VOIP phone delays. Warning : BT/Openreach content
Discussion
I’m hoping this is the best bit for VOIP questions so here goes. Have a seat…
We have a small business equipped with approx 10 BT VoIP phones, hardwired to our office network. Couple of switches dotted around the building are connected to BTs router and BTs line. I think we have fibre at the exchange but copper to the building. Phones are yealink T46S, maybe 3-4 years old, supplied by BT. The phones are great. During lockdowns it could be argued these phones saved our business.
(We also have identical phones scattered around Manchester being used while people are working from home. These phones work fine, whether hardwired or through Yealink Wi-Fi dongles. Zero problems when used outside our building)
Problem : every call dialled takes four to five seconds before dialling is attempted. Press an internal extension hot key or dial an external number and press “send” - basically every call - and there’s a minimum of a 4 second delay before anything happens. This delay can be closer to ten seconds on occasion. Hang up within that delay period and a dialled extension will continue to ring out for several minutes unless answered.
We have done what BT have asked in terms of tests. Our IT guy also suggested unplugging everything else and trying a single phone plugged straight into the router - that exhibited the same 4 second plus delay.
BT bless them are utterly useless. Today I’ve learnt that the tests I’ve previously done with calls are all binned after 7 days so any data provided previously has vanished. They’re also quite good at closing the cases down so we’re currently on our 3rd or 4th BT case for the same problem. Having various internal departments that plebs like me cannot phone direct is also an excellent method of avoiding actually doing something. These mystical departments get our problem in their laps then they all conveniently blame each other.
Early on we did have a grumpy Openreach man come out, change a wire outside, and state all was fixed. We’re now six months into this and it’s still an “issue” to use BT language.
My question I suppose would be has anybody heard of this problem before? Jitter and call quality are fine, T’Internet is fine, broadband speed is lovely, but four seconds of sod all before a phone does anything on every call or transfer can get a bit wearing, especially if you happen to be the receptionist.
We have a small business equipped with approx 10 BT VoIP phones, hardwired to our office network. Couple of switches dotted around the building are connected to BTs router and BTs line. I think we have fibre at the exchange but copper to the building. Phones are yealink T46S, maybe 3-4 years old, supplied by BT. The phones are great. During lockdowns it could be argued these phones saved our business.
(We also have identical phones scattered around Manchester being used while people are working from home. These phones work fine, whether hardwired or through Yealink Wi-Fi dongles. Zero problems when used outside our building)
Problem : every call dialled takes four to five seconds before dialling is attempted. Press an internal extension hot key or dial an external number and press “send” - basically every call - and there’s a minimum of a 4 second delay before anything happens. This delay can be closer to ten seconds on occasion. Hang up within that delay period and a dialled extension will continue to ring out for several minutes unless answered.
We have done what BT have asked in terms of tests. Our IT guy also suggested unplugging everything else and trying a single phone plugged straight into the router - that exhibited the same 4 second plus delay.
BT bless them are utterly useless. Today I’ve learnt that the tests I’ve previously done with calls are all binned after 7 days so any data provided previously has vanished. They’re also quite good at closing the cases down so we’re currently on our 3rd or 4th BT case for the same problem. Having various internal departments that plebs like me cannot phone direct is also an excellent method of avoiding actually doing something. These mystical departments get our problem in their laps then they all conveniently blame each other.
Early on we did have a grumpy Openreach man come out, change a wire outside, and state all was fixed. We’re now six months into this and it’s still an “issue” to use BT language.
My question I suppose would be has anybody heard of this problem before? Jitter and call quality are fine, T’Internet is fine, broadband speed is lovely, but four seconds of sod all before a phone does anything on every call or transfer can get a bit wearing, especially if you happen to be the receptionist.
Have you tried using the BT Cloud Phone app in the office? would rule out the phone hardware and point more towards the network if its the same.
https://support.btcloudphone.bt.com/articles/en_US...
https://support.btcloudphone.bt.com/articles/en_US...
Thnaks both this is good stuff.
Unfunnily enough an hour after my latest BT "Customer Service" conversation we've lost internet at the premises... and the EE mobile dongle that's supposed to kick in as a backup hasn't.
Thank covid for homeworking - we still have enough people littered across the country to keep going this morning.
When the wet string that's presumably snapped has been replaced I'll try both of the above - cheers
Unfunnily enough an hour after my latest BT "Customer Service" conversation we've lost internet at the premises... and the EE mobile dongle that's supposed to kick in as a backup hasn't.
Thank covid for homeworking - we still have enough people littered across the country to keep going this morning.
When the wet string that's presumably snapped has been replaced I'll try both of the above - cheers
Well, it’s 5pm and we now have internet and VoIP back up and every PC working.
Todays timeline - complain again to BT, post on PH, lose phoneline within an hour along with the EE dongle that’s supposedly the backup, BT get phoneline back on maybe 90 minutes later but with some PCs still internet-less, go to premises, fanny about for 90 minutes plugging and unplugging and rebooting stuff and find the internetless PCs need “DHCP enabling for Ethernet”. Do that, and all is good. Why it needed changing I have no idea as before the outage they worked fine. No I don’t understand computers.
What’s odd, and I mean REALLY ODD is the delay on dialling has now gone after approx 6 months of complaints, cases, tests, calls, trips out of hours to unplug stuff, and zero physical visits from BT.
It would have been nice for BT to tell us they were shutting us down this morning, but beggars can’t be choosers.
I wonder if these posts had anything to do with it…
Todays timeline - complain again to BT, post on PH, lose phoneline within an hour along with the EE dongle that’s supposedly the backup, BT get phoneline back on maybe 90 minutes later but with some PCs still internet-less, go to premises, fanny about for 90 minutes plugging and unplugging and rebooting stuff and find the internetless PCs need “DHCP enabling for Ethernet”. Do that, and all is good. Why it needed changing I have no idea as before the outage they worked fine. No I don’t understand computers.
What’s odd, and I mean REALLY ODD is the delay on dialling has now gone after approx 6 months of complaints, cases, tests, calls, trips out of hours to unplug stuff, and zero physical visits from BT.
It would have been nice for BT to tell us they were shutting us down this morning, but beggars can’t be choosers.
I wonder if these posts had anything to do with it…
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