sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Vodavi Telephones & Systems Mach1 Talkpath connection is "fuzzy"

We have what I believe is a Vodavi Mach1 KSU connected to a Talkpath Digital Voicemail system.

I'm not sure if this is correct, but it seems like the connection between the KSU and the voicemail box is weak. When people retrieve messages, the volume is always low and the quality is bad.
Also, when you call in and hit the VM menu, the options only work sometimes. For example, if it asks you for an extension to transfer to, and you dial, say, 107, it pauses for a while then comes back and says, "Sorry, 7 is not a valid extension." But I entered 107.... Sometimes nothing at all happens, it just repeats the prompt.

What could be causing that sporadic behavior?

Thanks!

Could be a number of things....but the first thing to do is plug a digital set into the phone system in place of one of the vm ports. Then make both an outside call and an intercom call and raise the volume on the phone all the way up. Do this for all the vm port extensions. This will raise the volume of the calls going into the voice mail and should be louder when retrieving them.

Thanks! I think that helped a lot with the problem.
I also noticed that if I called in to check how the system was working, then hung up and called again really fast, everything worked much better. My guess was that that port was going bad.

When I went in to change the volume on all the ports, that first one gave me troubles. I plugged the phone in, and it worked, but if I moved the cord a little, it would blip off for a second, then reboot.

I ended up changing the Hunt Group and Voicemail group to put extension 112 at the end of the list of Voicemail ports. So far that seems to have made a big difference. Unless we get 4 people calling at the same time (not likely), no one will have to use that port.

Thanks for the help!

You are welcome. Is it possible you have a bad connection on the cable or wire to the voice mail? Mod plugs on solid wire will go bad quite easily.

I think that's it. I'm not sure exactly, but it gives all the symptoms of a bad connection. (fuzzy line, drops when you move it, etc).

Is it just a standard RJ-11 connector?

Thanks for all your help Derrick!

Is it just a standard RJ-11 connector?
Ok guys, please play nice with our newer member. We know what he means.

Just for the record, because most catalogs and distribution houses have gotten sloppy, and IT guys think they know more than we do, we sometimes get picky on correct terminology Simply put, a plug is male and a connector is female. And yes, a standard 2, 4 or even 6-pin modular plug is what we use. But be sure if you install your own modular plug that it is rated for solid wire unless you are putting it on a line cord which is stranded.

However, with the unit resetting, could it be that the 18VAC connection is poor?

The first port of the voice mail is the sync and clock port connection to the phone system. If you loose that connection the vm will act flaky (a very good technical term) This flakiness can include spontaneous reboots and the vm might also stall and not answer any call. If you loose the last port the vm will still function but you will loose message indication lights as well as the port will busy out.

The problem of dialing an extension..you gave the example of 107 and the system says extension 7 does not exist. This is also a port low volume problem. The voice mail simply does not "hear" the first two digits as they are dialed. The greeting audio is drowning out the tones. This problem is sometimes cured by the very same fix as for low volume messages. If the volume adjustment does not by itself fix the problem, there is a registry variable that has to be created and activated in the system. This registry item lowers the volume of the intro greeting and leaves the incoming audio from tones and callers messages alone.

Thanks Dave, I appreciate it.
You're right, IT guys do think they know more. 2 weeks of delving into this mess however has definitely put me in my place. (insert appropriate embarrassed emoticon here)


I Upped the volume on the VM ports and rearranged the Hunt Group & Voicemail Group to put station 112 at the end. I did it all at once though, so I'm not sure which one fixed it. :shrug:
I'm just not a ceteris paribus kind of guy.

I'll see if I can replace the 4-pin modular plug (I think I got that right...?) on the flaky line.

Thanks again for all your help, you gentlemen are lifesavers!