Often, home businesses looking to switch to VoIP in their home office end up surprised by the complexity of trouble shooting a bad connection. Unlike traditional phones, where quality issues are often related to the device or phone they chose, most issues regarding service to a hosted VoIP extension involve internet connectivity and internal networking. If you are asking “why won’t my VoIP phone work,” your probably also wondering who has time to become an IT expert? Telewebtech shares the following escalation model for trouble shooting home devices with clients who find their home network and Internet Service Provider more in realms of magic than technology. These steps will help any home VoIP user identify the most likely source of their issue.
Step One: Do you even have internet?
It may sound strange, but if you had to look this post up on your SmartPhone, we just solved your issue. Call your Internet Service Provider! Otherwise, try to access this website speedtest.net via your computer or another device using the same broadband connection as the phone. Run their test. I recommend broadband connections with at least 1MB upload and 1MB download speeds.
- Yes – My speeds are fine. Proceed to Step 2
- No – Your Internet is running slow. First, restart your cable modem by unplugging it, wait 15 seconds, plug it back in and check your speeds again. If this does not work please contact your Internet Service Provider.
Step Two: Are all components Plugged In and Turned On?
Ok, so your speeds are blazing. If you cannot make calls, its time to check that the phone and modem are turned on and plugged in.
- Yes – proceed to Step 3
- No – plug in the component without power. It will need a minute to reboot. If this does not fix your problem, proceed to the next step.
Step Three: Are all components connected?
Still can’t make calls? Check that the ethernet cable is plugged into the proper ports on the phone and router/modem.
- Yes – proceed to Step 4
- No – You literally have a bad connection. Fix the connection and restart the phone. If this does not fix your problem, proceed to the next step.
Step Four: Is the phone registered with the server?
Restart your phone and allow one minute for registration. Check to see if this solves the issue by placing a call. If this doesn’t work, it is a good time to call your VoIP company. There are a multitude of issues and settings that may need to be tweaked for your network environment. They may say that the phone is A-OK too. If that is the case, see step 5.
Step Five: It’s not the VoIP?
If the VoIP provider is certain it is not their service, you need to make two calls. First, make sure your Internet Service Provider knows you are using VoIP. There are a number of settings in modems/routers that deal with Quality of Service (QoS). Your ISP may not have these set up if they are not providing the VoIP service, or the SIP application layer gateway (ALG) in their device is turned on by default, and is actually getting in the way of your communication.
Second, if you have an IT Network Support person, get her or him in to look over the network and see if something is walking all over the voice traffic in the internal network. Plug and play devices can have settings that could conflict. If there is a conflict, settings in the router or problematic devices may need to be changed.
Ok, by now most readers should have closed the page and be in the middle of a phone call.
