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Why does my home phone say "Line In Use" after hanging up phone call?

Started by mainhome4, June 20, 2016, 01:16:48 PM

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mainhome4

My setup: I'm using Google Voice and Callcentric with a Obi110. I forward my Google Voice number to Callcentric number, which rings my phone line at home with Obi110. This way I get to use cnam database.

Problem: Whenever I hang up the phone at home after talking to someone, the phone says "Line In Use" even though no line is in use. To fix, I must grab another phone in the house, click the phone button, and then click the phone button again to get rid of the "Line In Use" message on the phone. How can I fix this so when I hang up the phone, it properly ends the call and doesn't say "Line In Use" after a call?

drgeoff

Can you confirm my assumptions that:

1. your phones are connected to the PHONE port of the OBi110 via in-house phone wiring.  If yes, temporarily plug one phone directly into the 110's PHONE port and test if you still experience the "line in use" problem.

2.  nothing is plugged in to the 110's LINE port.

mainhome4

Quote from: drgeoff on June 20, 2016, 02:23:22 PM
Can you confirm my assumptions that:

1. your phones are connected to the PHONE port of the OBi110 via in-house phone wiring.  If yes, temporarily plug one phone directly into the 110's PHONE port and test if you still experience the "line in use" problem.

2.  nothing is plugged in to the 110's LINE port.

drgeoff,

The phones are connected to the phone port of the OBI110 via in-house phone wiring. When plugging one phone directly into the OBI110, the problem goes away. Also, nothing is plugged into the OBI110's line port.

Any ideas on fixes?

drgeoff

I suspect the problem is caused by your in house wiring.  But before trying to debug that I suggest you check that it is not caused by the two phones.  Get one of those adapter things with one RJ11 plug and two RJ11 sockets.  Use that to have two phones plugged in to the OBi without using the house wiring.  If the problem is still not present, that is quite conclusive that something is awry with the phone wiring in the house.

Are you 100% sure that the house phone wiring is completely disconnected from any telco wires coming into your property?

mainhome4

Quote from: drgeoff on June 21, 2016, 11:27:12 AM
I suspect the problem is caused by your in house wiring.  But before trying to debug that I suggest you check that it is not caused by the two phones.  Get one of those adapter things with one RJ11 plug and two RJ11 sockets.  Use that to have two phones plugged in to the OBi without using the house wiring.  If the problem is still not present, that is quite conclusive that something is awry with the phone wiring in the house.

Are you 100% sure that the house phone wiring is completely disconnected from any telco wires coming into your property?

I don't think it's my in-house wiring because when I just used Google Voice for calls, this issue did not occur. And yes, I am sure that the in-house telco wiring is completely disconnected. I'm thinking it may be a setting in my Callcentric account that is causing the issue, as the issue didn't occur until I started using Callcentric. Any VOIP settings come to mind that you think could possibly cause this issue? I just lowered the time before going to voicemail to 15 seconds to see if that fixes the issue. The phone used to ring for 20 seconds and then go to voicemail when I used Telco. My Callcentric account was set to ring for 30 seconds before going to voicemail. So I'm lowering it to 15 seconds now to see if that might fix the issue(since the phones used to ring for 20 seconds before going to voicemail).

SteveInWA

Quote from: mainhome4 on June 23, 2016, 09:25:45 AM
Quote from: drgeoff on June 21, 2016, 11:27:12 AM
I suspect the problem is caused by your in house wiring.  But before trying to debug that I suggest you check that it is not caused by the two phones.  Get one of those adapter things with one RJ11 plug and two RJ11 sockets.  Use that to have two phones plugged in to the OBi without using the house wiring.  If the problem is still not present, that is quite conclusive that something is awry with the phone wiring in the house.

Are you 100% sure that the house phone wiring is completely disconnected from any telco wires coming into your property?

I don't think it's my in-house wiring because when I just used Google Voice for calls, this issue did not occur. And yes, I am sure that the in-house telco wiring is completely disconnected. I'm thinking it may be a setting in my Callcentric account that is causing the issue, as the issue didn't occur until I started using Callcentric. Any VOIP settings come to mind that you think could possibly cause this issue? I just lowered the time before going to voicemail to 15 seconds to see if that fixes the issue. The phone used to ring for 20 seconds and then go to voicemail when I used Telco. My Callcentric account was set to ring for 30 seconds before going to voicemail. So I'm lowering it to 15 seconds now to see if that might fix the issue(since the phones used to ring for 20 seconds before going to voicemail).

No, this has nothing to do with a service provider configuration issue.  It's an electrical issue, just like drgeoff said.  "Line in use" is your telephone's way of telling you "the impedance on the telephone wires is below the on-hook level, therefore it appears that another extension is off the hook".

