cannot recieve phone calls from a certain phone number

[outrider]

I am completely lost when it comes to phones and VOIP. I am trying my best to figure this all out because the only support company that will give us service wants $225 and hour. However we are running a Netvanta 7050, we have 6 phone numbers from the phone company. 2 of them are hooked up to the fxs ports and the other 4 the fxo. The two fxs run to our conference rooms for analog. The other supports our office phone system. We have no problems dialing out. Most users have no problems dialing in, with the exception of when they dial one certain phone number which just rings and rings, and auto attendant does not pickup. I have been all over this switch and I cannot find any list of phone numbers associated with anything. I would like to make sure that the phone number they are dialing is even being picked up by the switch. Does anyone have a clue or tip for me here?

Thank you.

[jayh]

OK, a bit of understanding here:

An FXO port is intended to connect to a telephone line from the phone company.  It acts like a telephone, and expects voltage, dial tone and ringing to be supplied to it.

An FXS port is intended to connect to a telephone.  It acts like a phone company line and supplies voltage, dial tone, and ringing.

The abbreviations are from "Foreign eXchange Office" and "Foreign eXchange Station" from originally when the same type of interfaces were used internally by phone companies to extend a phone number to a remote "foreign" exchange location.  The Office side would be deployed at the office and the Station side would connect to the station (phone).

So, if you have six central office lines from the phone company and four of them are connected to the FXO ports on the 7050, the other two are likely just sitting in the phone closet connected to nothing.  And one of the lines not connected likely has the phone number that just rings and rings.  If two of them are connected to FXS ports, then they won't function. Connecting a line from the phone company to an FXS port won't work at all, and has a slight possibility of damaging something as both sides are supplying voltage.  To get six talk paths you'll need six FXO ports on the unit.  I don't see a model 7050 so assume you have a 7060.  This has two FXS and two FXO on the chassis and is capable of accepting two modules each of which can have 4xFXO, 4xFXS or 2 of each.

If you don't have much understanding of the unit, it is in your best interest to pay for someone to help you and it will probably involve a visit on-site to physically connect the lines and possibly add a module.  If you aren't satisfied with your current vendor, post your location to the forum and possibly someone local to you can help, but likely not for free.  The people here are good folks and knowledgeable.  While they are there, ask them to ensure that the unit is connected to earth ground, preferably to the same point the phone company used for their protector in the closet.  This is for safety and prevents damage from line surges and possible nearby lightning.  It is often overlooked.

[Anonymous]

I assume your mean 7060 right?

If you want to simply see if the calls are hitting your unit, you can telnet to your unit and then from enable mode enter the following debug commands

Debug voice verbose

Debug interface fxo

Place call, if you see debug output then you know the call is hitting the unit.

If you see debug, past all of it here.

-Mark

[outrider]

Jayh,

I really appreciate your help and would like to thank you. I understand the fxo and fxs ports a little bit. Yes this is an adtran 7060. I have phone in the conference rooms connected the fxs ports directly. But actually I have 8 lines running into the fxo ports not 6 it had been awhile since I looked. we have 2 expansion modules. Here is our physical interface. 3 of the fxo ports state that they are down. My original question was how can I find in the adtran gui the phone numbers that are associated with the ports that are up.

http://10.1.12.199/main/system/interfaces/processPhysIf.html?ifName=eth+0%2F0&portID=	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/1	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/2	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/3	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/4	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/5	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/6	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/7	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/8	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/9	none	100Mbps/full	Ethernet
eth 0/10	none	100Mbps/full	Ethernet
eth 0/11	none	100Mbps/full	Ethernet
eth 0/12	none	100Mbps/full	Ethernet
eth 0/13	none	100Mbps/full	Ethernet
eth 0/14	none	100Mbps/full	Ethernet
eth 0/15	none	100Mbps/full	Ethernet
eth 0/16	none	100Mbps/full	Ethernet
eth 0/17	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/18	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/19	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/20	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/21	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/22	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/23	none	Down	Ethernet
eth 0/24	none	Down	Ethernet
giga-eth 0/1	none	Down	Gigabit Ethernet
giga-eth 0/2	none	1Gbps/full	Gigabit Ethernet
fxs 0/1	none	OnHook	FXS
fxs 0/2	none	OnHook	FXS
fxo 0/1	none	Down	FXO
fxo 0/2	none	Down	FXO
fxo 1/1	none	OnHook	FXO
fxo 1/2	none	OnHook	FXO
fxo 1/3	none	OnHook	FXO
fxo 1/4	none	OnHook	FXO
fxo 2/1	none	OnHook	FXO
fxo 2/2	none	OnHook	FXO
fxo 2/3	none	Down	FXO
fxo 2/4	none	OnHook	FXO

