Rick Merrill wrote:
> My AttCallvantage VoIP places calls, but calls from outside the ATT
> system cannot reach us. .... net
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Your first paragraph gives a clue to
> follow up on: 'Calls from outside the AT&T system cannot reach us.'
> What does this mean exactly? Have you experienced this at all, that
> is known calls you make do not get back to you on your VOIP. Is
> 'outside the AT&T system' referring to other (non-AT&T) voip lines
> or other landline phones or?
Yes. [I'm unused to responding to my own posts:-]
> The person(s) who try to call you, are they getting an intercept
> message saying call cannot be completed,
Yes.
> or a re-order (fast busy) tone? Or is it ringing 'open',
No.
> that is the
> call 'gets through' to your local phone switch but does not actually
> reach your phone, or ?
No. The support people have tested this by calling (a) on an outside
line (intercept msg) and (b) from inside and I hear the "call waiting"
signal and can switch over to that other call!
> If the caller is getting intercepted either by
> a message or reorder tone and they are outside your LATA
THAT is where the problem is.
> it may be that AT&T (in the process of opening a new exchange for
> their VOIP phones) failed to get it correctly listed in the 'tables'
> that other carriers use indicating your VOIP exchange is a working
> exchange.
It WAS working fine for 2 months!
> I experienced this once. Tried to reach a lady in northern Wisconsin
> using my land line (defaulted to MCI for long distance). Every
> attempt, I got an intercept recording 'not in service.' On a hunch, I
> tried dialing 10288 *first*, forcing the call over AT&T, and then it
> went through okay.
No response to that whatsoever.
> Same central office both times, but MCI did not
> have it in their routing tables as a valid exchange, thus, refused to
> pass the call along. I tried explaining it to repair and the business
> office, but go nowhere. Finally I spoke to a lady who said "I sort of
> think I know what you are talking about; give me a number to reach you
> at, I am going to have someone call you back." About 30 minutes later
> I got a call from a man who identified himself as a 'network technican
> for AT&T', in of all places, Denver, CO. He said he knew *exactly* what
> the problem was ... (I said) "yeah but can you get MCI to make the
> changes required." Oh yeah, he said, they will listen to me, they
> will do as I say. I will call you back in 30 minutes or so. Sure
> enough, it got fixed.
> As he explained it to me, Illinois Bell (local central office) handled
> 'translations' for AT&T and got it correct. In theory, whenever a new
> central office opens, word of same is supposed to travel around the
> network so that other phone companies can 'turn it on' also in their
> switches. Sometimes one or another of them fail to do so, or do it
> incorrectly. He told me, "MCI tried to turn it on also, but got a
> comma or white space or something wrong in their file, so as far as
> their switch was concerned, that exchange did not exist." When I forced
> the call (via 10288) Illinois Bell, AT&T and Wisconsin Telephone all
> got it correct. When I did one plus default through MCI (Illinois Bell
> to MCI), it bounced.
> When I *finally* reached the lady I was calling in Wisconsin all she
> knew was 'many times, my friends in Chicago cannot reach me, but
> others get through okay' (the ones using Sprint or AT&T).
> So ask your family/friends/whoever that is 'not on AT&T system' to
> try calling your VOIP.
No one has gotten through since the 25th -- this is reflected in the call
log. Only the trouble shooters "inside" the VoIP network can get through.
> If *they* (or some of them) get through just
> fine, try and isolate the number they used and the telco they used.
> Also, I assume you have used your own landline phone or cell phone
> to try calling the VOIP and see if you get through to yourself or
> not. Let us know how your experiments and tests work out. This may
> not be the fault of CallVantage at all, but rather some telco (even
> AT&T!) failing to install that phone number/exchange in the 'tables'
> for others to see.
Yes. That is what the 'level 3' group now say.
> And please explain what you mean by 'cannot get through to me on
> VOIP phone'. *At what point* does their call bounce back? PAT]
Thanks for listening!-)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are welcome for the listening! The
'level 3 group' seems to be a bit more concerned than most customer
service reps. They (or you) may need to trace this a bit further by
finding out *how* the calls from your relatives/friends, etc are
getting routed from them to you, i.e. which central office do they
start out in, which long distance carrier to they default to when
calling you, etc. What happens if they use some other carrier other
than their normal one? Try ten-ten plus and a few different
carriers, etc. Keep us posted on your progress. PAT]
Rick Merrill (RM@THROW.net)