stevepierce wrote:oomg,
Yep you are describing what so many others are describing and have described on this forum. I count upwards of 30 separate threads related to this problem since September. It is a reproducible problem, Ooma should be able to fix it but they won't or can't.
All I want for Ooma to confirm that they are still able to reproduce the problem and then get a commitment to fix or tell me they aren't going to fix it.
I want to repeat, when Ooma engineering did the same tests I have been describing in an earlier ticket back in Aug/Sept, they were able to recreate the problem 100% of the time. They were then able to fix the problem and from September until about Nov 15 it worked great. Then the problem came back. Now nearly 5 weeks later and numerous calls and emails, Ooma won't return calls and denies there is any problem and blames my equipment or my ISP.
So oomg, add you name to the list of people with the dreaded, lets call it iCHOP for I Can't Hear the Other Party syndrome.
This is an important point, not everyone experiences this problem and not every call will have it. But if you reflect back or are now aware of this problem, make a note the next time you call someone and it answers and no one is there. We are seeing this problem happening from 3 to 5% of all outbound calls. When using Google Voice to place outbound calls, the failure rate is over 50% and on some days it is over 90%.
When you call someone with Ooma, it will work or not work. For most people it works. But when it doesn't work, the biggest single problem is you hear the phone ring, and then you hear dead air as if the call has been answered, but you cannot hear the far end. iCHOP
Turns out the far end probably can hear you and you can confirm this by asking the person on the far end to press a button on the touch tone phone. If you hear a tone, you know they can hear you. Ask them to press a key twice. You will hear the tone twice. So you can't hear the voice but you can hear the tone.
That is a call completion problem that is occurring inside the Ooma network at the network carrier exchange points. What is happening is the Ooma switches are not detecting call completion as the far end phone is going off hook (the call is answered). The connection is left waiting for the connection. Tones can still be transmitted as that is part of the way phone switches and signalling works.
That is why this isn't a QoS problem, a customer ISP problem, a broken Telo or a broken cable modem. This problem is not impacted by the order of the device Ooma first or Router first. It fails in either mode.
As far as bad customer service. it has been 8 days since my call was escalated to Tier 2 and some 11 days since my first contact with Ooma support on this issue. (#101208-000869) There hasn't been a single call or email back from Ooma in 8 days despite numerous follow-up emails by me. I will leave it to you to judge whether that is good or bad customer service.
Cheers!
- Steve
Steve: Slow down... there are no rewards for over achievement here.
First, the sporadic problem I have experienced is just the opposite of what you call iCHOP. In fact, I can hear the recipient just fine, but they cannot hear me. Immediate resolution is to simply hang up and call back. Not a big deal for me... probably more annoying for the recipient. (Maybe I should block my caller ID, and deny having made a previous call if asked.)
Second, it appears to be related more to the location of my units. Remember, I brought the Telo home, and no problem. Very occasional problem with the Hub/Scout at the second location. Now I have switched the two "offending" units. I was able to duplicate the problem almost immediately when the Telo was installed at the second location. So far, no problem with the Hub/Scout that was transferred to the home although I have not really made a sufficient number of calls to say that it no longer exists on this unit. In any event, my thought is that the problem has more to do with the connection at the second location, or some other factor that is unique to that location.
Third, where are you getting the statistics you are quoting? I recently heard that 98% of all quoted statistics have no basis in fact. Based on another post you made, there have been approximately 50 to 60 posts over the past eight month which have discussed an issue relating to incomplete calls. Now, I'm fairly certain that many people never venture onto this forum, and others simply will not comment on the problem, but I haven't seen anything yet that would lead me to believe that more that 50% of the calls made on Ooma are experiencing some sort of problem relating to an incomplete connection.