Calls to outside quieter than calls inside

[disintegration]

Hi, we have a Toshiba Strata DK424 Digital PBX... a single user is reporting that some of his calls to the outside are quieter than his calls inside the office. The user called my cell phone and it seemed fine!

I'm not sure where to start troubleshooting this... any ideas?

Thank you!

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Space travel's in my blood.

 

[ISDNman]

Levels can be expected to be all over the map.

Is he saying these calls were so low that he could not understand them?

If you wanted to troubleshoot this you'd really want to look at the other end, since that is the most likley source of variation. If the far end is digital odds are the levels should be the same as in-house, although there are still differences in set design that can be important.

If the far end is on analog, then addition to a huge range of phones, is the fact that analog loops can havemany dBs of loss (I can't recall off hand the max permissable loss, but it is 6-8 dB)

Remember 3 dB is is equal to halving or doubling - So 3 dB loss means half the percieved volume. 6 dB would be 1/4 of the percieved volume. 9 dB would be 1/87 the volume.

As I said, extreme variations are typical so don't waste too much time on this until you are convinced the complaint is legit.

 

[powerflower]

don't forget that on the toshiba systems the volume controlon the DK sets controls the volume of the current function. if speaking on a co it controls that volume, if on the intercom it controls the IC volume. they remain set and independant for each function.

M

http://www.telemarv.ca

 

[disintegration]

To clarify: The user is saying that he needs to talk very loudly to some people outside of the company because they complain they can't hear him on their end. In-house, calls work well. Also, as I mentioned, a test call to my cell phone went well.

power: I suspect that it has to do with the volume selector on their end, not on our end with my user.... as you mentioned about the Toshiba system.

isdn: I'll see if the user has any idea if the other end is using an Analog phone. Thanks for the technical explanation!

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Space travel's in my blood.

 

[johnpoole]

look for a bad trunk, one bad trunk will cause that problem and when he hits it, he notices.

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[paterson]

I used to work on the Toshiba systems. From what I remember, the volume on the handset is usually set for a system default. When the user is using the handset and changes the volume, that volume setting is lost the moment the handset is hung up and the next call will begin at the system level once again. I do believe that there is a way to change what the system level is for handsets. It has been a 2 years so I can't say which program number, but I have done it before. This will affect how the user hears calls, but not the volume at which callers hear the Toshiba user. For that problem, I would look at your trunk card. There is a slide switch for Db for each Trunk circuit. One of the 4 circuits could be switched incorrectly and may be where the problem is. The switches help you control the trunks depending on how close you are to the CO producing the signal. Basically, you do want to "tone down" the signal if you are close. If the circuit is toned down and you are not close, you will have poor volume. At least this has been my experience with the product.

You may also want to change out the handset, as the microphone is a loose particle carbon based unit. If the particles have become compacted, it will affect the transmit of the user's voice.

Also, no one has asked you if the user is using a headset, a typical source for problems of poor transmit of voice. If so, you may be able to change the mouth tube if it is a Plantonics. If not, you could try changing out the entire unit and see if the transmit volume improves. If you are unable to change out the headset, remove it and have the user make calls. If the volume is okay with the handset, then the problem will have been with the headset.

Good Luck!

 

[paterson]

I forgot to mention that if the problem is limited to only the one user, then I would not waste too much time with the trunks that everyone uses. The problem will most likely be found with the user's set or with the party that the user is calling.

 

[johnpoole]

that's true if it's a single user i would have changed the set and usuallyu the port before i looked at a trunk. if i was using digital trunks i wouldn't suspect a bad channel. the dk is a pretty basic system, not a lot of common points for a single user

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[disintegration]

Thanks for all of the comments, as they are much appreciated.

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Space travel's in my blood.