ISDN line not working with 7050

[cgabriel]

Hello all,
Sorry for writing in English, but my German is not good enough. I tried and found some similar issues, but not quite the same (or I didn't understant).
I have just bought a 7050 box, and it works very well... up to the ISDN connection.
I have an Arcor ISDN connection (München).
I also have an analog and an ISDN phone. I tried all combinations (analog / isdn phones) behind the box, it doesn't work.
More: when playing with cables, I got a phone call and since that moment it worked! Unfortunatelly only for 1 day, when I had plug out the box for a moment.
Others:
- the box works very well behind a TK device (which I want to avoid), with the analogue adapter!
- I tried 3 cables, including the one which is working for the isdn phone
- I tried both with and without external MSN specified; when it worked, it was without.

The behavior: after 2-3 seconds when trying to get the external line (festnetz led), it switches to voip. If I force (*111#) a fixed connection, it tries again and I get a busy tone.

To me it seems an initialization / protocol issue. Even though I work with computers, I am not a specialist in this area.

Any help is welcome.
Thanks,
Gabriel

 

[gandalf94305]

Welcome in this forum It's mostly German but English postings are also fine...

I seem to recall from someone else's posting a while ago that Arcor may signal the main MSN as an empty MSN, causing trouble in the 7050 and connected devices. Try "Auf alle Rufnummern reagieren" under the analog phone configuration in your FBF. Does it work now? If yes, it may be that problem with MSN.

Another remark: don't play with cables ;-) The Y cable cables will work only in ONE configuration, namely the one described in the manual.

Cheers,
--gandalf.

PS: Don't post and re-post on the same topic. If your posting is inadequate where you placed it originally, a moderator will move it accordingly.

EDIT: Right, 7050 has no Y cable...

 

[Marsupilami]

Another remark: don't play with cables ;-) The Y-cable will work only in ONE configuration, namely the one described in the manual.

There is no Y-cable for the 7050. You are thinking about the 7170!

 

[cgabriel]

The analogue entries are set to respond to all numbers ("Auf alle Rufnummern reagieren").
As I said, I tried both analogue and isdn phone connected to the box. And currently there is no MSN set.
For the moment I try as simple as possible, any phone connected to any number.
If I didn't write it clear, the "festnetz" led lights for ~ 1-3 seconds when I pick up the phone, when the dial tone should come.
When playing, I was switching from isdn to analogue (using the available TK) and trying different cables (and yes, there is no y one), just in case one was bad. All cables I tried work for the isdn phone or for the TK.

If it didn't work for one full day, I would have said there was an incompatibility. Obviously there is one, but hopefully not that severe.

I also tried to telnet into the box, but I know nothing about the internal design (of the box, I know Linux). I was thinking that somehow a daemon is not started properly and might be forced.

Thanks for your attention,
Gabriel

 

[gandalf94305]

Take a straight CAT5 cable (RJ45 at both ends) from the Arcor Starterbox (S0-ISDN-S0 double socket RJ45) to the ISDN/analogue external port of the Fritz!Box Fon. Don't enter any MSN in your FBF, but enable "Festnetz" as ISDN. Now, do you see incoming ISDN calls in the call list ("Anrufliste") as "in absence"? That should work.

As I said, there may be a problem with the MSN signalled on the Starterbox of Arcor.

--gandalf.

 

[cgabriel]

I do not know exactly which cable was originally from Arcor. I have the impression that all are 8 wires connected 1 to 1, isn't it? Same as a network cable.
I have 4 RJ45 cables: a small one (network patch), one from the isdn phone, one from the TK and the one from the box. All work for the isdn phone (connected to NTBA) and for the TK.
I removed back all MSN, and all phones are set to fixed line.
The line is set as ISDN, but it seems that you can't set it to analogue if no number is set (it switches back imediatelly).
More, even if MSN and ISDN are set, the box works just fine using the analogue line (over the TK).
I just tried again to call from a mobile; the isdn phone (connected to NTBA) rings, the box does not show anything in the call list.
And not to forget: I also opened the box and measured that all contacts are good from the cable end to the mainboard. Again: if it didn't work for 1 day...
To me it seems a problem when initializing the isdn protocol. I have no idea what's going on, but maybe is there a log (in the box) about this?

Gabriel

 

[gandalf94305]

In the worst case, don't bother much but report the starter box broken to Arcor and have it exchanged... these gadgets don't live forever, so it may as well be broken.

--gandalf.

 

[cgabriel]

Sorry, I'm not sure what's the starter box; do you mean NTBA?
And if the isdn phone and the TK device both work, could it be broken?

Gabriel

 

[gandalf94305]

Well, normally, Arcor provides a "starter box" that looks like this: http://www.starterbox.de/

Maybe you have a plain NTBA... anyway, that's what I was referring to. This device may be broken. We had issues here already where strange behaviour was fixed by replacing the NTBA (starterbox has this integrated) by a new one.

--gandalf.

 

[cgabriel]

I see...
I am an "old" customer, with standalone splitter and NTBA.

Thanks for your advice,
Gabriel

 

[cgabriel]

Solved!!! at least partially

See here:
http://tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1003958&page=2

It seems an impedance problem. I do not have an exact solution, but if I plug the isdn phone while picking up the analogue phone connected to FBF (and to NTBA), the FBF can connect to the NTBA.
Once connected, it is stable. I take the isdn phone and connect to the FBF too.
Sometimes it survives even to an unplug (of fritz box).
I also learned that the NTBA power connection is only needed if there are devices without power on the S0 bus; I can leave it unplugged if the isdn phone goes to fritz box!
It is still not perfect, but there is nothing bad with my box.

Regards,
Gabriel

 

[gandalf94305]

Hmm... the article you quote talks about a termination problem (resistors needed), not an impedance problem...

And about the power connection of your NTBA: your NTBA manual should tell you that power is sufficient for one ISDN device. If more need to be connected, you need to use the NTBA power connection... or an ISDN hub: http://wiki.ip-phone-forum.de/telefonie:isdn:hubs (sorry, in German).

--gandalf.

 

[cgabriel]

Sorry, I was not careful; it is about termination (resistors).

About NTBA power, maybe it was written somewhere. I simply never thought I can leave unplugged a device which has a power connection.
Now I'm quite happy, I had a bear, so next I'll try to unplug my TV.

Gabriel

 

[gandalf94305]

Well, if your TV cable brings all the necessary power to your TV set, simply do so :mrgreen: ISDN in that respect is a bit like POTS (analog), where you can also plug in a phone without power supply. However, power is limited...

--gandalf.