Rescue Alert service has problems with Ooma

[Telo_BK]

I am posting this on behalf of a 94 year-old friend for whom I just installed Ooma. He has a Rescue Alert system (emergency button that he wears to summon help). Before I switched him, and ported his number, I called that company to make sure they are Ooma-compatible.

His number was ported today, and when I tested the system, Rescue Alert evidently had trouble sending and receiving DTMF via Ooma. It worked fine with his old CenturyLink landline. So they had issues knowing that their (by default half-duplex) system was in receive mode (it was and they could hear me, but they kept trying to command their unit to go into that mode because they didn't get a mode confirmation signal at their end). So the operator was able to command the system to go into full duplex mode and we completed the test. But at the end, their unit didn't acknowledge the disconnect signal and hangup. So we heard dialtone (very loud dialtone).

Question: Is there any way to get the Telo to work better with this sort of system? Any help is greatly appreciated and just might help my old friend continue to age!

[murphy]

Put the Telo into alarm mode and it will handle DTMF tones better. That is done in the my.ooma account.

[Telo_BK]

Thanks much, Murphy! I will give that a try.

[testy]

Hey there Murphy;

I read your reply above to Telo_BK, and I am wondering where and how do I put my Telo2 into alarm mode, for the DTMF to work. I poked around in my account, but don't really see anything that looks promising. Could you point me in the right direction?

I am wondering if this will allow me to access my home answering machine thru my Ooma. Right now, I can push all the phone buttons in the world, and I am still unable to get into the machine. I posted a forum question previously, but no results came back.

Thanks

[oomamaniacal]

Hey there Murphy;

I read your reply above to Telo_BK, and I am wondering where and how do I put my Telo2 into alarm mode, for the DTMF to work. I poked around in my account, but don't really see anything that looks promising. Could you point me in the right direction?

I am wondering if this will allow me to access my home answering machine thru my Ooma. Right now, I can push all the phone buttons in the world, and I am still unable to get into the machine. I posted a forum question previously, but no results came back.

Thanks

Go to Preferences and then Devices in your My Ooma account and then click on the gear icon to edit the device. Then you will find the Alarm Mode option. That will disable call waiting on the device. viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4271&p=133280&hilit ... ng#p133280

[testy]

Thanks oomamaniacal;

I have found the setting location, but am not sure if this will fix my problem.

When switching the telo to alarm mode, this message pops up:
"NOTE: When using a device in Alarm mode, the call-waiting beep will be disabled and the dialed digits will be ignored when navigating in the Ooma voicemail menu." I canceled the change to do more research.

So I gather by doing this, I will lose the call waiting, which is fine.

But when they talk about dialed digits being ignored, then I wonder if the dialed digits will ever make it to my connected answering machine.


What do you think?

[oomamaniacal]

Thanks oomamaniacal;

I have found the setting location, but am not sure if this will fix my problem.

When switching the telo to alarm mode, this message pops up:
"NOTE: When using a device in Alarm mode, the call-waiting beep will be disabled and the dialed digits will be ignored when navigating in the Ooma voicemail menu." I canceled the change to do more research.

So I gather by doing this, I will lose the call waiting, which is fine.

But when they talk about dialed digits being ignored, then I wonder if the dialed digits will ever make it to my connected answering machine.


What do you think?

The warning says the dialed digits will be ignored when navigating the Ooma voice mail system.

[testy]

I put my telo2 into Alarm Mode, called my number and left 2 messages, both of which went to my home answering machine just fine. Next I dialed my Ooma number, and tried to access the home answering machine using my code numbers. Nothing happened, no access, nothing at all. Can't seem to get my Ooma unit to recognize/utilize incoming dial tones.

If there is an Ooma guru out there that can tell me how I can successfully access my home answering machine via dialing my Ooma unit from somewhere externally, please feel free to rely. Thank you for reading......

Maybe Tom B has a trick or 2 left up his ever-shortening sleeves.

[Telo_BK]

Testy- I am so sorry that I didn't check back soon enough. I found that Alarm mode actually made the situation worse for my friend's rescue alert.

The QSG http://support.ooma.com/assets/pdfs/Oom ... 27-400.pdf has a section on accessing voicemail. Here's the relevant portion:
Checking voicemail remotely
There are three ways to check voicemail remotely:
1 Phone: Dial your Ooma number. When the call rolls
to voicemail, press the * key and enter your PIN.
2 Online: Listen to and manage your voicemail on the
web at: my.ooma.com/inbox
3 Email: Forward your voicemail as an MP3 file to
your email or mobile phone (requires Ooma Premier).
Set up forwarding at: my.ooma.com/voicemail