Can't make calls, can't receive calls, but I have dial tone

Having trouble placing or receiving calls or using your voicemail system on Ooma Telo VoIP Phones? Post your questions here.
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wkamm
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Joined:Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:40 pm
Can't make calls, can't receive calls, but I have dial tone

Post by wkamm » Mon Sep 12, 2011 5:10 pm

Hi, I just received my Ooma Telo a few days ago, and am having some real problems getting it to work properly. Specifically, this is what's happening:

I connect all the cables and plug the device into the wall. It goes through it's initialization, and eventually all lights are blue.

I get a dial tone and can call out.

Others can call me.

Then, after a while, maybe 15-30 minutes, things change. I still get a dial tone, but when I call someone else, I either get a busy signal or just silence. The phone never rings on the other end. If they call me, after many rings (and I have my device set to go to voice mail after 2 rings) they get my voice mail. They leave a message, but the message light on my device remains blue. My call log doesn't show either the outgoing calls or the incoming calls. The voice mail is nowhere to be found. Other than the dial tone, this device isn't doing anything at all.

So then I unplug the power, wait a minute or two, and plug it in again. Then I go through the same sequence again, where it works for a while and then stops working. I have done this 4 or 5 times now.

Now for some info on my setup. I have the device after a switch. Cable Modem --> Router --> Switch --> Ooma. I ran the speedtest (http://speedtest.phonepower.com) from a laptop also behind the switch, and uploaded the results as an attachment. Thanks for any help!
Speedtest.pdf
speedtest results
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thunderbird
Posts:6388
Joined:Mon Nov 08, 2010 4:41 pm

Re: Can't make calls, can't receive calls, but I have dial tone

Post by thunderbird » Mon Sep 12, 2011 5:32 pm

wkamm:
Your Phonepower Speedtest results looked good excpet you TCP delay was high. I also noticed that your Upload speed was higher than your Download speed. The Download Speed is almost always higher then the Upload speed. Maybe you were using Wi-Fi. Some times with Wi-Fi the readings aren't reported correctly. But I don't think either condition is probably your problem.

First: Turn off MAC address Spoofing by changing from Automatic to Use Built-In.
If your connection is Modem-Router-Ooma, temporarily connect a network cable from your Ooma device home port, to the wired LAN port of a computer. Temporarily turn off Wi-Fi in the computer, if turned on. Reboot the computer. Access your Ooma Setup pages by typing http://172.27.35.1 in your computer browser window. The Ooma Setup pages open. Click on Internet, go down to INTERNET Port MAC Address: and change setting from Automatic to Use Built In. Click on Update device. Reboot your Modem. When the Modem is done booting reboot your Router, when the Router is done booting, reboot your Ooma device. Then test.

Second: If the problem continues, reboot the Ooma Telo again, but this time wait at least 20 minutes. This allow the Ooma servers to rebuild/reset you profile. Then test.

Third: Next when calling, if the problem returns, dial a *99, or *98, or *96 before the number that you are dialing. Example *99-1-xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Forth: If you still have problems, temporarily change your setup for isolation and testing, to Modem-Ooma-Router and test. Report if this works.

wkamm
Posts:3
Joined:Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:40 pm

Re: Can't make calls, can't receive calls, but I have dial tone

Post by wkamm » Wed Sep 14, 2011 6:10 am

Thanks Thunderbird. I went through your steps 1 and 2, exactly as described. In step 2, I left the Telo unplugged for 31 minutes. After that, I was able to make and receive most calls, but I was unable to call 1-800-COMCAST. Other toll free numbers were OK.

The next morning I was still able to make and receive calls, so progress was made. My voice mail features were also working OK.

In the evening I tried again, and the results were inconsistent. When I tried to make calls, sometimes I got a busy signal, and sometimes I got silence. I still couldn't call 1-800-COMCAST.

This morning, things are similar to last night. When I call 1-800-COMCAST, I hear two very loud and annoying beeps, followed by the message "We're sorry, your call was unable to be completed. Please hang up and dial the toll free number again". When I pushed the voice mail "triangle" button, nothing happened for about a minute. Pushing the "square" button did nothing. The number 1 was red. Finally, the voice mail voice started speaking, and when I stopped it, the red 1 turned to blue. Until then, the phone was inoperable.

Then I tried step 3, prefixing my calls with *99, *98, or *96. That helped, as some of the outgoing calls went through, but some still resulted in silence or busy signals. However, incoming calls seem to work now! What does that prefix do?

I haven't tried step 4 yet. I will do that when the family isn't on the network, and I can do it without disrupting them. My wife isn't real happy with how this is working. We plan to port our home number to Ooma, but given the lack of robustness so far, I'm having trouble convincing her Ooma is the answer. I'm having doubts myself, but remain optimistic that a simple fix will get things working.

thunderbird
Posts:6388
Joined:Mon Nov 08, 2010 4:41 pm

Re: Can't make calls, can't receive calls, but I have dial tone

Post by thunderbird » Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:46 am

wkamm wrote:Thanks Thunderbird. I went through your steps 1 and 2, exactly as described. In step 2, I left the Telo unplugged for 31 minutes. After that, I was able to make and receive most calls, but I was unable to call 1-800-COMCAST. Other toll free numbers were OK.

Then I tried step 3, prefixing my calls with *99, *98, or *96. That helped, as some of the outgoing calls went through, but some still resulted in silence or busy signals. However, incoming calls seem to work now! What does that prefix do?
I had a problem, similar but not quite the same as yours a few days ago. I did the remove power, wait twenty minutes, repower steps, three times before everything returned to normal. Maybe you should try these steps again and test.

The *99, *98, and *96 prefixes changes the Codec used. These Codec’s are a little wider bands. It's strange but many times all you have to do is use one of these Codec’s a few times, and it's like some where software becomes configured correctly, and then the normal dialing method works fine.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec for more information.

Not being able to call 1-800-COMCAST is strange?

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lbmofo
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Re: Can't make calls, can't receive calls, but I have dial tone

Post by lbmofo » Wed Sep 14, 2011 11:06 am

thunderbird wrote:Not being able to call 1-800-COMCAST is strange?
I reported a similar issue with Comcast's Xfinity number. Maybe the same issue.
viewtopic.php?t=12086

Charles R
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Joined:Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:35 pm

Re: Can't make calls, can't receive calls, but I have dial tone

Post by Charles R » Wed Sep 14, 2011 11:10 am

thunderbird wrote:Not being able to call 1-800-COMCAST is strange?
Actually, it's not. When I first started using my Telo it was iffy. The call would go through once every so often and the other times a message would come on... can't remember but something like we can't complete your call at this time.

Just tried calling them again (couple months later) and it's still the same way. It takes three or four attempts for it to connect. Originally, I called support and they attempted to blame Comcast saying their lines were busy or whatnot which I found a little hard to believe.

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