BCM50 IP Phone 1230 Echo Issues

This is a known thing with the bcm having IP sets with analog lines, try rebooting.


There is a doc on it called "Managing echo on BCM & SRG

What version is the 50.

Tech1979,
I have looked for the "Managing echo on BCM & SRG" on Nortel's site, but didn't have a lot of time this morning. You know how much fun it is using there site. Rebooting made no difference, its the first thing I tried. I am going to look for it again in a few.

Cook1082,

Its is 3.0 with patches up to sept. 15. The only patch not applied is the rcc one, that just came out.

A search of the forum show's this to be somewhat common as stated. The customer wanted IP for some reason, but I see not real value by having it. I am going to switch them to digital stations if I cant solve it in the next few days, since they are all local to the system anyway. They "liked" the 1230 phones, but not enough to put up with the echo. If and that is a big If, the BCM50 IP to analog issue is fixed I might try them again.

I am going to continue to test one set on their system if I have to make the digital station change. If I cam make it livable then I will consider using them again.

One last thought, why do people want IP so bad? They are convinced its what is best, when the quality is iffy at best. As a CO tech I have used some decent carrier class IP telephony equipment, but this bcm50 is sub par. Give me a MICS?CICS any day. I starting to sound like the old timers now.

Sorry about the rant, but I am frustrated with this job. And thanks for your suggestions, and I look forward to more.

Signo

The single most important thing you can do when you run into echo problems is to do a system power off reboot and give the analog trunk ports time to do their line tuning. Documents indicate that this can take up to 5 minutes for the system to complete and no one should try using them during that time period or the process will terminate . It might be a good idea to schedule the reboot at a time when users are not there.

Once that's done, try setting the impedance. It also makes a big difference if you're really close to the CO. That document tells you the proper setting depending on your cable distance. Of course, you'll need to find that out from the telco.

It's been my experience that with this type of problem, it's more a combination of little things rather than one setting that will resolve it.

Yes, Nortel's website is a pain to deal with sometime but that echo document is actually pretty good and if you follow the advice in there you will likely eliminate it or at least get it to a tolerable level.

One other thing I found at a couple of places, was the users all had the listening volume set to maximum on the ip sets and that caused echo as well.

Good Luck with it.

telcodog,

I will schedule a reboot when no one is around and see if that helps. I work for the telco that serves this system so I can read it from the CO and get the footage no problem, so I will give it a try also.

It's funny you bring up the volume issue as I noticed that as well and it makes the echo considerably worse when they have it turned up.

I have a demo system and am going to hook it up next to the Norstar I keep on my wall and do the testing here. That way I don't have to spend all day with the customer breathing down my neck.

I am going to look over the managing echo technical bulletin as soon as i send this reply.

Thanks for all your suggestions, and I will reply back with what I find.

Signo

telcodog,

You are the man. I used the suggested settings from the document and have had great success with my test system. I am almost disappointed Monday is a holiday, since I cant go out there to try this on the actual trouble system. The only thing with the test system is I am 100ft away from the switch in my office, but as long as I set the levels right for the trunks out at the customer it should be fine.

I am going to take loop reading and try to fix this thing on Tuesday.

Thank you so much for this information. The five minute tuning thing is something I had no clue about.

Signo