Trunk Ports on V2 Combo Keep Failing 3

[Nortel4Ever]

We have a very frustrating situation for both us as the provider and our customer as the end user - An IPO500V2 cabinet with two V2 combo cards whose trunk ports keep failing. We have replaced the combo cards numerous times and the issue keeps happening. The Telco has been out numerous times and tells us that both loop voltage and ringing voltage are within spec.
Back in the Nortel Norstar/BCM days we had issues with certain analog trunk cards and trunk ports on BCM 50s that would "burn out" and Nortel's suggestion was to install 200 Ohm resisters in series with the Tip and Ring on each trunk. This worked and saved a lot of Nortel trunk cards and BCM trunk ports from damage. We have tried the same thing on this IPO but it has not corrected the problem.

Any suggestions anyone has would be appreciated.

 

[intrigrant]

Analog trunks?
Search the forum here and see that IP Office and analog trunks is not a good mix.
Go for SIP or BRI.

 

[philhill74]

Good luck getting more help on this forum with that attitude

 

[pmcook]

Intrigant is one of the best, dude. I fully respect him and his help is always appreciated. It is you who has the attitude. This forum is the best and they could charge money for the help and I would pay it.

 

[philhill74]

Hey PM, I agree with you and support Intrigrant as one of the most helpful people here , its Nortel4Ever that i wonder what support is expected after those comments

 

[amriddle01]

Sounds like you have a history of blown line cards due to analogue trunks, cant say I've seen a single one. So I guess it's either something you're doing wrong (unlikely, it's just plugging them in) or the locations you install in are prone to lightning or indeed the provider is at fault (assuming same provider). Can't say there are many posts I can remember where people have had loads of trunk ports blown out, issues yes but not this

 

[holdmusic34]

Ok. Read this as written in a polite, professional manner.

Analogue trunks on the ipo are only to be considered best effort only. They will cause all sorts of issues and random events which absorb so much time to investigate that you eventually give up.
Meanwhile, the customer loses calls, your professional image comes under question, your company's corporate image is degraded and relations tested with the customer relationship. Meanwhile, this causes fear, uncertainty and doubt with the Avaya brand and change management for the client's employees.

Analogue trunks truly are the path to the dark side. Quite often the only resolution is upgrade to ISDN or SIP. This results in after hours ports and the addition of new hardware, and costs, to an already tested relationship.

Intrigrant knows it, i know it...and now you now it.

Remember your training and you will make it back alive!
'Would you like to know more?'

 

[mforrence]

The reality is that, in the US, analog trunks remain very common. ISDN BRI came and went 15 years ago with nary a blip on the telecom radar. And many user sites cannot get adequately reliable internet for SIP. So, we're stuck with analog and simply must deal with it. Regarding the lines, it's the current that kills line ports. Measure off-hook current - ideal is somewhere between 20 and 25ma. Higher can damage cards over time. Mike Sandman (RIP) had automatic regulators available for purchase on his site (

http://www.sandman.com)

- take a look here and see if this may be the right solution.

 

[pmcook]

I'm voting for surges on the lines. Not at all uncommon especially in older, poorly grounded buildings.

 

[Nortel4Ever]

I'm pretty sure BRI cards are not available for the Canadian market and SIP trunks, well good quality internet in Canada is very expensive which makes SIP trunks prohibitive for all but larger systems and do you really want to rely on the internet for your trunking?
We provision PRI for all medium to large customers but our only choice for everyone else is analog trunking and we have absolutely no issues with it, contrary to what Intragent says. It's only this one site that is causing us and the customer to pull our hair. Thanks all for your input.

 

[Okkie26]

Is the chassis earthed?

 

[TheMitelGuy]

What you said couldn't be MORE TRUE! [highlight #EF2929]You are exactly right.[/highlight] The way everyone looks at it (the customer, your company, everyone) - you are exactly right. You try so hard to do a rock-solid installation and then you get something like this. You spend the next 6-18 months working on it with the manufacture only to have the customer drop "YOU", the Avaya dealer, because YOU can't get it fixed. The customer installs Cisco with PRI or something and it all just works magically and we look like losers. Meanwhile, we have devoted our lives to fixing this issue. Many wake-less nights.

I know for our company, if it comes to Analog COs with IP phones, we cringe a bit, but with the product we are currently selling in the sub 70 station market, we are pretty happy. Not to many analog/VoIP issues on the switch we are currently selling. As for our customers 100 stations or more we always go PRI or SIP, always.

Thanks!

 

[pmcook]

Cisco does not install magically. More like kicking and screaming. Cisco has many issues with every release and unless you pay a ton of money you cannot get them fixed until the next release comes out. It is not that Cisco VARs don't get dumped, it is because they almost cannot be since the options are kept few by Cisco. I too have lost a client because of an issue he expected me to resolve and only Avaya could and still has not. At least with Avaya you do not need a 4,000.00 piece of software running on a dedicated server to be able to make 911 calls over SIP like you do with Cisco.

 

[amriddle01]

That is funny, thanks for the laugh. But, we have on a few occasions now installed an IP Office removing a recent Cisco solution at great cost to the customer because they simply couldn't bare working with the Cisco any longer.

I don't know of any other system we replace that people dislike as much as Cisco