VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[JTVG]

Hi all,

Ever since installing ISDN and connecting my Zephyr a couple of weeks ago, I keep noticing intermitant line dropouts, maybe a couple of times a day (when I'm watching it). These dropouts will last anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour or more. The line will come back, only to drop out a few more times. Sometimes, even when all appears well and I get green lights instead of red, the unit won't even dial out. Telephone company says all is well and they've run several tests. Thinking it might be the Zephyr, I even switched in a different Zephyr and I still get the drop outs. I've already been talking with Telos and explained everything I've explained here. They suspected it might be the Zephyr but now I'm not so sure since I even changed Zephyrs.

Gotta be the line right? How do I convince a telephone company who has already run tests but can't seem to find a problem that a problem really does exist? I have a feeling that since it's an intermittant problem, they're running the tests at the wrong times.

I'm so stressed out this week over this. I need reliable ISDN and I need it yesterday!
_________________
Joe Szymanski
http://www.joethevoiceguy.com

[Frank F]

JTVG,

You may be asking the wrong questions of the wrong people. Instead of asking the phone company boys and girls right now, take a good look at your market. Are there any other VO artists with ISDN in your area - within say three miles or so?

Ask these folks if they are having similar problems. If the answer is yes, you now have a basis to determine the problems source.

Now, all of the above aside, when you choose to use your Zephyr - have you tried connecting during one of these "dropouts"? If you are able to connect, then it is a normal mode of the ISDN line. If you are not able to connect during a dropout, this is when you get on your cell phone and get an answer from the phone company.

Look to see if there is major phone line construction in your local area. This may also be the source of your troubles. If none of these are the answer, get yet another codec (Beg, borrow, steal - a Musicam, AptX, or even AudioTX) and try using something other than a Telos - or at least a different style of codec from Telos. If the same situation occurs with a new box - you now have a definitive basis to go to the phone company and get them to fix or replace your lines - at NO cost to you.

The Telco does not really want to do the work, you have to be able to prove your point before they will act appropriately.

Good luck.

Toodles

Frank F
_________________
Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[imaginator]

this may not apply to your case, but it might be worth a try.

when i first tried to get isdn strung to the house, the tech help guy at musicam (i bought a prima roadrunner) warned me that when i talked to the phone company, no one would know what i was talking about if i said i was using the lines for voice work. he was right. even a couple of the bell south guys who were out here admitted they didn't really know that much about the stuff, and what little they were familiar with dealt with data transmission between computer workstations.

the musicam guy had me get the bellsouth technician to call him while he was at my place, and was able to speak, engineer to engineer, in terms that made enough sense to the right people.

i have no idea what they were talking about, but the hookup has worked so well since then, i am afraid of ever moving to a new address.

there was also one brief period when i had a series of disconnects or no-connects. again, the manufacturer tech guy tracked down my long distance path and, with the help of various phone companies, eventually found a bad switcher three states away!

since then, the only connection problems i encounter seem to co-incide with those times i forget to pay the bill...which i doubt is your problem.

will be interested to know what you discover.
_________________
rowell gormon
www.voices2go.com
"Mr. Warm & Friendly Voice...with Character!"
Rowell Gormon's Clogged Blog - http://voices2go.com/blog

[JTVG]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going camping this weekend but will return with a vengeance on Monday to try to figure out the source of my issues.

Joe
_________________
Joe Szymanski
http://www.joethevoiceguy.com

[Charles Nove]

If you can, get the Telco to send an engineer out to test the Bit Error Rate by plugging a tester into the ISDN socket that you use. This makes a test connection back to itself and measures the error rate. A line card at the exchange may be slightly faulty - not faulty enough to show a fail condition on the exchange monitoring gear, but far enough out of spec to introduce errors on your line. We've had this situation arise a couple of times over the years. In both cases, the exchange tests showed no fault, but we were experiencing a high number of glitches like the ones you describe. Both times, when the engineer plugged his test kit in at our end, the BER was high. Swapping out the line card at the exchange seems to be the usual fix.

Good luck!
_________________
Charles Nove
Scottish voice-artist, ISDNing to the world ... and beyond!

www.charlesnove.com
For ISDN links with London: www.a1vox.com
For scenic tours of London by Routemaster bus: www.ThisBus.com

[JTVG]

Thanks Charles.

Swapping the card was the first thing I suggested to them about a week and a half ago. Didn't fix this particular problem. I had them do a Bit Error Rate Test (BERT) from their office for an hour a couple days ago. They found errors and supposedly fixed them. Since then, I've only seen one dropout. A tech came out yesterday and tested the line at my phone box and it seemed good to him as well. He mentioned something about having the guy at the office replace some coils just in case that was causing a problem.

I think I'm out of the woods on this but I'm still watching very carefully.

I'm dreading ever moving a couple years from now!
_________________
Joe Szymanski
http://www.joethevoiceguy.com

[Jeff McNeal]

Check your phone cord between your ISDN and the wall.