it with another free PBX software called freeswitch

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This box had been working fine for a few months and then suddenly callerid stopped working. That is, callerid on the FXS (analog phone) port no longer showed up on my analog phones. I verified it was a hardware problem by swapping out the device with another one and saw that callerid was in fact presented to the analog phone. Put in the original ATA and callerid no longer shows.

Ok, dead hardware. Still under the 1yr warranty. I call Linksys and start going through the support tree. Turns out this device is not supported in any way for end-users. No matter who I talk to, I am told to contact my reseller. Problem is... I purchased this from someone on ebay. The thought that I had to go through an authorized reseller just for warranty support never crossed my mind.

Ok, lesson learned. I'll not buy any more Cisco/Linksys/Sipura hardware for my own personal use. I'd suggest you do the same. If by chance you have any idea how to get this serviced under the 1yr warranty they claim to have I'm all ears.

-Rupa Schomaker

***** Moderator's Note *****

Buyers in the "secondary" market take risks in return for the discounts they receive. You chose to buy from Ebay, but (apparently) you didn't think of the ways that the seller might have been maximizing his profit - in your case, by selliing OEM hardware without OEM support.

You are, of course, entitled to boycott Cisoc or anyone else, but let's not pretent you're entitled to relief from the manufacturer when they sold the device to an "OEM" with the expressed understanding that the OEM would provide support. You're umbrage would be better directed at the Ebay merchant who sold the item to you.

Caveat Emptor!

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

(Please put [Telecom] at the end of the subject line of your post, or I may never see it. Thanks!)

Reply to
Rupa Schomaker
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In article , Bill Horne editorialized:

It is a pity that Linksys has chosen this particular business model. The Sipura SIP stack is fairly well-regarded, and I quite like my SPA-941 desk phone, but there's no way for me to get support -- even though I work for a large Cisco customer in a job which involves maintaining and buying new Cisco products. (I've talked to our reps and they're frustrated that they can't get any help from "that side of the company" either.) Our parent organization ultimately decided to standardize on Polycom phones instead, in part because they were well-supported by the ISV who provided the SIP infrastructure they have chosen. It's a pity Polycom never quite figured out NAT traversal.

-GAWollman

Reply to
Garrett Wollman

The difference is that I'm really not asking for support. The device has failed and I'm trying to get it replaced under the manufacturer's warranty.

In the end, the lesson learned is to not purchase cisco hardware where I have to track down the reseller to sold me a particular piece of hardware in order to get a warranty replacement. My SIP phone is a polycom 320 and I'm replacing the cisco ATA with a grandstream device.

Reply to
Rupa Schomaker

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