CS1000 and Elevator phones 11

[xaxx]

Hi,

We just upgraded to release 6.0 of the Avaya/Nortel CS1000 and ever since it will not recognise the tones coming from the elevator telephones. We have over a dozen elevators all with various makes and models of elevator phone (most made by Janus). The telephones are themselves programmed to auto dial an 800 (to a call center) when the phone goes off hook. Now we get a fast busy. The elevator phone is able to receive incoming calls. When the elevator phones go off hook I can hear the dial tone, and I can hear the touch tones being made by the set.
If I remove the elevator phone and connect my butt set or any old analogue phone for that matter I can make calls no problem. Even if I punch down the elevator phone right to the TN it won't work. Yet if I bring that elevator phone home and hook it up to my land line at home it works fine.
It's like the new system doesn't recognise the tones coming from the elevator set. For now we have deprogrammed the phone sets of their auto dial function and set up the line with a HOT_D to auto dial from the system when the set goes off hook. What bothers me is that it’s just a fix and not a solution. We can't be the only ones that are having or have had this problem. Everything was working fine before the upgrade. TSA had even been in the week before to test all the elevator phones, all where fine then.

Anyone have any insight?

Thanks

 

[xaxx]

The butt set seems to work everytime, I haven't had a miss yet.

 

[nessman]

For starters, never use a "pure IP" phone system for things that people's safety and lives depend on.

I see you have two options here...

1. Program those Janus phones just to go off-hook and not dial anything when someone pushes the button. Have the PBX do the dialing for you (FTR HOT D 91800xxxyyyy). This way if the elevator service company changes phone numbers or whatever, you're not running around reprogramming 12 elevator phones - it can all be done in the PBX.

- or -

2. Get a dedicated POTS line for the elevator phones (and anything that's used for emergencies), tie them into there and program the elevator phones to dial out directly (no "9" to dial out).

I've seen nightmares where life or death emergency lines get routed from the demarc over house circuits to different parts of the building, through several pieces of equipment, and finally to the PBX where it still has to navigate through DAC's, voice loggers, telephone/radio headset interfaces, etc... One of those pieces fails and the phone line no worky and the customer has failover provisions in case something breaks between the demarc and the phone taking the call.

Don't be one of those people. Keep it simple.

 

[nessman]

** meant to say "no failover provisions" (how do you edit posts here?)

 

[Reusser]

Solution might be to move analog lines to same MGC as outgoing trunks - Might solve elevator phone issues.

For FAXes, make sure CLS=FAXA and manually set each FAX max baud rate for 4800

Might also set the elevator phone CLS=FAXA

Also make sure MGC firmware is latest.

 

[plmartin314]

Make sure that DTMF tone detection is checked on node 'VGW and IP phone codec protocol'. this allows DTMF relay which you need unless you use the G711 codec for everything. G729 will not natively pass DTMF reliably. Or turn off the G729 protocol.

Probably should not use the G723.1 codec which is on the same page. That is a pretty low quality codec.

 

[PERRYPJ]

WHY IS HIS BUTTSET WORK???????

OLD ROLMEN WORKING ON NORTELS AND AVAYA

 

[esoare]

Is it because his BUTTSET is VoIP ready?

 

[PERRYPJ]

XAXX I KNOW YOU SAID THAT YOUR BUT SET WORKED, BUT HAVE YOU TRIED A PLAIN JANE 2500 PHONE ON THE LINES

OLD ROLMEN WORKING ON NORTELS AND AVAYA

 

[Avaya911PLM]

OK, this definately sounds like a Digi Tone Receiver issue. The butt set is most likely pulsing DTMF as long as the key is pressed. The elevator phones are probably generating a tone of a predetermined length. I would see if there is a way to lengthen that tone to see if it helps.

For safety's sake put HOT D;s on these extensions, and trouble shoot on a spare device or another analog device where you can recreate the issue.

--
Fletch
Avaya E9-1-1 Product Manager

CHECK OUT MY BLOGS @

http://avaya.com/blogs

 

[PERRYPJ]

I have to agree with Fletch, the tones may not be long enough even if they were before. Most likely a patch will have to be written for the issue.

OLD ROLMEN WORKING ON NORTELS AND AVAYA

 

[xaxx]

Well here it is. After bringing in a meter and testing it was determined that the DTMF tones where indeed too low. It was corrected and now everything is working. I would like to thank everyone here. You are a wealth of resources.

Cheers

 

[Avaya911PLM]

So the lesson here is not a technical fix, but an effective method of testing that identified the issue.

Nothing beats good troubleshooting skills! When you follow logical practices, you end up learning something along the way. Glad you stuck with the issue. The quick fix was to HOT D the sets, but I, like you, would have gone nuts understanding why. Now you know and can deploy as you see fit for your network.

This trouble is the perfect example of people working together to intelligently discuss an issue, and ultimately come to a conclusion and fix. These are the stories that provide the most assistance to others IMHO.

Good Job! Everyone!

--
Fletch
Avaya E9-1-1 Product Manager

CHECK OUT MY BLOGS @

http://avaya.com/blogs

 

[nessman]

I disagree. HOT D is not a "quick fix". Instead, the original poster will now be running around fixing 12 separate elevator phones. For me, HOT D would have been the solution. Don't rely on the phones themselves to autodial. It's a solution in search of a problem. Keep it simple, get a phone that goes off-hook and the switch dials for you. Need to make changes? Do it from one spot in the switch programming rather than looking for the phone's documentation and taking the elevator out of service.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, for "emergency" systems such as elevator phones, keep it as simple as possible by having as few links in the chain as possible between the phone and the demarc.

 

[GHTROUT]

I agree, I would not rely on hardware to do something the system has never failed to do.

--
Nortel Resources at GHTROUT.com
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