Phone access, hookup to OPII

[chrisdias]

Hi,

Recently i embarked on an effort to clean up all the wire i had pulled and left long. Almost everything works after putting the system back together, but for the life of me I cannot get the OPII to answer the phone.

It used to work, but now it seems to pick up, but i don't here the "beep".

Here is a picture of the jack wiring. its hard to see but on the left is the green/red wires coming in from the comcast/xfinity cable modem. on the right are the wires going out to the phone itself.



the phone LED flashes when the phone rings, it picks up, just no beep.

i've checked the wires about 50 times now, and its all to the diagrams. i've check pc access and everything is on.

if i call in from my cell phone, it will pick up but no beep. If i pick up my phone and press "#" it immediately says that the phone company is having problems so it doesnt seem like its grabbing the line internally.

any ideas? i'm at a loss...

thanks,
chris

 

[chrisdias]

To be exact, it says "we're sorry, due to telephone company troubles..." when i press "#" on the internal phone.

Also, i took the whole jack out of the equation and wired it directly to the phone terminals on the OPII panel and I still have the same problem.

Help!!!

 

[Frunple]

I thought alarms wouldn't work over comcast ( or any cable provider). At least thats what they told me when I switched to them, I even had to sign a waiver saying the same. But I never tried it myself, you're saying it did work at one time for sure?

 

[chrisdias]

yes, it worked fine using comcast digital voice.

 

[edge]

Maybe reset the RAM?

 

[Frunple]

The only thing that comes to my mind would be an impedance issue? Try adding the extra cable back into the line and see if the extra resistance changes anything.

 

[chrisdias]

Impedance... i'm interested in this, but i'm not sure how to measure it . That said, if i am wired directly to the panel's terminals or through the jack, it doesn't work. So, i'm not sure what measuring this will do for me. So, let me ask this question - if it was an impedance issue, what would the solutions be?

resetting RAM... how do i do this?

 

[HAI_fjh]

It is pretty strait forward. The main incoming phone line goes to the Omni Telephone GRN, RED terminals then goes to the rest of the house via the BRN, GRY terminals. This allows the Omni to seize the lines before any devices in the house.

The special RJ31X jack simply allows you to remove the Omni from the circuit without disconnecting your house phones. This is important for testing and safety since you should disconnect the power and PHONE circuits before working on the Omni...

Take a look at the "TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS" section of the installation manual.

The main issues with cable/VOIP phone interfaces is they "emulate" a POTS line and some don't do a great job. Issues like low ring voltages so the Onmi doesn't detect the ring or frequency issues that distort touch tones so that the omni doesn't recognize the tones are the most common. Having said that many system do a good job and work fine. If your was working fine before I don't think these are your issues. Also impedance changes in wiring would not be high on my list of suspect unless you made SIGNIFICANT changes to the length or type of the wire.

I know you checked 50 times but my gut says a wiring problem.

 

[chrisdias]

Hi Fred, thanks for the reply.

The length of the wires has not changed. However, the cable modem itself did. I wonder if that is the problem... low voltages.

I have a voltage tester, what would I be looking for?

Chris

 

[Frunple]

Telephone uses a -48v dc but I don't think you are gonna find it's a voltage problem.
What changed about the modem?? Different make, manufacturer??

 

[chrisdias]

different make and manufacturer. i used to have an Arris cable modem from comcast/xfinity (probably 5 years old).

I now have a ubee modem (looks like this one), i used to have an arris but traded it in because for some reason it just stopped connecting to the internet despite resetting it, etc.

 

[Frunple]

I hate to say it but that would be the first thing to try. Can you go back to the Arris? You should be able to swap it out at your local Comcast store... gonna be a pain I'm sure but it is the likely culprit.

 

[chrisdias]

i'm going to try to buy an Arris at bestbuy and that way i'll have more control of it .

i'll post what happens.

Thanks!

 

[Frunple]

Hmm, can you use a personally owned modem with Comcast voice?? Can't here. What State are you in?

 

[chrisdias]

i think so... i did a bunch of searches the other night and it seemed like you could pick one up at the comcast/xfinity booth at bestbuy. and, it is an Arris modem, which is what worked for me before.

i live in washington.

i'll let you know what i find out .