AE40 Won't Dial Out

[G-Man]

According to the Cisco DPQ3212 manual it appears that the pulse dialing is an option controlled by the ISP. I don't know if the tolerances are critical within the modem or Cox's switch.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/video/at_home/Cable_Modems/3200_Series/78-4019777-01_C.pdf

Dialing Requirements

All your telephones should be set to use DTMF dialing. Pulse dialing is typically not enabled by your local provider.

From COX Troubleshooting Hardware and Calling Features:

I cannot dial out. When I try I hear beeps and clicks.
Check your phone setting and make sure the phone is set to "Tone" and not "Pulse."

[gands-antiques]

Thanks G-Man,

I appreciate the information you provided. Although I don't understand much of it, can anything be gained from it to help me get my phones dialing out again?


Thanks,
Gary

[poplar1]

I think this is in the "Your mileage may vary" category. Cisco and Cox don't make any claims that rotary phones will work--so they don't have to support customers who are trying to connect rotary phones.

The fact that some of your phones work, on the other hand, shows that the device is not ignoring dial pulses. It seems it would have been easy enough to design an ATA that would recognize only positive disconnect (end of call) and flash (call waiting) interruptions from your telephones, but ignore dial pulses. Yet this is not the case.

Perhaps someone here who has "voice" service from a cable TV company can narrow down the parameters that this--or any other-- ATA might be looking for. As others have suggested, the requirements may be much closer to 10 pulses per second than we hope.

[G-Man]

As far as whether any of this information is useful to you, well, probably not since you most likely need some degree of technical expertise to argue your case with Cox and not let them take the easy way out and deny they are capable of rendering the service; especially since it is very likely you will end up talking to a CSR who knows even less than you do.

popular1's suggestion of finding someone who is familiar with the cable industry who can act as your voice is a good option.

According to the data sheet pulse dialing is configurable so if your intermediary can find someone that can find the right technical person within Cox, hopefully they can change the pulse dialing configuration back to a more liberal tolerance.

It's very likely that while doing a software update they changed your modem's original rotary dialing parameters.

While it would be interesting to obtain the service manual to see what the range of parameters that could be changed is, it would not be of use since Cox is the only one who could re-configure it.

[G-Man]

I forgot to include the following preface to my remarks...

Actually Cisco does state that the DPQ3212 supports pulse-dialing however it is optional whether Cox will offer it.

"Dialing Modes DTMF and configurable pulse dial support "

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/video/ps8611/ps8675/ps8682/7016882_C.pdf

[AE_Collector]

especially since it is very likely you will end up talking to a CSR who knows even less than you do.

Like, for example...What Dial Pulse IS.

Terry

[gands-antiques]

As always, I appreciate everyones comments...

I've only been messing with phones since I retired a couple of years ago and I haven't had any experience with a lot the issues that have been discussed in this post.

+++ COX did not make a simple adjustment/change when they "upgraded" the system. They sent me a new modem and instructed me to install it. That's when all of the trouble began. I called COX and asked if I could get my modem back or one like it and they said no.

I plan to clean and oil my non-working dials, adjust the governors (if required) and if they still don't work I plan to send them to Steve Hilsz.  


Thanks again,
Gary      

[rodnokn6]

