atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems ESI Telephones & Systems ESI modem problem

Has anyone had any problems with ESI calling into their systems via modem? ESI swears that this problem is particular to Georgia, however they had the same problem with one of our customers in Philly. It has become a huge waste of time to have them go through all their baud rate changes to say they cannot get a connection over and over.

Bad line quality. I have found that if you lower the baud rate it helps,have had to go as low as 2400 before, then there are some that just won't connect especially with VOIP lines . we always setup the NSP to program over the internet

This goes a little deeper than just one particular site. I'd say that out of the last 25 sites they tried to dial into that they were only able to get into 5. Multiple carriers, regular 1FBS or T1s it didn't matter. Their solution was a NSP connection which was sometimes possible or a WebX session. They have told us Georgia but we have no problem dialing into these systems. They had the same problem with one of our sites in Philly which leads me to believe this is more of a widespread issue.

I might be the Tech Talk board member that uses Esi-access and the internal ESI modem more than any other member. I have consumed my share of alcohol during many attempts to connect to a remote location. It is a fact that there are numerous variable between the computer software and the ESI modem. Even though you might feel like you are being dumped by ESI Tech support when you are told a modem connection isn't possible due to line quality that isn't the case. Those line quality issues really do exist and I have numerous examples to refer to for verification.

I have a system in New Jersey that I can only connect to during the early morning hours at 4800 & Forced EC. Nothing changes on my end or internally on the customer end. The line quality of the service provider is the only variable.

I have one system that I previously connected to with every single attempt until the customer switched providers. I finally gave up and when that customer needs the simplest detail changed it is a full price service call. There was a short amount of time where the previous service provider had active lines remaining in the location. I cross connected one of them to an unused CO port on the system and could reliably connect. I then would log off and attempt to connect using one of the new providers numbers. Impossible to connect every time. I have other experiences but those are enough.

Now as far as it being a Georgia thing I must ask if you have a service provider in your area that is behind a majority of these difficult connections. I doubt if the State of Georgia is to blame but just the location of a popular discount provider.

As far as dealing with a difficult connection I'll share my experiences.

Be patient- If your connection fails on the first attempt have a routine to follow as far as second attempt changes from 9600 to 4800 and so on. Don't frustrate yourself by going at it randomly.

Wait between attempts- If you fail to connect don't just immediately disconnect and hit that modem again within seconds. Give some reset time.

I'm assuming many readers are reading this and saying why doesn't ESI make changes to the internal modem so these tips are not necessary? Well that is quite simple from an engineering standpoint. A modem is pretty much a modem, it is either gonna work or not. ESI has solved this issue with the availability of the NSP. Why fight a losing battle with modem variations when the NSP connects every single time. Problem solved!

One last tip: Never tell a customer you can connect remotely until you know you can and never put your first time connection off until crunch time.