Incoming Call Problem - CallVantage

What model modem and linksys do you have?

(I have Comcast Moto SB5100 cable modem Dlink DVG 1120M Linksys BEFSR41 which work really well with CallVantage, so far)

Comcast -- Motorola 5100 -- Linksys RT41P2-AT -- various Linksys switches -- many hard-wired Ethernet ports. The telephone port from the router runs to a 66 punchdown board and on to the telco ports.

Are you thinking this may be a router hardware issue? Is it possible it's a REN issue (I have many phones hooked up, but only 5 or so ringing). Finally, have you _ever_ experienced this sympton on your setup?

The way to test the REN situation is to pull all the plugs but one, have a friend call you, and start plugging in the others until someone stops ringing! The linksys should support a total REN of 5 (which is a loT!) per rj-11! It may help to turn off a few ringers if you don't require them;-)

I wonder why the REN on each phone has gone up again. At one time all the electronic phones seemed to have RENs of 0.2 or 0.1. Now it seems hard to find one that is significantly under 1.0.

In addition to REN issues, I understand that the normal ring freq. in the US is 20 hz, but many Sipura adaptors default to generating a 25hz signal (that probably includes Linksys and Cisco). It might be worthwhile to check that too.

-wolfgang

I have tried the system with only a single phone connected directly to the TA/router, and the problem still appears. I was on the phone yesterday with ATT tech support and they indicated that REN was not an issue. They also suggested I try a "cold" reboot (using the reset button on the back of the TA). Tried this and still have the problem.

I am wondering if the TA/router itself is the issue, so I am going to ask them to replace the current hardware.

I had the same exact issue with a Linksys TA, AT&T sent me a D-Link adapter and everything has been fine since.

The other issue I would have before the adapter switch was calls going directly to voicemail instead of ringing the allotted rings at the house.

I don't think REN is an issue, I'm using *eight* WE 2500 or equivalents (traditional desk or wall phones) on my adapter without an issue. Granted, they're not all cranked up to full ring volume but I'm still surprised at how many phones the adapter will power.

J.P.

the reset button is not the same as a power cycle. Turn off all your devices for 5 minutes (yes, really) then power them on one at a time starting with the cable and waiting 60 sec. before powering on the next device. I have seen this work for similar problems. good luck!

Add up the REN "numbers" for each of your eight devices. What do you get? Some devices are pretty loud with a low REN.

I mentioned elsewhere that I intended to have ATT replace the Linksys with a D-Link. In the interim I am trying to determine if some of the phones themselves on the network are causing the problem. I have about 15 (!) phones plugged in, with about 5 ringing. Most are ATT or SBC, but 3 of them are off-brand caller-ID units. I disconnected them yesterday AM, and since then the system has functioned properly. Hmmmmm ...

I am going to let this "fix" run for a while, but if it is not sufficient I will change out to the D-Link.

Thanks for the info. When I mentioned this problem to ATT (several times) I got a "Well, I've never heard of that one."

FWIW the ATT tech told me REN was not a limitation on their network.

In the reset procedure recommended by the ATT tech, it happened that I waited over 15 minutes at each step (power off, power on, etc. for each device). The result was that the problem remained.

Meanwhile I am in day 3 of the "no cheap phones" test mentioned in another post and so far I have not seen the problem recur.

Thanks for the comments.

Replying to my own post:

It appears that the issues earlier described that have plagued my VoIP setup since January 05 were due to one or more faulty caller-ID phones. In my case at least (over 15 phones on the network) the quality of the sets became an issue. I have not seen a mention of this in the ATT (or other) VoIP literature.