Saturday, November 27, 2010

A slight case of 'mis-routing calls congestion'

The excitment over the new OOma phone system builds. Yesterday we tried to call Kathleen's sister in Durango but we kept getting Delta Airlines. So we tried calling her daughter in the same town and we got a fax machine, even though Heidi doesn't have one. We called Wayne in International Falls and got a phone company message that says his number is no longer in service, which, Wayne says by email, is not true. So we posted an inquiry with the Ooma help folks, explaining that most of our calls go through, but not all. Here is the note Stan received tonight from the Help center located somewhere on the globe. We thought you would enjoy listening in as we luxuriate in the joys of technology. We have put 'x's in place to protect the innocent.

The email begins:
Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.

Subject: Difficulty with certain area codes (outgoing issue)
Discussion Thread
Response (Micoboy)
11/27/2010 04:20 PM

Dear Stan,
Thank you for contacting Ooma Customer Support. I apologize for this inconvenience. I have tried to call the two number you have provided from a different soft phone system.

For your sister's number (970-382-xxxx), I got several rings then I was routed to there voicemail. That made me sure that I was routed to the correct number owner. For her daughter's number (970-769-xxxx), I have I got several rings as well then I was routed to the voicemail then I hand up. Definitely I did not hear a Fax tone.

I can conclude that your Ooma is experiencing misrouting outgoing calls congestion. I may need to check the routing tables of your network. I would need you to place calls within the next 24hours and then you have to provide me the call sample following a certain pattern. At least three numbers will be good. Please provide these information below for each numbers:

(a) Phone number you have dialed
(b) Type of phone (i.e. landline, cellphone or VoIP)
(c) Time stamps (i.e. 11-27-2010 12:00PM PST)
(d) Where was the call routed? (I suggest you to ask the direct phone number of Delta Airlines)

By the way, have you check if your incoming calls are going through?

If you have further questions or require additional clarification, please write me back and I will respond to you as quickly as possible, usually the same day. Your satisfaction is important to me, and I will make sure we bring this to resolution consistent with your expectations. If it’s more convenient, you can also visit our support website http://www.ooma.com/support and check out our wide variety of helpful articles that may answer any additional questions that might come up in the future.

Thank you for choosing Ooma!

Sincerely,

Mico
Ooma Customer Care Specialist
http://ooma.custhelp.com/
support@oomacare.com

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Stan to OOma

Micoboy:
Thank you for your kind response. I will endeavor to follow your instructions. This is a difficult assignment because I am doing it on a phone instrument. The instrument does not reveal time stamps in the format you requested for outgoing calls. It does reveal time stamps for incoming calls, however.

It may be that I just don't understand the complexity of the instrument. But I am no tech. You are, fortunately.

I will be posting our discussion on my blog so that others can follow our progress in solving this problem. Thank you.
______________________________________

At 7:47 p.m. CST Nov. 27 I dialed a landline phone: 218-286-xxxx
The phone rang three times and then I received this message:
"We're sorry the number cannot be completed as dialed, please check the number and call again."
I have confirmed, via email, that this is a working landline.
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At 7:53 pm. CST Nov. 27 I dialed a landline 970-382-xxx It did not ring, but was answered immediately: I received a recorded message:
"You have reached a number at Delta Airlines which is not in service, please call 1-800-221-1212"
At 7:55 I did exactly the same thing with exactly the same result. (My time stamps are approximate for outgoing because I can't find where outgoing time stamps are kept on my phone. Incoming yes.)
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7:58 CST Nov. 27 I dialed 970-769-xxxx. It is a landline, I believe, but have no way of knowing since the phone rang three times before a fax machine picked it up.

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At 5:52 CST PM I received a successful incoming phone call from 651-222-3333, it was the Cable Company. [Editor's note: In an issue unrelated to telephone issues, there was no picture on the two tvs upstairs, after an hour wait for a service phone call, we found someone who rebooted the system remotely and, thank goodness, we can now watch The Beverly Hillbillies.]

Voice quality was good.

At 4:32 pm CST Nov. 27 I RECEIVED an incoming phone call from 608-873-xxxx. The call was 100 percent successful, although the voice quality wasn't the best. . . perhaps she was using a cell phone, I don't know.
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So there you have it, Mico, I hope I have carried out my assignment satisfactorily. I will eagerly await your reply. Thanks again for your kind attention to this matter.

Stan