phone system

[woodbutcher]

When we had SW Bell phones, they would often quit working when storms moved through. It seemed like Ma Bell was dragging her feet making repairs. Sometimes we would be out of service for a week or more. So I dropped my service and bought an Ooma system that works off of our internet connection. It is not advertised to work off of wireless, which is what we have. But it does work well enough to suit me. My wife is getting tired of the occasional dropped call. When I check the upstream speed, it shows to be more than fast enough. The problem may be that it is not constant. Any thoughts?
Butch

 

[bjb in TX from Ne]

Most likely the dropped calls are related to the number of people trying to use the same access point all at once. Just because you tested the upload at time A doesn't mean that at time B when you get a dropped call the rate is the same. It could be significantly lower. I would imagine you get more dropped calls in the late afternoon/evening when everyone is home and using their connection and using up the bandwidth.

 

[David G]

BJP is right, access points WILL drop calls. The signal degrades when too many people get on. This causes the signal to noise ratio to drop. Your wireless modem will then drop to a lower speed, a lot like pushing in the clutch and shifting down. It will also try to shift up whenever possible. This will also cause a drop.

 

[Slowpoke]

No service when the lines are wet is due squirrels & rats chewing the telephone wire insulation. The rain shorts the wires and the signal is lost. I had it happen last year and it took two attempts to locate the problem because the first techs assumed it was my internal wiring and didn't have gaffs to climb the pole on my property. The next guy had a device to tell how far down the line to locate the short. It was 180 feet to a junction box where rats had made a nest.
The insulation for my overhead power drop has been chewed within 2' of the weatherhead. It's amazing the little buggers don't get killed.

 

[woodbutcher]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, the drops do occur at those times. Even with the drops, this system is better than waiting a week for Ma Bell to make repairs.
Butch