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Phone jack not working

Started by yaworski, August 29, 2019, 01:57:28 PM

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yaworski

I've had a single line Obi200 since December.  It was working fine until the other day.  No dial tone on either of the two phones in my house. 

Odd, the green light for the phone was lit.  I got a phone and a new cable and plugged it into the box.  No dial tone.   Tried another phone and another cable and the same thing.

I tried calling and the green light flashed to indicate an incoming call but nothing happened with the phone.

Who do I call about a problem like this?

drgeoff

How were the two phones connected to the single jack of the OBi200?

yaworski

A home phone network is a bus.  If you connect your ObiTalk box to a wall jack, every pihone on the net is connected to the Obitalk.

So my Obitalk box is plugge into a wall jack near my router.  I then have a phone in the kitchen and another in the living room.

drgeoff

Quote from: yaworski on September 04, 2019, 08:03:16 AM
A home phone network is a bus.  If you connect your ObiTalk box to a wall jack, every pihone on the net is connected to the Obitalk.

So my Obitalk box is plugge into a wall jack near my router.  I then have a phone in the kitchen and another in the living room.
All that is fine until an unwanted voltage is introduced to that "bus" and fries the SLIC chip in the OBi.  The SLIC chip is the interface between the analogue PHONE jack(s) on the OBi and the digital processing.  Fried SLIC means no dial tone etc.

So where can an unwanted voltage come from?  In most cases from an external telco line that has not been (properly) disconnected from the internal house phone wiring.  Sooner or later something can happen such as:

1.  A thunderstorm with a lightning strike causes a voltage spike to appear on the cable, even at some distance from you, and it travels along the external cable into your OBi. Zap!

2.  The telco, who owns that cable (you do not) tests the cable.  One of the tests puts a voltage between the two wires.  Your OBi's PHONE port is subjected to that voltage.  Zap!

The acid test is to log into your dashboard at obitalk.com and enter Expert Mode.  Unplug the phone from the OBi. Then click on Status and then on Phone Port Status.  Look at the VBat and TipRingVoltage numbers.  If they are zero or blank then your SLIC chip is dead.  No repair. New OBi time.  And if you don't know what "properly disconnected" above means get someone who does.  Else you will sooner or later have another zapped OBi.

yaworski

#4
I thought of that when Verizon discontinued copper lines in my area.  Disconnected the phone line where it came into the house.  That's not the issue.

The issue was getting ahold of someone from technical support.  


drgeoff

Unplug the phone from the OBi200. Log in to your account at obitalk.com and go to your dashboard.  Use Expert mode to get detailed info about your Obi200.  Click on Status, then on Phone Port Status.  What voltages do you see for VBat and TipRingVoltage?  If you see blanks or voltages of zero or close to zero, your OBi is faulty and not user repairable.  And it isn't economic to pay the going rate to have someone else do it even if you could find someone able and willing to do it.

Nasty external voltages are probably the most common cause.  But not the only one.

yaworski

Thanks for all the suggestions.  The point is now moot.  Polycom sent me a new Obi box which I have connected and it is working. 

I started off trying to find out how to contact tech support since phone numbers didn't seem to be working.  I did find a Facebook page for Obitalk and posted a message with my compliant.  Response came in about a day and in another day or so, I was told that a new box was on its way.  I've had it about a week and finally had the free time to fuss with it. 

I again have access to the phone number that I've had since 1973 although few call me on that number. 

Maybe I'm odd in that I like to use a hand filling telephone handset for extended conversations instead a cell phone which seem to be designed to do everything  but act as an effective telephone. 

giqcass

I thought real hard about hooking up an old Ma Bell phone to my OBi(some adapters are required).  Remember the old days when phone were used in movies to club people to death?  Try that with an iPhone!
Long live our new ObiLords!