Thanks for the post.  I actually just got a call from my client saying they couldn't recieve any calls at all (this happens from time to time).  I rebooted and magically its working again.  That's a good idea I may downgrade the firmware on the 400.  I agree with you about discontinuing this junk.  Now my client is questioning whether another VOIP system will even work.  So basically this solution is now causing the client to question my credibility.  Appreciate the post.

Hi Michael;

Can you please send me an email to amontill at Cisco dot com? Would like to talk to you offline on this issue.

Regards;

Alberto

Ha!

It's unfortunate Cisco won't discuss these issues in their own forum!

Dear Sir;

We are committed to discuss and solve any issue related to our products. At this stage we are trying to gather as much information as possible to understand what's causing the quality problem. We have qty of SPA400 installations without quality issues, but understand there are issues happening in certain configurations of SPA400, so looking for the root cause. That's the reason for my email, to provide as much and direct support as possible so that we can solve this issue faster.

I appreciate your efforts to communicate to us the quality issues our joint customers are facing. We are committed to solve these issues.

Regards;

Alberto Montilla

Product Manager - Unified Communications

Hello,

I have installed three of these systems in 2 small businesses and my home since 2006.  More recently, I installed a SPA9000/SPA400 system where the customer has a busy setup.  I have been running into trouble.  The configuration of this company is:

- SPA9000 (x1)

- SPA400 (x1)

- SPA942 (x 11)

     - Line 1 is reserved for the SPA400 (4 lines to Bell PSTN)

     - Line 2 is reserved for a VoIP provider

     - Line 3 is reserved for a VoIP provider

- Linksys/Cisco WRT610N router with QoS

- Linksys Switch with QoS

Here are some of the issues they are encountering:

- Calls on hold are frequently disconnected on the SPA942 phones.

- Echo and jitter on the calls often

- Auto-Attendant announcement often cuts in and out to a point it's inaudible

- The SPA400 often hangs onto calls.  The caller hangs up but the 400 still thinks the caller is there and ties up the lines occasionally

There are some other minor issues that I have been able to find a work around.  One of the problems with this installation is the customer is located over 1,000 miles from me.  So to maintain their system I have to fly there or support it remotely.  I have been supporting the system through the use of the xml provisioning files.  There is a manual that Linksys created that talks about provisioning, but it's lacking in a few places.  There must be a way to get an acknowledgement that the change went through OK.  For now, I've got the resync timer set to 15 minutes, so after 20 minutes I assume my changes were completed.

I contacted Cisco customer service about these issues because the customer is very annoyed right now after spending $2,400 on this system, plus the cost of me going there to hook it up and wire all of the phones.  It was a lot of money for them and I was hoping to get fast help from Cisco.  I emailed their technical support group, and was emailed back right away stating that I needed to supply the serial number of the equipment as well as details about what's going on, my name, address, etc. etc.  I spent over an hour filling out the form.  Cisco emails me back within 10 minutes of sending them the form and says the SPA9000 that I just purchased brand new from my supplier is no longer under warranty.  Even though it was just hooked up on March 15, 2010 and purchased in December 2009, the warranty has expired.  I never heard tell of warranty expiring PRIOR to the purchase of a product.  I asked if they could help me with the encryption of the XML files because I'm afraid someone is going to break into this company's phone system and there will be a law suit.  No help was given.  The devices are no longer under warranty and I was told I would have to take out a service contract with Cisco for any support.

I just cannot believe how poor this service is.  I've spent countless months working with this equipment and I feel I have very strong knowledge of the equipment itself.  After spending weeks and nights awake trying to debug these last few things I'm left with absolutely no help from Cisco technical support.  It's outrageous.  I honestly don't know how Cisco can stay in business treating customers like this.  If I had to pick a Cisco system or some other company system, guess what - I would probably not pick Cisco anymore based on this terrible experience.  I've never opened a ticket before even though I've been using these products for years, and I'm just mortified by the lack of concern Cisco has for their customers.

Dear Sir;

Please contact me at amontill at cisco dot com. Please provide me with the following information:

- FW version of devices

- What's the call load from PSTN

- Are you using SPA400 voicemail?

(1) If you purchased your product from an authorized distributor on Dec 2009, warranty should be available. I would like to understand more of this situation.

(2) I'll provide you additional information about provisioning.

Regards
Alberto

Any resolution or suggestion here?  I'm now seeing randomly dropped calls.  It just happened to me while on a call to Cisco tech support!!!

I will speak for myself.  There appears to be 2 reasons the SPA400 will disconnect a line.

#1: The reorder tone is being generated because the caller has hung up.

#2: There is silence on the line (as when you put the caller on hold).

For #1, I used the following TONE settings for Canada and I believe it should work for the US too:

%: 50

high freq: 635

low freq: 465

On: 250ms

Off: 250ms

Repeat: 6

I did not fill anything in regarding the on/off optional columns.  My client reported a disconnect today, so I am not 100% certain that this works, but I'll leave it there for a couple of more days to see what happens.

For #2, callers were being disconnected after being put on hold for 3 minutes.  The value in Tear Down FXO when silent for 180 seconds will disconnect the line due to silence.  A way to avoid this is to ensure music-on-hold is turned on.  The music will keep the system thinking that the caller is still there.  You can also disable this feature by changing the value to 0, but then if the line really is dead silent because nobody else is on the line you will have a line that never gets released from the system.  So I don't advise setting it to zero due to this fact.  Install music or use the imusic that comes with the SPA9000 and when putting a caller on hold they should remain on hold.  I increased the value to 5 minutes (300 seconds).  If there is no sound for a duration of 5 minutes, I think it is safe to disconnect the line from the system.  It's sort of a safety net.

Let us know how you make out should you try these settings.

Hi Wayne,

Thanks for your response.  It's sad but also nice to know I am not the only one.  I may end up being stuck with the same hardware myself.  I understand Cisco's logic for buying Linksys and the company that made this equipment.  They wanted to be everything to everyone.  This allowed them to target the small business commmunity which is growing based on inexpensive Internet bandwidth, hardware, and software.  However, my experience with enterprise Cisco has been nothing but outstanding mostly.  For them to risk their reputation for this unreilable hardware / software is a suprise to me.  I just can't believe they would allow these devices to be sold with all the issues being incountered.  This is bad for the small business community and the IT business owners / consultants that support them.