Telephone Interface will not work with answering machines

Tica Problems

Im with you Psc I have tried 5 sites now with Tica and the first three work fine with old telstra answering machine and the other two were lucky to have a dedicated line, they were programmed with v1.10 and have had no dramas.
Then we got two more and used 1.11 and have had none of them working with any of our nokia mobile phones 5110, 5140, 3120, or can get them working on a answering machine.

I found that the first time the answering machine will work then the second ring in it grabs the line and locks it up and wont release it for a minute.

I also found that if I disconnect the answering machine I get to the Id password stage and it hangs up on me at random times with various phones.

Another time a got through the id password stage then it sounded like the voice recording was slowing to a stop and would then hang up.

I have tried this at several sites and several projects but cant get nothing that works.

The customer is getting annoyed now and so am I can someone sort this problem out????

 

Tica Problems

Telstra were the carriers on all occassions except our trials in the office which was through a pabx analogue ext with still the same problem.

Hang up time would be preferred about 15 sec.

Also some other Additional Tica changes would be welcomed for eg

Can we get a range of inputs for each lighting device such as a swicth gui as on/off doesnt cut it for dial in control especially when most customers reqiure pulse triggering for A/C, Security Systems, Garage Doors and access control. If we could get a pulse or timer trigger this would save us having to trigger CA group adresses that trigger scenes in Schedule or Ctouch and then having to reset the trigger group adress to give status updates.

If you could also change the report style status acknowlegdement from just on/off or percentage to Open / Closed or even ability to add active voice and inactive voice for report style

The Menu to number command (ie press 1 for this 2 for that) doesnt keep regular format through the different modes so if you are getting formilar to jump ahead it changes through various menus.

And finally the library needs to be extended a little even if you can email a suggested library adds and import them as you need. I need words like Spa,Deck,veranda,audio,bar,watering,sprinkler,hello,sorry,we,are,moment,later,will,be,with,outside,pump,table,games,area,party,scene,multi,letter box,run,running,heating,cool,and cooling just to name a few.

Last one is to change the ring in time to over 3 rings say up to 10

One last grouch I just recieved another wireless gateway and the Learn dip switch wasnt soldered down so it wouldnt learn so I repaired it and I know it voids warranty but shoudnt this be picked up in QA testing???

Hope this helps

 

Are you saying you notice a difference between programming a CBTI with Tica Version 1.10 and 1.11?

Did you find a change in behaviour between these 2 versions?

 

Programming is nearly indentical between the two versions just different skin and voice styles it was just a weird fact that one site that was programmed V1.10 all our mobiles tried work fine.

Same exchange up the road V1.11 and all our mobiles dont work it just hangs up at random stages but only a few times can we get to the controlling of devices where the voice seems to get distorted then hangs up.

Then I took it back to the office same thing this is off a analogue pabx ext.

The only thing a noticed that was different was a modem firmware update text line happening when the download was being done.

I have one more tica hear new in its box any sugestions????

 

TICA and answering machines

Can anyone tell me if they have successfully install a Telephone interface in line with an answering machine, if so what is the brand and model number of that answering machine. I have a very irate client who has been waiting for a fix for about 4 months.

 

Hi Mark,

The CBTI currently works as designed. We are endevouring to change the designed behaviour to make the CBTI more compatiable with a greater range of answering machines, but this is considered a new feature rather than a fix. It looks like it will require sourcing a different modem chip from our suppliers and therefore is a significant change to the product. This means that it may take many months or longer. There is no immediate timeframe to change the current behaviour.

Unfortunately I don't have a compatiability list available.

 

Summary of problems with Telephone Interface

Ashleigh,

I'm about to install a Telephone interface in my project and I see that there is a list of problems known and kind of known posted by different people in different situations.

Given that this is an expensive device, I would like to see a list of the current problems that have been reported. So, I'll be aware of them, install and purchase additional components accordingly. For example, is there any problem with PABX systems? what is it? But please don't answer this single example, help me with the problems I will be facing.

Thanks,
Oscar.

 

Hi,

A list of some of the problem that have been fixed in Tica 2.0 (CBTI firmware 6.0) is here http://www.cbusforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1129 . This version of Tica will be available soon as a Public Beta.

Tica V2.0 (CBTI firmware 6.0) fixed most known issues with the CBTI.

The only outstanding issue (that I'm aware of) that may cause problems is how the CBTI does DTMF snooping. This has been documented well on this forum, but basically can be summerised as the CBTI needs to actually pickup the line to snoop DTMF tones. This snooping is for 2 purposes:
- Detecting Local Access code entry (either from local handset or whilst a user is dialled in)
- Recording the phone number that someone is dialling, this is then published on C-Bus for other devices to consume if they want.

The problem with the CBTI having to pickup the phone line to do this is some other devices *may* react to this pickup. This can be a problem with *some* answering machines that decide the user has answered the call and therefore stops recording messages. This can be avoided by using a compatible answering machine (one that doesn't detect pickups, often marked as a machine that can record conversations). This has also been observed where someone is using a CBTI on the same line as a dialup Internet connection, where the modem detects the pickup and thinks someone is using the phone and won't dial out.

This problem is prevented for *some* users in Tica v2.0 as there is now the ability to turn off detection of Access Code, and therefore the CBTI doesn't do a local pickup. However, this of course, removes the handy feature of being able ot jump into the CBTI whilst dialled in to other devices on the phone line.

This problem is part of the actual design of the modem we use, which is supplied from a 3rd party supplier. Unfortunately they are unwilling to actually change the behaviour, but have given us the source code to the modem so we can fix it ourselves. This however will take quite awhile as the source code is thousands of lines of assembler language which is quite difficult to work with when it's someone elses code. So, basically, we are planning on changing this behaviour, but it will *not* happen soon.

Hope this helps with your evaluation.

 

Tica V2.0.0 Public Beta is now available

Everything you need to know is here:

http://www.cbusforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1136