No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Having trouble placing or receiving calls or using your voicemail system on Ooma Telo VoIP Phones? Post your questions here.
sparkylb
Posts:17
Joined:Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:13 pm
No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by sparkylb » Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:57 pm

Bought my Telo Feb. 20. Telo is between modem and router. Comcast cable, Linksys WRT54G wireless router, AT&T CL81309 Three Handset Cordless system (no answering machine). I'm in process of number porting, so Telo is plugged into the wall outlet for now, until port is done--then I'll cancel my land line. The new AT&T phone base is hard wired into the "PHONE" port on the Telo.

First probem is no caller ID. This might just be my phone service, as I did not have caller ID with my previous land line, so I wonder if this is why I still don't. Seems logical, but I'm reading on these boards of quite a few folks with no CID and no solution. I hope I'm not one of them.

Second issue: I'd like to retrieve remotely my VM using my cell phone calling my home, without having to wait for 4 rings. I read of a workaround on another forum of using "send caller ID blocked calls to voicemail" under the "privacy" tab in My Ooma on the web. I confirmed it's set up properly. Any call to my home that's caller ID blocked (*67 ) should go directly to voicemail. But it doesn't!!

I'm hoping that both of these issues are attributable to the fact that I'm in the process of porting my phone number.

I'd love for Ooma to stay healthy and financially viable. If things work out, I'm happy to purchase premier service just to do my part to keep the company afloat.

Thanks all! :)
Last edited by sparkylb on Mon Mar 08, 2010 12:19 pm, edited 3 times in total.

mthomtech
Posts:317
Joined:Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:46 pm
Location:Plano, Texas

Re: No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by mthomtech » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:02 pm

Just curious if your cell phone is a smart phone. If so, the voicemail attachments in email are a much easier way to get your voicemails.
Ooma Customer since March 2009
Ooma Hardware: Hub/Scout(2) and Telo
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sparkylb
Posts:17
Joined:Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:13 pm

Re: No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by sparkylb » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:08 pm

mthomtech wrote:Just curious if your cell phone is a smart phone. If so, the voicemail attachments in email are a much easier way to get your voicemails.
Thanks for the suggestion. :)

It is a smart phone. I wouldn't mind using the function of which you speak, but my wife and would both like to retrieve VM remotely by calling our home number.

mthomtech
Posts:317
Joined:Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:46 pm
Location:Plano, Texas

Re: No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by mthomtech » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:16 pm

If she has a smartphone too, you can add multiple notification emails with the voicemail attached.

That's what my wife an I do. The notifications are instant too, no delays at all.

Curious ... when you tried the anonymous calls to voicemail ... did your Ooma ring, or did it just take 4 rings on your cell phone before voicemail picked up. Just curious.

I don't know if this would help, but with Premier you can also use the "Do not disturb" option that sends all calls to voicemail. I wonder if that would do the trick if you selected that while you were out of the house.

I'll try a few tests here and see what I find out.
Ooma Customer since March 2009
Ooma Hardware: Hub/Scout(2) and Telo
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mthomtech
Posts:317
Joined:Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:46 pm
Location:Plano, Texas

Re: No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by mthomtech » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:28 pm

I did confirm that the Do Not Disturb feature sends calls directly to voicemail without any rings on the callers end.
Ooma Customer since March 2009
Ooma Hardware: Hub/Scout(2) and Telo
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sparkylb
Posts:17
Joined:Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:13 pm

Re: No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by sparkylb » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:54 pm

mthomtech wrote:If she has a smartphone too, you can add multiple notification emails with the voicemail attached.

That's what my wife an I do. The notifications are instant too, no delays at all.

Curious ... when you tried the anonymous calls to voicemail ... did your Ooma ring, or did it just take 4 rings on your cell phone before voicemail picked up. Just curious.

I don't know if this would help, but with Premier you can also use the "Do not disturb" option that sends all calls to voicemail. I wonder if that would do the trick if you selected that while you were out of the house.

I'll try a few tests here and see what I find out.

She does have a smartphone too.

When I tried the anonymous calls (*67) to voicemail my Ooma did ring, 4 rings at home, 4 rings on the cellphone. Infact I neglected to mention that in addition to this issue, pressing the star key when I hear the VM greeting does NOT prompt me for my PIN as it's supposed to.

As for the Do Not Disturb function, this does work as designed. The call goes immediately to VM without a single ring, AND I'm asked for my PIN, which works. I suppose I could do this as a last resort, but setting my system to Do Not Disturb every time I leave home was more than I was anticipating. I certainly appreciate the input, and hope you understand that my main desire is for the system to operate as designed, and as advertised.

Thanks again! :)

mthomtech
Posts:317
Joined:Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:46 pm
Location:Plano, Texas

Re: No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by mthomtech » Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:02 pm

No, I hear you. I was just thinking the Do Not Disturb could be a temporary fix, until the call blocked scenario works.

Definitely try the voicemail attachments to your email on the smartphone. My wife always wanted to call in for messages, but now those attachments are her favorite feature.

I was trying to test the *67, but can't get it to dial out properly on my cell phone, so I haven't been able to test it.
Ooma Customer since March 2009
Ooma Hardware: Hub/Scout(2) and Telo
Premier Member

sparkylb
Posts:17
Joined:Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:13 pm

Re: No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by sparkylb » Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:06 pm

mthomtech wrote:No, I hear you. I was just thinking the Do Not Disturb could be a temporary fix, until the call blocked scenario works.

Definitely try the voicemail attachments to your email on the smartphone. My wife always wanted to call in for messages, but now those attachments are her favorite feature.

I was trying to test the *67, but can't get it to dial out properly on my cell phone, so I haven't been able to test it.
I wonder if you remember the analog days of baud modems and motorola flip phones. In those days, to add *67 to a call, you had to use a "pause" feature, usually a comma. Thankfully those days are over. I needed confirmation, though, so I called my wife's iPhone with *67 as a prefix, and voila, her caller ID said, "Blocked caller," so I know that's not the culprit.

Any thoughts on the Caller ID problem? Do you think my POTS is contributing to, or responsible for the issue?

mthomtech
Posts:317
Joined:Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:46 pm
Location:Plano, Texas

Re: No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by mthomtech » Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:17 pm

Too funny that you said that. When the *67 didn't work for me, I was looking for a way to put a pause in there!

On the CallerID, it may very well be your POTS line, because if I understand the landline integration correctly, Ooma will use your land line to route received calls. But I'm definitely not an expert on the landline integration since I didn't have one from the start.

Maybe some of the other folks that have experience with the land line integration will chime in.
Ooma Customer since March 2009
Ooma Hardware: Hub/Scout(2) and Telo
Premier Member

mthomtech
Posts:317
Joined:Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:46 pm
Location:Plano, Texas

Re: No Caller ID & Can't Access VM Remotely

Post by mthomtech » Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:26 pm

Update - I finally found the option to hide my caller ID on my cell phone, so I was able to test it out.

For me, the call went straight to voicemail with no rings on either side. I wonder if this is also something that could be related to the land line.

Very curious.
Ooma Customer since March 2009
Ooma Hardware: Hub/Scout(2) and Telo
Premier Member

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