Business split phone line problems.

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Coldy

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#116734 8-May-2013 11:05

Hey all. First post.

For the past 15+ years we've had no faults with the phone in our small business.

Normally, if a call was answered and a second person tried to ring in, the other phones in our system would ring and could be answered as usual up to the maximum of two calls at once (two lines).

As of late, when a call comes in and is answered, then a second person tries to ring through, the other phones will only ring twice then fall dead.

We're using this ancient machine here which is probably well out of date. Does anyone have any information/solutions to help us out here?

Thanks in advance.

xpd

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#813594 8-May-2013 11:33

If you manage to answer the second call in time, is the caller there or does it drop them anyway ?

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Bung

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#813596 8-May-2013 11:44

"out of date" is an understatement. That is an old Philips SBX6 unit that is probably dying. You could try isolating where the fault is by calling in on the 2nd line and observing whether the incoming caller still gets ring tone after the SBX ringing trips but it's probably better to get advice on Plan B

Coldy

3 posts

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#813616 8-May-2013 12:10

xpd: If you manage to answer the second call in time, is the caller there or does it drop them anyway ?

We tested it and tried to answer straight away on the first ring but all that's heard is a dial tone.

The business has two lines and when line 1 is busy, the fault comes from line 2 (if a call is incoming) but if the original call is answered/called on/from line 2 then the fault doesn't happen (to line 1).

Would the bottom line be that our machine is out of date, and replacing this with a new one would solve all?
I can't even work out what the generic name for the machine is? A line splitter? Call diverter? Having trouble finding a new machine without knowing what to look for!

Thanks for your quick answers also. Appreciated

Bung

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#813621 8-May-2013 12:17

One thing you could try is plugging an ordinary phone into the 2nd line jack instead of the SBX6. See if that also trips immediately. That would indicate a faulty jackpoint (common fault with old jacks).

chevrolux

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#813624 8-May-2013 12:26

Sounds like a high resistance fault. It is almost always a corroded jackpoint but could also be a fault in the chorus network. If you are able, get a phone directly on the 'faulty' line and see if it still rings only once. If it does then the SBX isn't at fault. If it rings fine then start looking at jackpoints or potentially the SBX is putting a fault on the line.

Just very recently we have pulled a whole bunch of these out because they had died. Two of them died when it was a bit stormy so we wondered if lightning or power surges were to blame.

Edit: Really don't bother looking to replace this unit with another SBX6. It just isn't worth it. You will pay a fortune in labour to get it installed.

Zeon

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#813668 8-May-2013 13:35

For the cost of 2x phone lines you could switch to a high end VOIP system and the money you would save on the line rental (e.g. a 2x concurrent VOIP line is $11.50 with WorldExchange) could pay for a complete new system in probably 12 months with cost savings after that.

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Coldy

3 posts

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#814503 9-May-2013 13:44

Got it sorted.

The old box was discarded and a new system installed.

Thanks to Sam the man! (and also thanks for all suggestions in this thread)

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ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#814515 9-May-2013 14:02

Did you throw out the HomePhone System 2000? If not could I have it?

sbiddle

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#814546 9-May-2013 14:50

ubergeeknz: Did you throw out the HomePhone System 2000? If not could I have it?

Somebody has one for $1 reserve on trademe (well a SBX6) they had lots of different names on the front in the NZPO and then Telecom days.

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#814558 9-May-2013 15:00

sbiddle:
ubergeeknz: Did you throw out the HomePhone System 2000? If not could I have it?

Somebody has one for $1 reserve on trademe (well a SBX6) they had lots of different names on the front in the NZPO and then Telecom days.

I mostly want it because of the wording, I'll take a look though. It would make an awesome retro case for a home Freeswitch box :)

chevrolux

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#814596 9-May-2013 15:45

Went for a drive this morning and pulled out the poor old SBX. Quite a weird fault, I thought the fault might have been in the wiring but put the new system on and it is good as gold. Hope it goes well for you and that we haven't stressed Marj out too much haha.