Re: "Failure to communicate" problems

[Jim Rojas <jrojas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

tourman wrote:
> Perhaps some of the regulars can suggest a solution to a problem I'm
> having.  For years now, I've been having random failures to
> communicate that are not caused by improper programming of the panels.
> There seems to be no pattern to them that I can determine, nor is it
> make specific. The station is no help and insist there are enough
> lines coming in to handle any amount of traffic. Whenever they happen,
> I have the client send a manual test through to the station, and it
> always goes through properly. This only seems to occur with
> conventional land lines
>
> I get daily reports and every day, and there is at least one panel
> that doesn't seem to have communicated it's test signal (out of a base
> of 1100 accounts). When I check, rarely is it a real problem....
>
> Can anyone familiar with station technology suggest potential
> solutions/problems that could be occurring. I'm at a loss...

1. Enable dial tone detection.
2. Add a 3 second pause in front of the phone number
3. Spread out test signals between 12AM - 5AM
4. There is no 4
5. Make sure you have Touchtone only enabled.
6. Ask the customer if they have DSL internet service.
7. If you are using toll free lines, stop using QWEST.
8. If you are using toll free lines, make you primary one carrier, and
your secondary a totally different carrier. This will minimize downtime.
9. Power cycle the panel, static electricity makes panels do screwy things.
10. Check the last time the backup battery was replaced.
11. Check the transformer output.

Jim Rojas
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