[CJohnston]

I've got a brand new Panasonic 5.8 GHz DSS phone with the little message waiting indicator light right at the base of the antenna on the handset. It works fine when someone leaves a message on the phone's answering machine, but my BV voicemail messages don't light the MWI light. I get the stutter tone when I go off-hook when there's a BV voicemail message, but the light doesn't illuminate. The phone does support MWI through telephone services (not just from it's own answering machine).

Just curious if there's something I can change in my SPA-2100 to get the trigger to successfully trip that MWI light on the handset like it's supposed to. I am self-provisioning, but only to modify proxy server and input/output gain settings. Everything else is set according to stock BV settings.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance...
Chad

[mberlant]

There's an excellent chance that your problem is in your Panasonic phone and not in your ATA. There is no chance that the problem is in BroadVoice, since you reliably get the stutter Dial Tone when you expect to.

Here is the way the feature is supposed to work on your phone:

Every time the phone senses that the line has been disconnected (battery voltage rises back to -48v) the phone will wait about 5 or 10 seconds and go off hook to listen for clear or stutter Dial Tone.

Every time the phone rings and is not answered (by this phone or any other one bridged on the line) the phone will wait about one minute and go off hook to listen for clear or stutter Dial Tone.

Based upon this it will extinguish or illuminate the Message Waiting Lamp. Now, you don't mention what country you are in, so it could be that your European phone (for example) is not recognizing the US stutter Dial Tone that the ATA generates by default.

If your Panasonic phone is not doing this you may need to do a little sleuthing to solve the problem. If you have a neighbor with voice mail from the phone company you may want to bring your phone there to see if the feature is truly working in your phone. If so, pick up the phone and listen for the cadence of the stutter to come back here and go the next step to program your ATA to generate a stutter that your phone can recognize.

[CJohnston]

mberlant,

Thanks for the reply (boy, you must be busy posting replies to tons of threads 'cause I've seen your name outside of just the BV fourm).

I'm in the U.S.. I've read posts on the internet from others, and specific to Panasonic phones as well, about this lack of MWI lighting with VoIP service. Unfortunately, I don't know of anyone who's using standard PSTN-provider voicemail, so it's a tough one to test. It's not a terribly big issue, but since I'm not the only one to encounter it with BV service and a Panasonic phone, I figured I'd throw it out there and see if anyone had hacked a solution for it.

As much as I love the Panasonic phone (quality is better than any phone I've owned before), this is the one area where it seems to fall short.

I primarily use the Panasonic digital answering system integrated into the phone (set to answer after 5 rings, and BV set to answer after 6 rings), but every once in a while my wife will ignore an incoming CWCID and forget that someone had called. In that case, the call routes to BV voicemail, and I've got it set to deliver the .WAV file to email. The MWI would be nice, but it's not the end of the earth if it doesn't work w/ with BV voicemail. The stutter tone is a good indicator that someone who called had something to say, it just doesn't get discovered until she/I decide to use the phone again...

Thanks, again...
Chad

[mberlant]

It's a longshot, but you might want to call Panasonic Customer Service and ask them to tell you the frequencies and cadence the phone is looking for in a stutter Dial Tone. If you can find a person who gives you more than the telephone equivalent of a "deer in the headlights look" when you ask the question you should easily be able to configure your SPA to generate exactly what the Panasonic is looking for.

[ymhee_bcex]

I have the same problem.

Originally Posted by CJohnston

The phone does support MWI through telephone services (not just from it's own answering machine).

I never had phone company VM; so I assumed that wasn't the case. If you figure out how to set "the cadence and the stutter" on the ATA - it would be great to know! I didn't quite understand most of mberlant's message ops: ; even if I find a friend or neighbor that has PSTN VM, and confirm that the phone should support it - I don't understand what to do next...

[CJohnston]

Well, I'm glad to know I'm not the only person experiencing this. I may, in fact, contact Panasonic to see if I can find someone in the tech-area that can clue me into the specs their phones are looking for from the stutter tone.

If I find a solution, I'll be certain to post it here so others may benefit from it.