ooma goes offline randomly

[rgrichar]

My ooma goes offline (while displaying blue light) randomly. Sometimes 6 months or more without occurring, then happens couple of times a week.

The solution is power cycle the ooma and it always comes back fine.

I have called support several times looking for a more permanent solution with no luck. Last time support seemed baffled that I was unhappy with just power cycling to recover without any suggestions to prevent recurrence. Support suggested something may have happened in the internet to cause the problem...

Is there a way to 1) get pushed/alarmed notification when ooma is offline and 2) get ooma to reconnect/reset properly.

I now have a remote wifi enabled power bar that I can use to reset ooma, but this is rather weak technology and very reactive as I have to alerted to the problem first.

Would static IP for ooma be a solution

If ooma could provide a local IP I could ping that would stop responding when offlilne, I could provision a monitored power bar that would reset ooma after ping attempts failed...

I've tried using ooma home security app to provide system notifications, but as yet have not got pushed system notifications working.

Without a solution, seems inappropriate for ooma to even offer home security functionality, when the device itself can stop working without notice.

[sabretooth02]

Try a static IP...

Ooma Static IP setting for remote Ooma management.

A static IP must always be outside the DHCP range of the router IP table. You must verify in your router that this is configured correctly first. For ease of use, in the router set your DHCP range starting address to 192.168.1.100 through ending address 192.168.1.150 (your router may use 192.168.0.x so this is OK too). The router itself uses a static IP of 192.168.1.1 (or 192.168.0.1). This leaves 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.99 and 192.168.1.151 through 192.168.1.254 for Static IPs. Internet port of the Ooma will be plugged into a LAN port of the router.

Set the Ooma box for 192.168.1.20 for a static IP.

Need direct LAN access. Now connect an Ethernet LAN cable to the HOME port and in your browser address bar type in 172.27.35.1. You should connect to the Ooma Admin pages.

In the drop down Setup page select Static IP. Use any number outside the DHCP range set up from above. Again, we are using 192.168.1.20.

Under Internet/Connection type- Select Static IP Address:
IP Address: 192.168.1.20
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
DNS Server 1: 192.168.1.1
DNS Server 2: Leave empty
Router Address: 192.168.1.1

INTERNET Port MAC Address:

Use Built In:

Click ‘Update Device’

Under the Advanced tab/Remote Administration – Check the box that says ‘Allow access to web interface from port’
Click ‘Update’ to save your new settings.

Power off router and Ooma box. Power on router, wait 2 minutes. Power on Ooma box and wait. Once the blue light comes on, check your router for ‘Attached Devices’ and verify you see a 192.168.1.20 IP in the wired section.

The benefit of a static IP now is that you can now connect to the Ooma box Admin Pages directly by going to 192.168.1.20 in your browser.

Other helpful connection/router tips if using a Wireless Ooma connection:
1. Use a fixed wireless channel like 1, 6 or 11, never ‘auto’. Try channel 1 first then the rest.
2. Disable UPnP and WPS in the router for security purposes. Nobody can hack your router now and helps with wireless connectivity. If you want to know why, search the web.
3. If you have a dual band router (2.4Ghz and 5.0Ghz bands), make sure the SSID’s are not the same. This includes Guest networks also.
4. SSID broadcast must be enabled.

[rgrichar]

Sabretooth02, thanks for the details re static IP setup. I will try that shortly.

I also now have a smart power bar that can ping a specified address and power cycle the AC port if no ping response. Originally intended for monitoring internet connectivity and rebooting troublesome routers, I was wondering about pinging the telo's static IP.

Any idea if the admin page will respond to ping when the telo goes offline?

[sabretooth02]

Sorry have no idea. Mine never goes offline.

[DaveAbq]

Hi, just to let you know my Ooma WiFi has been shutting down and locking up randomly in the month I’ve had it. The Telo is 14’ across the room from the router. While rebooting today I noticed if I put my thumb and forefinger on the two broad sides of the WiFi adapter I lost WiFi and the Ooma connection. This made me think either the thing is low powered (despite the heat) or I had a bad WiFi channel. Now, I don’t remember if Ooma is on 2 or 5 gig, so when I looked the 2g was on auto, channel 6. I reset it to 9. The 5 gig was on channel 157, I reset it to 153. Checked the Ooma, it was working, grabbed the adapter with my two fingers again and the WiFi data kept chattering away, no failure. I consider that a hopeful sign. I THOUGHT the red data light looked odd when I walked between it and the router but couldn’t put my finger on it. Hopefully it is settled, but I ordered a long network cable to tuck alongside the carpet in case it isn’t.

[oomamb]

Though this thread is over a year old, it's the most relevant I've found to the question "Can you use ping to the Telo WAN interface to serve as a reliable Telo status diagnostic?"

I suppose if the Telo is powered down, or really in a bad way so it can't respond to pings, then the answer is of course, yes.

However, my Telo just went offline (Ooma web status page shows it "offline"; Ooma voicemail is picking up, meaning my POTS answering machine isn't; my alarm system used the backup radio to signal there's a connectivity problem with the phone line - this is what alerted me to check Telo status).

I remotely connected to my house LAN (using the Internet, so that connection is fine) and pinged the Telo WAN interface (the Telo is behind my router). It happily replied to the pings with no packed loss.

Since this config has been working fine for about a week (1.5 wks into my 60 day test period), it would seem there is at least one failure mode where the Internet can be fine, and the Telo will answer pings normally, but it is still "offline" and calls aren't getting in or out. Of course if Ooma central were out, I'd see this behavior too. I'm guessing that's not the problem as nothing is posted on the status pages (https://support.ooma.com/home/ https://mobile.twitter.com/ooma_status).

[oomamb]

When I got home this is what I found on the Ooma Telo:

1) WAN interface responds to ping
2) Status light 'flower' showing normal 'blue, I'm ok'
3) No dialtone
4) No access to local mgt from LAN port (it wasn't handing out DHCP addresses)
5) Status from my Ooma account web page shows "off-line"

A power reset cleared the problem. This is the 2nd time this failure mode has occurred in about a week.

Looking back over call logs, it seems as if this may occur immediately after receiving a call. Most calls come through just fine, but I've now noticed my alarm is calling to tell me there are problems with the phone line about a minute after a prior incoming call.

Clearly, in this failure mode, pinging the Telo as a diagnostic to see if it's offline, doesn't work.

I'm contemplating getting a z-wave outlet so I can power cycle the Telo remotely when my alarm system notifies me the line has died.

[UnknownCallerID01]

For $14 I bought a smart plug on Amazon then set it on a timer schedule of 0200 power off, 0202 power on. That way every day at 2am my telo power is cut and restored. Automated hard boot every day. Since then no issues. My guess is there is a memory leak in the Telo code somewhere that causes this. But for $14 I don't care anymore.

Simple fix for those looking to work around a Telo annoyance.

[oomamb]

Thanks for suggestion. I'm still wanting to track if/when this gets fixed, so bought a z-wave outlet that I can remote reset whenever the issue crops up. It still hasn't been fixed in the Telo as I post this as i just had to reset it again. Seems to fail a few times a month. When I get tired of checking, I'll just reset daily as you are doing. Good to know that masks the problem sufficiently.

[Spike468]

This happens to me too, many times a day I look up and see that red light flashing. I can't receive calls during those couple of minutes. I wonder if it isn't my cable company's signal which is supposed to be the best you can buy.