We are on the 3rd floor and the phone lines come in from the basement. I would love to call someone to help me out here but the powers above me do not like this option. But I am guessing the problem is related the the phone companies lines. If I could see which phone numbers the adtran recognizes I would know the problem lines.

Thanks again

[outrider]

can I do this from the gui?

[outrider]

actually I found this in the GUI

Thanks I will check this out.

[Anonymous]

Yes, from utilities > debug unit

-Mark

[outrider]

Dubugging doesn't help me at all. I have no idea what I am reading. I cant even tell if it is from my call or other callers. I guess I will have purchase an analog phone with caller ID and pull every line from the back of the adtran and figure out which one works and what phone number it is.

Thanks for the help though. I learned a new trick if I can find the time to learn the language.

[jayh]

There isn't a way from the GUI to tell what POTS phone number is associated with a specific FXO port.  The Adtran unit just sees ringing voltage when someone calls it.  The easiest way to tell is to unplug them from the Adtran one at a time and connect a regular phone.  Then you can call your cell phone and see the caller-ID which will tell you the phone number.  If that isn't convenient, there are numbers you can call that will read it back to you.  Many are unique and vary with the local phone company, but you can dial 1-800-444-4444 from most places and it will identify the line you're calling from.

If the incoming phone number that just rings doesn't appear at your third floor location, you will need to arrange to visit the basement and test for it there.  A phone with alligator clips is handy if the demarcation point in the basement doesn't have conventional jacks per line.  Test sets made for this purpose are often available used on EBay and the like, industry slang is "butt-in" or "buttinski" (because you can use them to butt-in on a conversation).

[outrider]

Thanks Jayh,

  You seem very knowledgable in this subject, I plan to purchase a phone this weekend. We moved to a new building and I am guessing that somehow the lines from the building got crossed with one of ours. I assume that when someone calls the number we are not receiving, it is going to an elevator or fire alarm somewhere. I would like to know which number is which before I call the phone company or whomever I need to call.

   With all the bells and whistles the Adtran switch has I find it hard to believe it cant distinguish a phone number.

Your the man,

Greg

[jayh · Accepted solution]

outrider wrote:

   With all the bells and whistles the Adtran switch has I find it hard to believe it cant distinguish a phone number.

When you think about it you'll realize it isn't trivial.  When the telco delivers a dial tone over a pair of wires there isn't anything unique by which the Adtran or anything can determine the incoming phone number associated with it.  About the only way to know is to place an outbound call and look at caller-ID if that is available or ANI.

Most telephone companies will tag or identify the individual phone numbers at the demarcation point when service is initially installed but not always, and not always correctly.  If a phone number is changed after initial installation, they aren't likely to roll a truck just to change the designation on the terminal.  And because the demarcation point was extended from the basement to the third floor it is possible that the contractor who did so wasn't careful or thorough enough to test and tag each line.

Because it's an extended demarcation, if you call the phone company they'll only look as far as the basement terminal. If the missing line appears there then you'll probably be charged if they dispatch out and find nothing wrong (and they may or may not fix the extension to the third floor).

Another option, find an off-duty telco installer and bribe him with a cold 6-pack and some pizza. This is basic old-school telco stuff. Someone with experience and access to the third-floor and basement wiring closets can likely fix it in ten minutes if the missing dial tone indeed appears at the basement.

[outrider]

I was able to test lines coming into the adtran and the derelict number is not one of them. I do have access to the basement closet. I do not have a Butt phone. The numbers are not listed anywhere but they could be wrong if they were. I will call the phone company when I get a chance. Thanks again for the schooling Jay.