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Obi200 - Cordless phone periodically shows "line in use"

Started by socolisa, March 09, 2020, 05:47:44 PM

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socolisa

I have an AT&T Dect 6.0 cordless phone hooked up to my Obi200. The phone is plugged directly into the Obi box. Periodically, the display on my cordless phone displays "line in use" and the "line in use" light on the phone base is flashing. When I turn the phone on, there is nothing....no dial tone, etc. I was experiencing this issue via Google Voice (along with a myriad of other issues), so I connected my phone via my Callcentric account to see if the issue continued, which unfortunately, it is still occurring. 

If I connect an old-fashioned corded phone to the Obi, I don't experience any issues with connectivity. I have also checked my internet speed when the issue occurs thinking that might be a possibility but I have a strong signal when the issue is happening. I have also made sure that no one is streaming content on the TV or doing anything else online that may be taking up a lot of the signal bandwidth.

I have unplugged/re-plugged the phone line that goes into the Obi to see if that would reset the phone connection but no luck with that either.

Does anyone have an idea of what may be causing the issue? I noticed that there were older posts on the same issue and the people responding were blaming it on the phone wiring or the service. I know that the issue is directly related to the cordless phone but I don't know if there is something that needs to be changed in the expert configuration or it is my particular phone model.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am tired of spending 3-4 hours a day troubleshooting issues. I am very tech savvy and this has been a total nightmare. If I would have had any inkling that VoIP was so fraught with issues, I would have kept my landline.

SteveInWA

Howdy:

Finding the root cause will be tricky.  When the display on the DECT phone says that, it means that the phone is detecting that it has lost the on-hook voltage from the phone line.  This can happen when you reboot the OBi device (press **9 then 1 on your phone's keypad to observe this), or if there is a hardware failure with the OBi or the phone.  Your test with a corded phone doesn't prove much, since it doesn't have a display to give you that piece of information.

Two guesses:

First, the OBi device, or its power "wall wart" adapter could be going bad.  It could even be as simple as the socket into which the wall wart is plugged could be loose (metal fatigue in the springy contacts).  The adapters do go bad, and fortunately, you can buy a new one as a cheap test:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HNL5D56.  Of course, the entire device could also be going bad.

Second:  your cordless phone's base station and/or its own wall wart could also be going bad.

Less likely, but still possible:  you could have a firmware or configuration error on your OBi that is sending it into a reboot condition.  You could delete it from the OBiTALK dashboard, then do a factory defaults restore (press ***8 then 1), then re-add it to the dashboard and set up your service providers again.

socolisa

I have already deleted and reinstalled the Obi device and calling services, multiple times.

My Obi200 is brand new but that does not negate the power cord being defective. Funny you mention the phone power cord....I just replaced the power cord  to the base station a few months ago because the phone quit working. I did unplug the two other handsets that are paired with the base unit. I also did try plugging the phone into a different wall outlet (via surge protector) but didn't try plugging the Obi into a different wall outlet. The power cord is so darned short that it limits where I can plug it in. Just for the sake of testing, I'll set it up on the floor temporarily.

My Mom loaned me a Uniden cordless phone to try with the Obi. As soon as the handset is charged, I will test it. Keep your fingers crossed!

socolisa

Forgot to mention that I have performed a couple of hard resets on the Obi200, as well.

When I get the "line in use" message, the phone light on the Obi is flashing. Doesn't that stand to reason that if the power cord on the Obi is defective, I would still have a flashing light on the Obi if the issue was happening while the corded phone is connected?

When the "line in use" issue happens on my cordless, I immediately plug in the corded phone and while it doesn't have a display to look at,  I do pick up the handset and there is always a dial tone. Then, to be thorough, I call my cell phone to make sure that the connection is actually working (which it does).

I have been watching the Obi lights like a hawk for the past 60 hours. That has been what has notified me that the issue is happening again (which is confirmed when I look at the screen on the cordless handset).

SteveInWA

The flashing LED means that the phone line is truly off-hook (caused by the cordless phone being defective, or a short in the phone cord).

Telephone lines basically have two different voltage levels; on-hook (around 48VDC) and off-hook (around 12VDC).  These are approximate values and it's normal that they vary, but in your case, the off-hook low voltage is a fault, not normal operation.  

socolisa

Yes.....the issue is with my cordless phone. I even changed out the power cord and it didn't fix the issue. I borrowed another cordless phone and connected it to the Obi and it functioned properly.