I’m running an Omni IIe. My phone connection is Comcast VOIP. I was told by the installer that VOIP is normally not recommended as a dial out connection for security and/or reliability reasons, but that Comcast was acceptable because they maintain their own isolated VOIP network. The Omni IIe was installed by an HAI listed installer about 3 months ago, though I will stop short of saying it was installed professionally. I’m having two problems with the phone access feature, possibly related.
The first problem is that I hear major AM radio interference when communicating with the Omni over the phone, either remotely or from a house phone. This has been going on since it was installed. I believe the interference is being picked up within the Omni system and not on the phone lines because I cannot hear any noise on any other phones in the house and I only hear it when the Omni picks up. When the Omni picks up, I hear a local AM radio station clear as day, to the point that I can barely hear the beeps and voice of the system over the radio broadcast. To compound the issue, it’s not a station I like.
The second problem is that the Omni does not seem to be communicating after it picks up the phone. After the system answers I hear about three, regularly spaced quick beeps about 5 seconds apart, and then the system hangs up. It is not three beeps in rapid succession as if to indicate an invalid code. The system does not seem to recognize that I’m keying in numbers at all. I’ve tried on several different phones. When I try to access the system from a house phone, the system does not answer the phone when I press #. When I pick up a phone, I can hear the click of the system listening on the line, but when I press # I get the standard “your call cannot be completed as dialed” message and the Omni does not pick up. I have managed to get the Omni to pick up an in house call by repeatedly hanging up and picking up the phone. I first noticed this second problem, the Omni not responding to my code, when an alarm was triggered last week with the system in ‘away’ mode. I have the system programmed with my cell number as the dial-out number. When I attempted to call in to the system the system would not recognize my code, or even recognize that I entered a code, and repeatedly hung up on me.
When I checked the wiring last night, I noticed that the installer had wired the Omni in parallel with the other phones in my house, rather than in series. I changed this so that the Omni is wired in series and is first on the circuit, as per the installation manual instructions. This change did not seem to affect my problems. I have also verified that the ‘phone’ LED on the Omni board comes on when a phone is picked up or there is an incoming call, but stays off otherwise. I tried reversing the polarity on the connection between the house phones and the brown and grey wires from the Omni. Using the installer software I have verified that ‘telephone access,’ ‘answer outside call’ and ‘remote commands ok’ are all set to yes. I don’t believe that there is a security lockout issue because it has been going on for at least a week and because my understanding is that in lockout mode the system does not answer calls at all. My system is answering just not responding. That being said I’m out of things to try. Could it be that the radio interference is making it impossible for the Omni to recognize my commands? Could it be related to a feature of my VOIP service, such as call waiting? If anyone has any suggestions on how to get rid of the radio interference or fix my other problem I really appreciate your advise.
The first problem is that I hear major AM radio interference when communicating with the Omni over the phone, either remotely or from a house phone. This has been going on since it was installed. I believe the interference is being picked up within the Omni system and not on the phone lines because I cannot hear any noise on any other phones in the house and I only hear it when the Omni picks up. When the Omni picks up, I hear a local AM radio station clear as day, to the point that I can barely hear the beeps and voice of the system over the radio broadcast. To compound the issue, it’s not a station I like.
The second problem is that the Omni does not seem to be communicating after it picks up the phone. After the system answers I hear about three, regularly spaced quick beeps about 5 seconds apart, and then the system hangs up. It is not three beeps in rapid succession as if to indicate an invalid code. The system does not seem to recognize that I’m keying in numbers at all. I’ve tried on several different phones. When I try to access the system from a house phone, the system does not answer the phone when I press #. When I pick up a phone, I can hear the click of the system listening on the line, but when I press # I get the standard “your call cannot be completed as dialed” message and the Omni does not pick up. I have managed to get the Omni to pick up an in house call by repeatedly hanging up and picking up the phone. I first noticed this second problem, the Omni not responding to my code, when an alarm was triggered last week with the system in ‘away’ mode. I have the system programmed with my cell number as the dial-out number. When I attempted to call in to the system the system would not recognize my code, or even recognize that I entered a code, and repeatedly hung up on me.
When I checked the wiring last night, I noticed that the installer had wired the Omni in parallel with the other phones in my house, rather than in series. I changed this so that the Omni is wired in series and is first on the circuit, as per the installation manual instructions. This change did not seem to affect my problems. I have also verified that the ‘phone’ LED on the Omni board comes on when a phone is picked up or there is an incoming call, but stays off otherwise. I tried reversing the polarity on the connection between the house phones and the brown and grey wires from the Omni. Using the installer software I have verified that ‘telephone access,’ ‘answer outside call’ and ‘remote commands ok’ are all set to yes. I don’t believe that there is a security lockout issue because it has been going on for at least a week and because my understanding is that in lockout mode the system does not answer calls at all. My system is answering just not responding. That being said I’m out of things to try. Could it be that the radio interference is making it impossible for the Omni to recognize my commands? Could it be related to a feature of my VOIP service, such as call waiting? If anyone has any suggestions on how to get rid of the radio interference or fix my other problem I really appreciate your advise.
