sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Inter-Tel Telephones & Systems Dropped calls

I have been asked to look at a problem with a phone system that I did not install. The InterTel Encor CX 4X8 was installed 6-8 months ago. From the beginning, incoming calls are dropped within the first few seconds. This happens on all 4 lines and is intermittent. The service unit has been replaced, along with the UPS. The building gound has been checked. All spare unused pairs have been grounded. Customer looses 2-10 calls per day and is convinced that the problem is worse during wet weather. This is a new building and has a metal roof. There are two InterTel cordless phones and 5 digital phones. Does anyone have any idea what I can do next? Thanks for your help.

What type of lines are feeding the cabinet?

Dropped calls are difficult to troubleshoot, but it could easily be the voltage of the lines feeding the system.

We ran into this problem some time ago (customer has an R6 partner system). Of course, we never caught the problem while we were there. We did everything (including replacing the main card). The problem did not get fixed until a tech came out with an instrument to check the voltage...and it was indeed dropping (when the voltage drops, the system thinks the call is disconnected).

And with the customer thinking the problem is worse in wet weather, it could be the problem is water in a telco switch.

The only thing I can think of to do is to go onsite for awhile and watch the problem...see if you can catch it, and have the customer keep track of when it happens, what line, and who they were talking to (if they are able...)

Good Luck!

The customer has 4 voice lines and they are loop start,just regular CO lines.
Bell South has checked the voltage several times. The lines work out of a SLICK and BEll has each line on a different shelf.Two large users of CO lines work out of the same SLICK and we have no same problems for them. Calls that drop have been caught with a butt set at the D Mark. Vendor that installed service untit assure me the unit has been replaced. CID info apperes in screen b4 call is droped.
Thanks for any advice

Is call waiting in use on any of the CO lines? The reason that I ask this is that if it is, and the serving CO switch is a 1AESS, receiving the call waiting signal causes a momentary drop in the loop continuity. This is detected by the system as an abandoned call and releases the line. If you can provide and area code and exchange for the site, we can take a look to see if this is the type of CO switch being used. Even so, I am sure that the system can be programmed to ignore this condition if it's the culprit.

If you have dropped calls at the DMARK with all inside wiring unhooked then it would have to be a bell (the new at&t) proplem.

But I know where your coming from...... problems like this can sometimes be enough to cause a good phone man take up drinking.

"Problem is worse during wet weather"..
I'll bet the telco has a terminal that's getting more and more wet each time it rains, possible rust and condensation on the cross connects...then again, I recently corrected a "dropped calls" problem by correcting a mismatch in the ARS (Automatic Route Selection) programming. The ARS symptom was every call dropping after about 1 minute. I lean towards the telco needing to repair one of their terminals.

Thanks guys, call waiting is not being used. The area code is 864 and exhhange is 882. We have monitored the calls at the D Mark and when a call droped we were able catch it with a butt set. Bell South has replaced the cable from the SLICK to the customer site. I am convenced the trouble is inside, but what? When a call drops it is in the first few seconds, often b4 the " Hello". Thanks again for any ideas.

For what it's worth, I ran into a similar issue. The complaint was all T1's go down for a minute, then come back up. Replaced everything with no success.

Turns out, down the street a mile or so, in a low lying area water would pool on the side of the road, regardless of the weather. When it rained, the water obviously pooled into a bigger puddle. As cars passed, water would get splashed onto a telco pedestal. Sometimes the water would splash into the pedestal and short out the blocks.

Point is, you never know what you're working with. You couldn't see this from the suite, which was all I cared about because that's all I can control. I could have replaced the entire system. The customer could have pulled ours out and bought another, but none of it would have mattered.