Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Having trouble placing or receiving calls or using your voicemail system on Ooma Telo VoIP Phones? Post your questions here.
sickandtired
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by sickandtired » Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:55 am

I'm still left wondering how any of this will make any difference? I haven't changed anything since I've had Ooma..NOTHING..no wires, no settings, no equipment, this just started happening out of the blue. Soooo...unless Ooma has changed the way it provides its service, and it doesn't seem like they have, I see no reason why I should have to change anything, and I'm done trying. I have a new box on the way, and this will at least rule out any product issue, which I kind of hope it is! Thanks for your help, but this sickandtired is beyond sick and tired now.

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lbmofo
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by lbmofo » Fri Jan 07, 2011 10:30 am

Given you haven't changed anything, there are a few things that could have changed: ISP service, modem, router (if Ooma behind router), Ooma device, Ooma carrier.

I am advocating that folks check out ISP service, modem, router before looking into Ooma carrier, Ooma device because Ooma has no control over them.

thunderbird
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by thunderbird » Fri Jan 07, 2011 10:35 am

sickandtired:

The I/they can’t hear them/me issues is almost always a port issue (in this forum it's called routing issues). Somewhere along the line there is a closed port, malfunctioning port, misaligned port, etc., from your Ooma Telo, to Ooma, to the wholesaler, to the legacy carrier, to the number that your are calling, than back along the same path to your Ooma Telo. The suggestions that I provided are just trying to making sure that the ports that you can control are functioning properly, and are open coming and going.

My wife calls China all of the time, -now- without any problems at all. We had some of the same problems, but in our case the problems were on our end; not Ooma’s end, or the China end, or between. Not all of our Ooma Telo’s ports were visible to the outside.

You have to understand that some, same ports, are used every time a call is made. But other ports used by Ooma or the wholesaler, etc. are used at random. Which port is selected usually depends on the traffic load. That’s the reason why people may not have a problem for a long time, than when the traffic load changes, problems pop up.

So you should try to eliminate any problems on your end, to eliminate that possiblity that the problem might be on your end, but it’s up to you.

Good luck.

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lbmofo
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by lbmofo » Fri Jan 07, 2011 10:54 am

thunderbird, would you care to add your after router setup to this thread? viewtopic.php?t=10023

thunderbird
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by thunderbird » Fri Jan 07, 2011 11:54 am

lbmofo:

You may and are welcome to use, edit or change anything that I post, if you think it will help someone.

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lbmofo
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by lbmofo » Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:17 pm

Thanks thunderbird. I will.

sickandtired
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by sickandtired » Tue Feb 08, 2011 6:58 am

Just an update...Just after I had ordered a new Ooma Telo, and was getting ready to take the old one back for a refund, it started to work again with no issues, and NO changes were made to ANYTHING on my end. For the record, Ooma came up with NO solution to the issue, only ENDLESS try this, try that, with a million speed and ping tests, only to say at the end that it has to be something wrong on my end. I'm hoping that this will not need another update!

sickandtired
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by sickandtired » Sun Feb 13, 2011 7:10 am

This is a post by another user and sounded VERY familiar. Ooma really needs to own up to this issue! This was posted on the site where I puchased the product...


.."When it doesn't work, it is nightmare getting support from Ooma. Clueless doesn't begin to describe how bad is their tech support.
Setup can be very difficult and I am an IT guy with 20+ years of experience. The problem was not the LAN, the WAN, QoS or any other excuse their techs can come up. I connected the Ooma to a 75Mb down 6Mb up network and Ooma still blamed the network. Switched over to an unused T1 line from a different ISP and the problems still exist.
Not everyone has the luxury of two different ISP's to test with, but I did and Ooma still can't make it work.
The problem is the Ooma phone network and their inability to make reliable calls.
The biggest problem is a call that seemingly rings and when answered, the call is dead.. It happens to hundreds of Ooma users every day, Ooma blames the ISP or your network congestion, QoS setting in Ooma, or network config. It is none of these.
The problem is Ooma carrier agreements with third party carriers. This includes AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, Comcast, and Google. The call is not being terminated properly. We have documented over 100 phone numbers where Ooma doesn't work, Ooma still can't get it fixed.
What happen is you place a call, it rings, it is answered, but you can't hear anyone. Turns out on the other end they can hear you. If they press a button on the phone, you can hear the tone, but can't hear the voice.
Customer Service will not acknowledge this as a problem and their techs say this is the first time they have heard about this problem. Yet the Ooma Support boards have tons of folks all struggling with the problem and no help from Ooma.
This past fall, no Ooma customer could call a Comcast phone user for nearly two weeks. First Ooma blamed Comcast and then reluctantly admitted it was their problem
Bottom line: Cool technology, fun to play with, but don't ever depend on the phone line to actually work when you need it.
If it works, it is great. If it doesn't work, be prepared for one of the most frustrating tech support experiences ever."

jhphone
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by jhphone » Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:11 pm

mxkied2 wrote:This issue has NOTHING to do with up-stream bandwidth, where your ooma router is or your cable modem. This is a carrier issue that Ooma can not resolve. You can continue to provide logs of numbers that do not work and they can some times get one number to work properly but that is besides the point of the issue. You should be able to pick up the phone and call any number without having to worry if the call will have an one way audio issue. I have been dealing with this issue since November and Ooma and its carriers have been able to sort of fix one number (sort of means now instead of almost all calls to that one number having one way audio only about 25% of the calls to that number have the issue which is still totally unacceptable). Other numbers always suffer from one way audio while others have one way audio at random times.

To summarize:

Ooma has MAJOR problems with it carriers

Ooma prefers strict military silence over admitting there is an issue

Even (Dennis P, ntoy) who I have contacted directly about these issues seem powerless to resolve the issues

The old adage "you get what you pay for" seems to be very true with Ooma, we pay nothing a month for service(unless you subscribe to the premier service obviously), and we get next to no service in return.

Quit wasting your time and money increasing your upstream on your internet service and messing around with moving the ooma device around in your network, it will not fix the issue.

I agree.

We're told to keep detailed logs on these problems. Why? Why should we do the work that Ooma should already be doing? And in any case it will be disregarded.

Ooma can certainly track this info automatically and look at it. Dropped calls and one-way connections have been reported here for many months. These, in addition to the 900 ms delay, echo and half-duplex transmission, add up to the pathetic and maddening "Ooma Experience."

It's further outrageous that Ooma ignores this forum. "Call customer support" we are told. For what reason? These systematic problems have been going on since before last summer and they have never been fixed.

Ooma won't do anything about it.

Instead, all we get are lame, busy-work BS instructions that assume the all these problems are caused by our equipment. Theirs is a voodoo-science mentality of cause and effect. It wouldn't be surprising if Ooma suggested we use Monster cables or burn incense.

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lbmofo
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Re: Problem with specific Number - I can't hear them!!

Post by lbmofo » Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:26 pm

jhphone, I have a good suggestion on confirming that your internet is not the problem. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9569&start=200#p75133

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