 I am a verizon fios customer who up until 6 months ago had internet and tv over fiber and the land line was still delivered to my home on copper. When I first signed up for fios ( 5 years ago )  I was ALLOWED to keep the copper because I told the supervisor at the call center that I had a life alert bracelet and he knew that it wasnt supported by fios ( when it was first deployed fios did not support pulse) Six months ago  Verizon decided they werent going to support 2 networks to the same adress and that was that. They switched my land line to the ont . Right off the bat my old phones either did not ring or they would ring very low. ( i checked ring voltage at the ont and it was putting out 54 volts of ringing voltage) Also  3 phones would no longer dial out. I called fios to complain but of course they blamed the phones because some worked and others didnt. To be fair one of the phones  ( a 302 I removed from the field In '81) always had a very slow dial and would often reach the wrong number.I was able to solve the ringing issue with a viking rg 10a booster.Of course this did nothing for the dialing out problem.  I had always wanted to try an old panasonic pbx .Someone mentioned a panasonic 616 as a possible solution to your dialing problem.I recently purchased a panasonic 616 from  ebay .  It was listed for a buy it now price of $65 no warranty as is but the seller did say it was "removed from a working enviorment" I saw ALOT of these and the 308s in use during the late eighties/ early nineties and they seemed to work great.  Today I spent several hours installing the system. PROBLEM SOLVED!!!  Now all my phones ring really loud and ALL phones dial out  no problem .I did not get a display phone with my purchase therefore  I was not able to program anything  so I am guessing I am set to default mode. I am not sure (i will monitor an outgoing call tomorrow to make a determination) if the system is converting my pulses to tt or if it is just "waiting" for the pulses then sending them out . either way this is a GREAT system. The best part is I now have 2 digit intercom  thru out the house and in the back yard. Something else I never noticed in the field ... the system does not ring all the phones simultaneously it alternates between phones untill one is answered . It is very easy to notice this with the different bells  from all the different phones at my house . In the field the customers all had the exact same phone with identicall ringers. Any ways I wish I would not have waited so long to get this pbx  I am loving it.

[poplar1]

I am a verizon fios customer who up until 6 months ago had internet and tv over fiber and the land line was still delivered to my home on copper. When I first signed up for fios ( 5 years ago )  I was ALLOWED to keep the copper because I told the supervisor at the call center that I had a life alert bracelet and he knew that it wasnt supported by fios ( when it was first deployed fios did not support pulse) Six months ago  Verizon decided they werent going to support 2 networks to the same adress and that was that. They switched my land line to the ont . Right off the bat my old phones either did not ring or they would ring very low. ( i checked ring voltage at the ont and it was putting out 54 volts of ringing voltage) Also  3 phones would no longer dial out. I called fios to complain but of course they blamed the phones because some worked and others didnt. To be fair one of the phones  ( a 302 I removed from the field In '81) always had a very slow dial and would often reach the wrong number.I was able to solve the ringing issue with a viking rg 10a booster.Of course this did nothing for the dialing out problem.  I had always wanted to try an old panasonic pbx .Someone mentioned a panasonic 616 as a possible solution to your dialing problem.I recently purchased a panasonic 616 from  ebay .  It was listed for a buy it now price of $65 no warranty as is but the seller did say it was "removed from a working enviorment" I saw ALOT of these and the 308s in use during the late eighties/ early nineties and they seemed to work great.  Today I spent several hours installing the system. PROBLEM SOLVED!!!  Now all my phones ring really loud and ALL phones dial out  no problem .I did not get a display phone with my purchase therefore  I was not able to program anything  so I am guessing I am set to default mode. I am not sure (i will monitor an outgoing call tomorrow to make a determination) if the system is converting my pulses to tt or if it is just "waiting" for the pulses then sending them out . either way this is a GREAT system. The best part is I now have 2 digit intercom  thru out the house and in the back yard. Something else I never noticed in the field ... the system does not ring all the phones simultaneously it alternates between phones untill one is answered . It is very easy to notice this with the different bells  from all the different phones at my house . In the field the customers all had the exact same phone with identicall ringers. Any ways I wish I would not have waited so long to get this pbx  I am loving it.

When dialing 9+ from a rotary phone, the Panasonic key system will translate each digit to a DTMF tone one at the time as the dial comes to rest after each digit dialed.

The station ports are assigned in groups where all single line sets in the same group ring together: 11, 15, 19 and 23 are one group; 12, 16, 20, 24 another group, etc. This divides the load on the ringing generator so that with an output of 6.0 REN, up to 24 single line phones (500s REN 1.0 each) with ringers can be connected to the system. (24 phones but only 16 station codes; some would be extensions on the same station port.)

By the way, you can adjust the speed of the slow dial.

[rodnokn6]

thanx for the info on the 616 I have never attempted to adjust the speed on any of my old phones. I have only cleaned and lubricated the dials or replaced  the dials with refurbished or nos  from ebay. I like the fact that the panasonic converts the pulses to dtmf .For me it allows me to actually use my phones rather then just display them .