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Obi110 Intermittent CallerID Display (Centurylink/Centurytel PSTN vs. SBC PSTN)

Started by GamblinMan, February 23, 2013, 03:33:45 PM

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GamblinMan

I have an Obi110 that I just purchased new last week.

I live in the CenturyLink (Centurytel) service area of suburban St. Louis MO, USA.  I have CallerID Name and Number service enabled on my incoming PSTN line from CenturyLink.   I have the Obi configured as you would expect with the "Line" port of the Obi going to the wall jack of the PSTN and a new Uniden Cordless phone connected to the "Phone" port of the Obi. 

I am getting intermittent CallerID on the phone attached to the "Phone" port and in the Call History of the Obi.  The CallerID Number and Name displays (at best) on 2 out of 10 calls on the Uniden "Phone" in the Obi Call History.  So for 8 calls out of 10, I do not receive CallerID on the phone display or in the Call History.

Worked with Obi Support all week on this issue, tried changing the RingDetect Method and the RingDelay for the "Line" port from 1000ms up to 9000ms, in 1k increments (making 10 test calls at each setting).  No change in CallerID behavior was observed. 

I also tried the RingDelay at 10ms and 100ms just to see if this changed anything, but it didn't.   We also tried changing the CallerID Detect Method to FSK v.23 (from FSK Bell 202) and repeated the iterations, with no improvement (CallerID detection got worse in many tests as you would expect).
 
I went to a friend's house who is serviced by a different carrier (SBC).   We repeated the test with the Obi110 at "default" CallerID setup (CallerID RingDelay at 4000ms and CallerID RingDetect at Bell 202), and the Obi works correctly, delivering CallerIDName and CallerIDNumber on all test calls.

CallerID name and number was delivered 100% of the time in our test calls to the same Uniden phone (I took it with me to my friend's house  ;) ) and the CallerID properly displays in the Peer Number and Peer Name fields of the Call History.

Does anybody have any suggestions to figure what may be causing my Obi110, when it's connected to the CentruryLink PSTN to NOT receive CallerID consistently?

There has to be some difference between the two carrier's delivery method, but I don't know what it is.

My major question of course, is WHAT can I adjust in the Obi110 to get the CallerID Name and Number to be properly recognized by the Obi110?

Thanks to everyone for any assistance that can be provided!  Any and all suggestions welcome!
TIm

GamblinMan

Update:

A Cisco/Linksys SPA-3102 properly sees and decodes/displays the CallierID Name and Number correctly in all test cases on both the CenturyLink/Centurytel PSTN and the SBC PSTN.

Hoping for thoughts or ideas on what I can change in the Obi110 to allow CallierIDName/Number to work reliably on the CenturyLink PSTN.

Thanks!
Tim


RFord

On the Phone Port, try changing the

RingWaveform to Trapezoidal and test.  If there is no difference, change the RingFrequency to 25 and Test and also the RingVoltage to the max (82) and test.  You could try all three at one time to see if it makes a difference and then play with each separately.

Did you try a different phone other than the Uniden at your home to see if the results are the same?

zapattack

Does the PSTN line have any unusual noise? How many phone jacks are in the house? Are any phones connected to them?
Is the line noticeably louder or softer than your test house?
The Obi MAY be more sensitive than the Linksys units to level or signal distortion, which unfortunately would require sophisticated test equipment in your home.
I assume the Obi must capture, and then re-transmit the CID to your phone, which would explain why it does not show up in the Call History or on the phone equally.
Ringer settings or type of phone will have no effect on data going to the Call History.
If you want to change detection settings, try Ring Threshold/ValidationTime/IndicationDelayTime.
Try a few incoming calls with no phone attached and see if Call History accuracy changes.

GamblinMan

RFord, Thanks for your reply.   I tried all of the changes at once and then varying just the remaining values (leaving RingWaveForm at Trapezoidal).   No changes in Call History or in CallerID Name or Number presentation on the Uniden phone connected to the "phone" port of the Obi were observed.

I then put  RingWaveFrom back to Sinusoidal and varied the other parameters you mentioned, and no changes in observed behavior.

I appreciate the help, wish something had changed. 

I will keep researching and watching for help from the forum.

Thanks again!
Tim

GamblinMan

Quote from: zapattack on February 26, 2013, 12:58:46 PM
Does the PSTN line have any unusual noise? How many phone jacks are in the house? Are any phones connected to them?
Is the line noticeably louder or softer than your test house?
The Obi MAY be more sensitive than the Linksys units to level or signal distortion, which unfortunately would require sophisticated test equipment in your home.
I assume the Obi must capture, and then re-transmit the CID to your phone, which would explain why it does not show up in the Call History or on the phone equally.
Ringer settings or type of phone will have no effect on data going to the Call History.
If you want to change detection settings, try Ring Threshold/ValidationTime/IndicationDelayTime.
Try a few incoming calls with no phone attached and see if Call History accuracy changes.

Thanks for the thoughts.  I have tried one other Cordless Phone, a Panasonic DECT system with CallerIDName and CallerIDNumber display, and got the exact same behavior (No CallerIDName/Number on phone or in Call History).

I only have 1 jack "active" for each of two seperate lines from the PSTN coming into the house.  Ever since getting the DECT cordless phones with the multiple handsets, haven't had need of multiple jacks.

I do have DSL active on the line that the Obi is attached to (using a DSL filter of course).  I moved the Obi to the other (2nd PSTN Line that does NOT have DSL) and still no CallerIDName/Number.  I haven't tried RFord's ideas on the 2nd line with no DSL on it at all......might be worth a shot!

I agree that the Obi is trying to capture the CallerIDNumber (and Name if present), but it is failing somehow and I simply don't know why. 

The phone "sounds" quiet, and I don't have a T-Bird or other test tools available to me for line analysis at the house.  I have regarded CenturyLink/Centurytel as a pretty "standard" LEC provider until this situation.

I disconnected the phone from the "Phone" port of the Obi (status light on Obi remained Green), and made several test calls, and nothing appeared in the Call History at all, not even a record of the call.  I then disabled the Obi port within the "Setup" (ObiTalk) and the same behavior was observed (no Call History Record).  I have re-enabled the "Phone" port in ObiTalk now.

I remain puzzled....but appreciate you and others taking the time to read my long winded post.