[VoiceOps] [External] Re: Alarm panels and how they dial DTMF digits - pots migration from DMS to Metaswitch issue

Mon Feb 13 18:09:29 EST 2023

I think you are on the right track to escalate this with Adtran. They should hopefully appreciate the opportunity to discover the root cause and fix this. It seems pretty clear it is something with the Adtran hardware or firmware that can solve this problem.

Are all your Adtran on the same firmware? Maybe while you wait you could try to upgrade or downgrade one to see if you can reveal any difference.

----- The trouble with blaming ADTRAN is that the TA750 has been out for a very long time. It was the same device serving the customer on the DMS and the same device now migrated to the Metaswitch. On top of that the TA5000 is a completely different device and relatively new compared to the TA5000. We deployed it just a couple of months ago and the first thing we do is upgrade it to the current stable release. We use both of these devices all over New England serving other alarm panels.

----- It really seems that the DMS was more capable of handling the dialing (DTMF) of these alarm panels compared to the Metaswitch in this specific region of NY. Be it the DMS with fxs pots line cards as part of it as well as GR303 trunks it provided the existing gear which is still being used. Quite the mystery for me.

----- I also sent the email to the team with the remaining idea to bring in ADTRAN deeper. They have a lot of experience with this stuff.

---- Thank you everyone for the replies. I wish I had specialized gear laying around to attempt some lower level ideas but I do not think I have that much time left to figure this out. Mgmt’s patience is wearing thin especially after a VP tried to talk to the alarm panel guy and realized who we were dealing with.

Matt

Good luck. I know exactly how frustrating issues like this feel.

On Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 2:12 PM Matthew Yaklin via VoiceOps <voiceops at voiceops.org<mailto:voiceops at voiceops.org>> wrote:

>But if the issue is always at dial time, and never at reporting time, it seems like a PLAR would indeed solve it...?

---- Sorry Hunter. I should have googled what a PLAR was. I am not used to that acronym. Basically, a hotline. Pick up the line it dials a specific number. I was thinking digit manipulation for some reason.

----- Normally a fire alarm panel has two lines plugged into it. It can be programmed with multiple numbers it tries to dial. If one line is down or the number it dialed is busy it will try the other line or another number.

----- I am not sure if that would be allowed. I think in the case of a fire alarm panel it has to work properly with our pots or we simply tell the customer to find a pots line that works with a different provider. I doubt we would be comfortable with that as a solution.

Matt

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On Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 3:48 PM Matthew Yaklin via VoiceOps <voiceops at voiceops.org<mailto:voiceops at voiceops.org>> wrote:

>Ok this is a bodge... but if it always dials the same number, and its dialing it has an issue with, set it up as a PLAR line? As soon as goes to dial just dial the number for it, and leave it to send or not send which ever digits of the number it wants....? Its not perfect, the customer needs to know you need to know if the alarm panel people ever change the number, but would get it working?

---- To keep our discussion simple, I gave the most common error case which is missing digits. There are variations to the issue and I doubt that would be feasible on a dozen lines when the error can vary slightly depending on the factors causing the problem. Sometimes it can be two missing digits. Sometimes it can dial properly in some pots examples. Next time it dials something else is missing.

---- As times goes on the company has lost a lot of the copper knowledge we used to have. A lot of old school CO techs are retired. I relied on turnstones and other central office gear to test copper pairs. T1s are easy. This is getting into the nitty gritty realm of pots lines that normally I can figure out with research but this is an odd one.

---- Like I mentioned. I will send an email shortly to all the relevant parties that getting an ADTRAN eng on the line to use those superuser temp passwords is my last real chance to solve this short of using suggestions people made here about getting specialized gear and checking the specs of what things are doing. Even if we did prove the old fire alarm panels are doing something wrong “it worked on the DMS” will be said back to us. End result is the same. Go find a different provider.

---- I am just annoyed I have a problem and I cannot seem to figure it out. I don’t like the taste of it at all.

Matt

Matt

On Mon, 13 Feb 2023 at 21:29, Jay Hennigan via VoiceOps <voiceops at voiceops.org<mailto:voiceops at voiceops.org>> wrote:
On 2/13/23 13:20, Matthew Yaklin wrote:

> ----- ADTRAN went straight to examining the dialing-plan in the TA5000 when I shared my config with them for those exact reasons. We both agreed since digits were missing in the middle in many cases this was probably not a dialing-plan issue or DTMF/pulse dial issue. They signed off on our config as proper.

Does the Adtran detect pulse dialing? That might be an option if the
alarm panel can be configured for it.

Is it just one make and model of alarm panel that fails? Do the tones
sound off or different with a butt-set bridged in monitor mode? See if
someone local has a SAGE 930A that you can borrow, that will definitely
tell you if the DTMF is in spec.

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