Popping Click Release versus Silent Release on Paging Systems

[GordonKapesMZ4]

I am sure we are all familiar with CO tones and rings, but a few of the noises we hear on phone calls are quite interesting to study further.

In this post, lets address paging systems:

Ever been in a store with an inferior telephone paging system? After the person pages and presses the Drop or RLS button you hear a POP or click. At some stores with really good paging systems, you hear nothing but silence when the page is silenced by a RLS button. What really is the reasoning behind this difference? I've heard some really new Avaya IP Communication Manager systems with 96XX phones at Meijer in the Midwest, click and pop after the paging is completed. I've heard older stores paging systems at TJ Maxx with Norstar systems have completely seamless and quiet paging systems....

What causes this irregularity in noises when completing phone calls or paging announcement?

Let's all thank Nortel's legacy for the RLS or Release button. It seems as though stores with Nortel systems fare best as far as paging goes...as the RLS button eliminates the annoying hang up noise from being heard over the store speakers. In fact this RLS button is in many training manuals for stores such as Kmart, Walgreens, Borders, Safeway, Supervalu, etc.... I've heard Borders Books employees say "Keep the Peace, Use Release" haha. I don't think any other phone manufacturers have ever had such a clearly labeled Orange key with 3 letters RLS, that has been as popular and widely accepted.

So Paul Mr. Dex, can you tell us what your opinion is to why some PA systems have that annoying pop or click when completing the Page and some systems have an amazingly quiet RLS over the sound system?

My guess is that when using a 3rd party page controller, the lines use either analog trunks or relay switches tied to digital/IP lines that cause a line break.

When using a paging connection right off the phone system such as on a Norstar, the click and pop wouldn't occur because the paging is connected to the digital side of the switch.

Weird topic, but it affects every one of our lives out in the real world! We hear announcements everywhere!

Thank you,

 

[Dexman]

The noise/pop that I've heard after a page completes.....in most instances.....can be pinned on the person hanging up the handset rather than pressing a release button.

I installed a Merlin Magix at the church I attend and added a Bogen paging system. You will hear a clunk if the handset is hung back up in the cradle while the audio path is still active.

If you press another button (line or intercom), the audio path between the telephone system and the Bogen is released and the handset can be hung without any noise.

Here at work, we have a Norstar Meridian. I can activate the Page feature and then disable it by pressing the Rls button and not create any noise.

I have a Partner ACS @ home (no paging system though). Same situation. As long as you press a button to break the audio path, no noise is generated.

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[GordonKapesMZ4]

Dexman,

On the Meridian, the paging trunk is digital, so you get basically a RLS that creates silence, like basically someone switching off a microphone circuit.

On some Partner ACS systems and other Avaya systems, I've actually heard a Pop that sounds like the analog CO disconnect noise, even when the hookflash is pressed or the Drop button is engaged before the phone hangs up.

I'm assuming this is an analog vs. digital reasoning?

The same could be said about leaving a voice mail for someone from an analog trunk vs. digital/IP trunk. On analog, you get a click or Pop even if you hang up the phone with the RLS button first. The line also stays active for a few seconds after the RLS engagement due to the CO line type.

If you leave a voice mail from a PRI/SIP trunk, the line releases immediately once you press RLS without any popping noise and doesn't leave any dead air on the voice mail system. You also can notice this when calling call centers or other larger systems. Cell phones also.

 

[Dexman]

For testing purposes....I connected the paging system at the church to the back-up Partner ACS (R6). The only time I can get the "pop" noise is when I hang the handset in the cradle. No pop heard with the "press a button" method.

Partner system phones are hybrids. The signaling is digital, but the audio is analog (this had to be done in order to be able to connect a basic SLT to any extension port on Partner processors).

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[GordonKapesMZ4]

Thank you for the test Dexman.

I noticed a Disconnect Supervision "pop" only occurs when the paging interface has some type of analog componenet in it. If everything is digital/IP throughout the path, you will not receive a click "after" hanging up the phone.

Try this experiment. Try plugging in an analog phone into a digital system. make a page and once you hang up the phone by pressing the HOOKFLASH FIRST, you'll hear a definite click when pressing the hookflash and after a few seconds, that's the analog line hanging up from the paging system.

I replicated it with the analog ports on my BCM. I plugged an Aastra M9714 centrex analog phone into my Nortel BCM. When pressing RLS on a digital Meridian set or IP set, I hear complete silence when I press RLS.

When I pressed RLS on my Aastra Meridian analog phone, I hear a double click, once when the phone hung up and once when the trunk let go of the paging trunk. It's the same click you hear on the large DMS100 switches when you press the LINK or FLASH button for a switchook recall.

Lastly, some digital phones out there, DO make a click when they release from a paging system, and I am assuming this is because the paging system is tied into a POTS line analog CO trunk port. Only a few manufacturers have been able to engineer a paging system that eliminates the paging release popping noise on an analog CO trunk. It's Gordon Kapes MZ4, hence the tribute in my name. LOL. They stopped making these nifty clean/crisp paging controllers in 2002, so you can no longer get them. I was given two by a colleague in the industry and have one set up in my lab.

Thank you,

 

[Dexman]

It will take some doing, but I'll try to connect an analog phone to the Merlin Magix (the active phone system) to see if I can get the "clunk" sound even by pressing the down on the hook switch.

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[GordonKapesMZ4]

Hi Paul,

Instead of a clunk, Listen more for a "pop" similar to the Disconnect noise when pressing the hookflash on a phone....

Let me know if you hear it.

Thank you,

Joe