Spark Home Wireless - 'wrong' progress tones/cadences for certain calls

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark Home Wireless - 'wrong' progress tones/cadences for certain calls

muttley68

63 posts

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#195884 10-May-2016 11:38

I helped my father-in-law hook this up last week, (we couldn't see how they could install fibre where he needed it without major hassle/major mess) and I have to say I'm impressed with how easy it was to get up and running. One call to Activations and everything was working within about half and hour (data in about 5 mins, phone within half an hour).

D/L speed at 100Mb/s, U/L speed at 46Mb/s - very nice.

However, when making local calls, to other users on Spark Fibre, the ringback tone generated is like the American cadence (long ring, pause, long ring, pause, etc) and a very high tone. Doesn't do it for calls to mobiles, to 'normal' copper landline local numbers, or to 0800 services. I haven't been able to test every variation of call type, but have confirmed the 'wrong' cadence/tone to two separate Spark Fibre users (who both have landline running over the fibre, not as a separate copper connection).

I have Spark investigating, but had to stop last night when I couldn't connect a phone directly to the modem (long story, but RJ11 cable that came with the modem has been chopped to feed back into his house wiring to give dial tone to all jackpoints. And yes, I have removed the old line from the exchange so no 'double dial tone' (and the old ADSL filters).

I tried to explain that it was simply not possible for bad wiring in the house (the reason they need to test with a phone connected directly to the modem) to cause a change in tone and cadence for only one type of call, but I understand they need to follow the fault finding script before escalating to the next level of support. Fair enough.

I'm out of my depth with signalling over this new platform, but I'm guessing it's generated by the equivalent of tone and cadence tables in the modem itself, and not generated in the Spark network? If so, this probably affects all of the modems using the Spark Wireless Broadband service. If anyone else is running on this service, could they make a local call to another user who is on Spark Fibre (and who has their phone via the modem, not via the copper landline) and see if they get the high pitched, US type ringback? I'd be interested to know if this is network-wide.

Just posting this as a 'heads up' in case anyone else comes across this odd phenonenom.

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#1549755 11-May-2016 11:30

Update. Things took a turn for the bizarre last night while working with the first level support. I was told that the model of cordless phone my Father-in-Law uses (an old Uniden 2.4GHz device) is analog and needs to be changed to a digital phone (they sent me a link to another Uniden, DECT, cordless phone) to work correctly on the Home Wireless Broadband network. Obviously Caller ID won't work without a screen, but that's not even remotely related to the fault.

I tried to explain that it really doesn't matter how the service is delivered to the modem/router, the output from the modem is always a 'standard' 2-wire analog circuit, just like the copper line to the exchange on any normal landline. If their suggestion was right, most of the Spark customer's phones wouldn't work on the Wireless Broadband service.

Fault has been escalated to next level, looks like they'll try replacing the modem. I'm guessing that unless this is a one-off fault with the modem, the fault will still be there on a new modem, and a firmware update will be required across all of these modems. Will be interesting (to me) to see.

I have to say, the 1st level support has been as helpful as they can, within the 'script' they must follow. No complaints about the effort (just some of the information provided).

shk292

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#1549805 11-May-2016 12:43

I'm really struggling to work out why this is of any significance, or why a "fault" has been logged

Behodar

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#1550856 11-May-2016 13:50

It could be significant if you have devices that expect the correct tones.

sbiddle

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#1550887 11-May-2016 14:23

shk292:

I'm really struggling to work out why this is of any significance, or why a "fault" has been logged

It's a requirement of the Telepermit specs that correct cadence tones are used for devices in NZ.

The issue is a really simple one - it'll be sending a SIP 180 for a SIP to SIP call rather than SIP 183 which invokes early media. Don't ask me to fix it though - I don't work for Spark.

Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#1550945 11-May-2016 15:06

I have this service, but outgoing calls all sound normal to me in the earpiece.I am not sure if I have ever tried to dial a fibre landline or not though.

I do know that incoming calls do not have the usual ring cadence - my phone sounds like an American phone when it rings. It doesn't really worry me so I haven't done anything about it.

[EDIT: Corrected spelling errors]

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#1551046 11-May-2016 17:54

shk292:

I'm really struggling to work out why this is of any significance, or why a "fault" has been logged

I'm sorry you're struggling with it, I didn't think it was that difficult.

No, it's not the end of the world, calls still connect. The problem is that my father in law is elderly, and hard of hearing. He can't hear the high pitch ringback tone, and doesn't understand what the cadence signifies, as it is not a 'normal' progress tone that is generated on other NZ based systems.

It's significant to him, so I'm making the effort to fix it, for him, and posting it here simply so anyone else who comes across this issue can see they're not the only one.

muttley68

63 posts

Master Geek

#1551058 11-May-2016 18:01

sbiddle:

shk292:

I'm really struggling to work out why this is of any significance, or why a "fault" has been logged

It's a requirement of the Telepermit specs that correct cadence tones are used for devices in NZ.

The issue is a really simple one - it'll be sending a SIP 180 for a SIP to SIP call rather than SIP 183 which invokes early media. Don't ask me to fix it though - I don't work for Spark.

Thanks, I suspected it was the cadence plan, and I'm assuming this is built into the config of each modem, so it probably needs a firmware update with a modified value for this type of call.

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sbiddle

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#1551081 11-May-2016 18:56

muttley68:

sbiddle:

shk292:

I'm really struggling to work out why this is of any significance, or why a "fault" has been logged

It's a requirement of the Telepermit specs that correct cadence tones are used for devices in NZ.

The issue is a really simple one - it'll be sending a SIP 180 for a SIP to SIP call rather than SIP 183 which invokes early media. Don't ask me to fix it though - I don't work for Spark.

Thanks, I suspected it was the cadence plan, and I'm assuming this is built into the config of each modem, so it probably needs a firmware update with a modified value for this type of call.

It's not the cadence plan as such - if the ATA had a NZ ringtone plan then the issue wouldn't occur, however the simplest approach would be to configure Broadworks to avoid the issue occurring rather than differentiating between SIP 180 and SIP183 for different call types.