You already tested one of your phones directly plugged into your OBi, and it works properly.   Plug the other phone directly into the OBi and test again.  If it works, get a 2-in-1 splitter as drgeoff described, and plug that into the OBi, then plug both phones in and try again.

https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-RJ11-2-RJ11-Modular-Adapter/dp/B00004Z5KI

mainhome4

Quote from: SteveInWA on June 23, 2016, 02:40:20 PM
Quote from: mainhome4 on June 23, 2016, 09:25:45 AM
Quote from: drgeoff on June 21, 2016, 11:27:12 AM
I suspect the problem is caused by your in house wiring.  But before trying to debug that I suggest you check that it is not caused by the two phones.  Get one of those adapter things with one RJ11 plug and two RJ11 sockets.  Use that to have two phones plugged in to the OBi without using the house wiring.  If the problem is still not present, that is quite conclusive that something is awry with the phone wiring in the house.

Are you 100% sure that the house phone wiring is completely disconnected from any telco wires coming into your property?

I don't think it's my in-house wiring because when I just used Google Voice for calls, this issue did not occur. And yes, I am sure that the in-house telco wiring is completely disconnected. I'm thinking it may be a setting in my Callcentric account that is causing the issue, as the issue didn't occur until I started using Callcentric. Any VOIP settings come to mind that you think could possibly cause this issue? I just lowered the time before going to voicemail to 15 seconds to see if that fixes the issue. The phone used to ring for 20 seconds and then go to voicemail when I used Telco. My Callcentric account was set to ring for 30 seconds before going to voicemail. So I'm lowering it to 15 seconds now to see if that might fix the issue(since the phones used to ring for 20 seconds before going to voicemail).

No, this has nothing to do with a service provider configuration issue.  It's an electrical issue, just like drgeoff said.  "Line in use" is your telephone's way of telling you "the impedance on the telephone wires is below the on-hook level, therefore it appears that another extension is off the hook".

You already tested one of your phones directly plugged into your OBi, and it works properly.   Plug the other phone directly into the OBi and test again.  If it works, get a 2-in-1 splitter as drgeoff described, and plug that into the OBi, then plug both phones in and try again.

https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-RJ11-2-RJ11-Modular-Adapter/dp/B00004Z5KI

Thanks for the suggestions, but I don't see how my in-house wiring could be the problem. When using just Google Voice, the issue completely goes away! However, when I forward Google Voice calls to Callcentric, the problem occurs. So with my in-house wiring the issue doesn't occur with Google Voice, but occurs when using Google Voice and Callcentric. That leads me to think it's something with Callcentric, not my in-house wiring. Am I not thinking of something? Let me know. Thanks!

SteveInWA

How hard could it possibly be, to simply perform the test that we are suggesting?

mainhome4

Quote from: SteveInWA on June 23, 2016, 06:28:54 PM
How hard could it possibly be, to simply perform the test that we are suggesting?

Fair enough. I'll give it a try and see what happens. After doing that, if the issue continues, what should I try to do to fix this? What about if the issue doesn't occur when trying that?

mainhome4

In case this happens to anyone, I found a solution. I bought the "Panasonic KX-TG7875S Link2Cell Bluetooth Enabled Phone" from Amazon because Obihai recommended buying a Panasonic phone system using a base station. This phone system has a base unit that you plug directly into the Obihai device. Then, all the other phones connect to that base station wirelessly. That solved the line in use issue for me. This specific phone system has some useful features too.

I also had a problem where forwarded calls from my Google Voice number to my Callcentric number would cause the phones to ring weirdly and out of sync. This issue was because my Obi110 had set different ringtones for GV and CC. To fix...
1. Login your obi device on obitalk.com
2. Click on the settings icon under "My Obi Devices"
3. Click "Obi Expert Configuration" at the bottom
4. Click "Enter Obi Expert"
5. Expand the "Voice Service" section
6. Finally, Check what value "X_RingProfile" is under "SP1 Service" and "SP2 Service". Make sure that "X_RingProfile" setup for all of your SP Services are using the same letter(ringtone), for example "A".

drgeoff

Quote from: mainhome4 on July 19, 2016, 05:17:38 PM
I also had a problem where forwarded calls from my Google Voice number to my Callcentric number would cause the phones to ring weirdly and out of sync. This issue was because my Obi110 had set different ringtones for GV and CC.
I rather suspect this was because you had not unticked "Chat" in the list of "Forwarding phones" on your GV settings page.  If forwarding incoming GV calls to another SP and thence to your OBi you should not have that box ticked.  The OBi emulates a Chat client. (Outgoing GV calls are not affected by unticking that.)

As to your "line in use" problem, you did not find a solution.  You bypassed the problem.  Nor did you report the result of the test we asked you to make.