sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Avaya - Lucent Telephones & Systems Troubleshooting old Partner ACS...will this work?

Client is an older attorney who must have purchased this phone system when he graduated law school. He's attached to it (actually, he's attached to his money and doesn't want to buy anything new).

Problem: Frequent dropped calls. TelCo has been on site to "test", and of course they found no problems. They tell the client it must be their phone system, but the tech didn't have a laptop, so he couldn't access it ( :confused: )

My idea, to determine whether the system or the TelCo is dropping the calls is to replace (hard-wire to the C.O. lines) one of the extensions with an ATT 4-line analog phone (as found at Office Depot, etc).

Question is: If the receptionist answers a call and places on hold (Partner system phone), will the person picking up the call on the 4-line analog phone be able to break the hold? It's a small office and they just yell back/forth...

:shrug:

No, picking up a phone ahead of the system will not release the hold on the ACS

Will the user be able to speak with the caller and will the system eventually disconnect/drop the hold after caller hangs up?

Best thing to do with intermittent problem is replace the processor and see if it continues. Give it a week and tell them if it keeps doing it you will put the old one back in and just charge for the time, or if it doesn't continue you bill them for the repair or the new processor.

Been there/done that. I'm not spending one minute on a creaky old system that the client is attempting to hold together with rubber bands and chewing gum. It never works out good for me.

All I'm attempting to do is narrow down the problem: Phone lines? Call ATT. System? Here's a proposal for something new.

Yeah there's a point you need to draw that line, but you have to be careful because if you just sell them something new and the problem persists then arguing with the telco and further going after the problem is going to be your problem and make you look bad.

Exactly. That's why I'm attempting to determine where the fault is before I make any recommendations as to new equipment. If the (temporary) 4-line phone doesn't drop calls, then we know the problem is with the system. If the 4-line phone behaves the same (drops calls), then we know the problem is with ATT.

Question: Will this proposed set-up function?

Not how you're proposing no. If you wanted to do it that way you'd need to install the 4 line phones at every phone location, or get a base station with cordlesses or something if it's a smaller place would be my suggestion if you're not going to switch the processor.

Just wondering - Have you checked the loop current? If it's below 18ma, I think the Partner will drop the call. At least that's what the old Merlin did.

OMG. :bang: I'm doing ONE phone as a TEST. If it works and solves the issue, I'll replace with a new phone at each location, and send the Partner to the phone museum.