AT&T responsible for call delays?

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cja1505
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AT&T responsible for call delays?

Post by cja1505 » Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:22 pm

I have been having problems with delays of 10 seconds or more before incoming calls connect (we hear silence, other end hears ringing or three tones indicating disconnected line). That is if the incoming calls go through at all, however. Most incoming calls are no longer getting through and going straight to voicemail without the "direct to voicemail" setting being on.

We use AT&T DSL. I have known AT&T to throttle bandwidth on P2P connections for us in the past. They have even reset the DSL connection entirely. I would like to know how to find out whether AT&T is causing our current call connection problems. I do not know if they are throttling traffic on specific ports - would the VPN obscure the fact that P2P connections are being used?

If there is a family emergency, or a life/health emergency, the lack of incoming call reliability is a pressing issue. Please help me - we have been dealing with this problem for over a month now, and call reliability is only getting worse with time (fewer and fewer calls being received at all).

scots
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Re: AT&T responsible for call delays?

Post by scots » Sat Jan 03, 2009 8:58 pm

Not sure what the cause of your issues is, but you really shouldn't rely on VoIP as your only means of communication if you have family that has serious health problems or have some other major concerns about being able to make/receive calls in an emergency. If you have family with serious health problems and want to use VoIP, that's fine and dandy...but you should at least keep a cell phone or very basic landline service as a backup. Pretty much anyone who knows a fair amount about VoIP will suggest this due to the unpredictable outages that can happen with any internet connection (both on your end, ooma's end, and all points in between), and the fact that if you lose power both your ooma device and internet will not be able to function.

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wase4711
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Re: AT&T responsible for call delays?

Post by wase4711 » Sun Jan 04, 2009 6:00 am

I have ATT UVerse, which is DSL internet,and I have experienced none of those issues with my ooma service..you need to contact them and have them check your DSL line..
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cja1505
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Re: AT&T responsible for call delays?

Post by cja1505 » Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:34 am

Yes, we have cell phones. Still, it would be preferable in a life or death emergency if the main phone system were to work. Cell phones should be adequate to cover those times when the Ooma phone is malfunctioning, but we had hoped those times would be few and far between rather than the norm. Also, we would be happier if people could contact us directly in case of family emergencies, for instance. Life and death calls aren't the only important ones for us.

We'll contact AT&T to make sure the DSL isn't at fault - just wish we could get more customer support from Ooma on our side. It's hard not having a main home telephone line that will accept calls.

After a month of these troubles, I can't help feeling that in cases like ours where Ooma first tier support can't identify the problem, the case may be simply dropped or de-prioritized (especially when Ooma support seems to be overburdened). I understand this completely. Ooma already has the money paid for the hardware, and we're not premier subscribers. It definitely makes sense financially, but it is a bit disheartening.

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Soundjudgment
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Re: AT&T responsible for call delays?

Post by Soundjudgment » Tue Jan 06, 2009 10:05 am

cja1505 wrote:I have been having problems with delays of 10 seconds or more We use AT&T DSL.
Hasn't ooma repeatedly stated in their literature that DSL isn't fast enough for reliable ooma service?? You wouldn't also happen to be running that P2P operation at the same time you are using ooma? That would be a death-sentence for throughput on DSL.
ooma customer since December 2008
ooma hardware: core (hub/scout) and Telo
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cja1505
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Re: AT&T responsible for call delays?

Post by cja1505 » Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:38 am

Soundjudgment wrote:
cja1505 wrote:I have been having problems with delays of 10 seconds or more We use AT&T DSL.
Hasn't ooma repeatedly stated in their literature that DSL isn't fast enough for reliable ooma service?? You wouldn't also happen to be running that P2P operation at the same time you are using ooma? That would be a death-sentence for throughput on DSL.
The method of transmission of data does not matter much, provided we aren't talking, say, Hughesnet or other satellite services (which we aren't). The important thing is having an adequate upload and download speed, which I do.

I didn't see any warnings against DSL use repeatedly stated in the Ooma lit, so please point them out if you know of them.

Ooma is a p2p operation. No, we aren't currently running any other p2p applications alongside Ooma. In the past I very rarely used bittorrent, late at night when it didn't matter anyway. I did find out about AT&T's tendency to mess with p2p connections as a result - even before we had Ooma. I thought VPN would keep this from happening to Ooma. Now I'm not sure.

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Soundjudgment
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Re: AT&T responsible for call delays?

Post by Soundjudgment » Fri Jan 09, 2009 7:59 am

"" I thought VPN would keep this from happening to Ooma. Now I'm not sure. ""

I am sorry, the ooma literature is referring to old-fashioned 'dialup' being too slow, not DSL. I haven't had telco dial-up here in over a decade so I forget those limitations from the olden-days. ;)

Yes, if the DSL service is reliable (with enough bandwidth), the distance to the CO isn't too far away, and you have all those goofy little 'filters' they force you to install on the phones and wiring for DSL signal/voice isolation, I would suppose there is no reason for performance to be that degraded by the use of DSL service alone. But given there might be other high-speed ways to get to the Internet, and that telco is making progress 're-wiring America' to all fiber-wire installation and switches... I suspect that DSL's days (much like ISDN) are numbered.

One thing that I do feel is hampering point-to-point connectivity would be any tunneling done through a 'VPN' service connection. Where does that come into play?? I don't recommend that the ooma service get involved with that part of any routing-system if it can be avoided. Unless you are not speaking of the term 'VPN' as I would think of it?
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cja1505
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Re: AT&T responsible for call delays?

Post by cja1505 » Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:01 pm

Soundjudgment wrote:One thing that I do feel is hampering point-to-point connectivity would be any tunneling done through a 'VPN' service connection. Where does that come into play?? I don't recommend that the ooma service get involved with that part of any routing-system if it can be avoided. Unless you are not speaking of the term 'VPN' as I would think of it?
I believe Ooma itself uses a VPN. Looking at the Ooma setup "web" page accessible on the router at setup.ooma.com, there does appear to be a VPN listed under status. If I'm mistaken, though, let me know. I'd be intrigued to know more details about the service itself.

If I do not get a response from a CSR soon (and it doesn't look as though I will) I will have to "turbo" this problem right to the top of the Ooma chain of command. I really don't want to, though, it's a hassle for me and them.

LOL at "goofy little filters" for the DSL :-)

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