ACS Dropping Calls?

[IrishDeval]

Hello, I have a customer that I suspect the ACS 4.0 main module is bad internally. Not all the time but periodically calls are being dropped on lines 2 and 3 but mainly or mostly on line 3. I have gone through and check the voicemail hunt group ext's. and all is fine there. They are assigned appropiately and none others that are not suppose to be assigned are assigned. All programming is fine that I can see which leads me to believe the ACS module may be bad because dropping is only within the first 3 lines and needs to be replaced? I just want to check with everyone out there before I proceed to charge the customer for the replacement and that don't solve the problem. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

 

[IrishDeval]

Also, I forgot to state that the calls are being dropped during a CONVERSATION and not when ringing. Thanks

 

[Dexman]

One small step that can be tried is switching the lines around at the ACS to see if the problem stays with the ports, of if it follows the lines.

I'd be curious to know if multiple users get dropped at the same time. Another question might be if the problem is unique to specific extensions or do any & all extensions suffer from the same problem.

 

[IrishDeval]

Thanks for the reply, I did switch the line ports around months ago and the problem still is happening occasionally as per the phone call from the customer today. It happens at several different ext's and not just one. The problems seems to happen the most on line 3 when an user is on the line

 

[Dexman]

Hey Again,

If the problem stays with the ports and does not follow the telephone lines, the processor may be at fault. If the telephone lines' loop current is out of whack, that could also cause problems.

I'd call the LEC for a quick line test just to eliminate that part of the puzzle. Another option would be to try to duplicate the problem using a single line telephone at the demarc.

If all else fails, could you loan the customer a spare processor to see if the problem clears? If the spare proc clears the problem, it would be time for a new processor.

 

[aarenot]

Good ideas Dexman, except loaning a processor, try leasing. Then if that fixes the issue, sell them the leased processor already installed, especially if it is an older processor you might not sell otherwise. If you loan it, and something happens you are possibly out a processor, which has happened in my experience. Also, the pricing for a leased to buy processor is higher since they will save the cost of installing a new processor if the leased one is already in.

Are there any available line ports you could switch the dial tone to? If so, you might be able to solve the problem this way. Also, pop out the other cards one at a time and make sure the issue is not another card. This is not possible if the problem is too intermittant. Also, if you have available ext. ports try moving some exts to other ports, starting with the ports which experience the disconnect most frequently. It could be the ext port, or the phone itself, or user error causing the issue, check these first.

These can be time consuming but less expensive than replacing a processor, if it ends up being some other issue.