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PABX bug may cost companies thousands
- Thread starter rpm
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damian24
Senior Member
An improperly configured PABX is going to be a problem, many PABX systems have an option to drop connections open for a long duration of time ( more than say an hour), there are classes of services to cater for these situations.
Over and above this improperly configured AA's could lead to calls not being disconnected and placed on hold 'forever', then you have the problem of calls being 'rung off' andthe caller not actually disconnecting the call but putting it in some non-existant queue and then with the equipment not returning the call to the caller and leaving it on permanent park.
in all cases it's not Telkoms' problem and clients should be shouting at PABX suppliers that don't know what they're doing, it may be Telkom or one of the hundreds of improperly trained PABX installers. Don't get me wrong there are many great installers out there, but a couple of bad ones coupled to sub-standard PABX's is what causes this problem.
To make the matter worse is when the AA is a physically seperate device and the PABX and AA keep passing an incoming call between each others ports which resets PABX timers and prevent the call being disconnected.
If the offending system is a Telkom systems, by all mean give Telkom hang, if not get the refund from the PABX supplier for not properly configuring the system.
D
Over and above this improperly configured AA's could lead to calls not being disconnected and placed on hold 'forever', then you have the problem of calls being 'rung off' andthe caller not actually disconnecting the call but putting it in some non-existant queue and then with the equipment not returning the call to the caller and leaving it on permanent park.
in all cases it's not Telkoms' problem and clients should be shouting at PABX suppliers that don't know what they're doing, it may be Telkom or one of the hundreds of improperly trained PABX installers. Don't get me wrong there are many great installers out there, but a couple of bad ones coupled to sub-standard PABX's is what causes this problem.
To make the matter worse is when the AA is a physically seperate device and the PABX and AA keep passing an incoming call between each others ports which resets PABX timers and prevent the call being disconnected.
If the offending system is a Telkom systems, by all mean give Telkom hang, if not get the refund from the PABX supplier for not properly configuring the system.
D
A 'solution' would be to have the last person leaving the office at night physically power cycle the PABX then?
(I don't know why this worries me - I don't have a PABX
)The_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
Greedy buggers. All they want is the money, they don't care about the customer.
bekdik
Honorary Master
A 'solution' would be to have the last person leaving the office at night physically power cycle the PABX then?
(I don't know why this worries me - I don't have a PABX
Take the PABX off the UPS and Eskom will do it for you
Take the PABX off the UPS and Eskom will do it for you
Eskom; saving you from the high costs of communication.
mancombseepgood
Executive Member
Oh, they're playin ball. I had a client with an ISDN problem that cost them over 30 grand in telephone calls (and that was about 5 years ago)... Someone at telkom had to print that bill - it was bigger than the local phone book since each call lasted only 10 seconds at most... then they had to wrap it in brown paper before sending it... it arrived at the client 5 days after sending and in that time the client was still unaware of the problem... nobody thought 'oh something is wrong here'...
They just demanded the client cough up or get cut off... Telkom ISDN lines are a timebomb, believe me!
Leftfoot
Expert Member
As an ex PABX specialist for Telkom I can tell you that Telkom supplied PABX's (Plessis, Marconi, and LGE) cannot hold (register) a call for longer that 23h59mins (timers will reset)
This is most likely not a Telkom problem and has more to do with the PABX not being able to register PRI disconnects that occur on same PCM highway and timeslot (or using 2 channel video conference dial ups were the logging system does not know how to bill it). From the authors report I cannot be certain if he is drawing the report from the PABX or from Telkoms detailed billing as 9 times out of 10 the PABX reports do not accurately reflect the actual billed amount due to cost table updates, different trunk carriers, and no call start varification (Meter Pulse start varification).
Another factor is ESKOM. Some privately supplied PABX's actively track calls for start time and end time. Should there be a power failure on the PABX, or CALL LOGGING computer during that time, the logging system will never receive a "termination" signal and will assume the call is still active
and will only terminate once another call is cleared on that outgoing trunk. This is particulaly true if the PRI card loses sync.
My conclusion, Telkom cannot be held responsible for the errors of private equipment connected to their lines. Another example is that you cannot claim that you want your money back when a PABX answers you with ring tone (you are unaware that the call was answered but to Telkom, the call was indeed answered by the Auto Attendant.)
There are so many truly rubbish PABX's out there and many fly-by-night techs, one must be very careful out there.
Telkom has dedicated PABX specialists in each region and they are there for exactly these type of investigations. KZN has 7
This is most likely not a Telkom problem and has more to do with the PABX not being able to register PRI disconnects that occur on same PCM highway and timeslot (or using 2 channel video conference dial ups were the logging system does not know how to bill it). From the authors report I cannot be certain if he is drawing the report from the PABX or from Telkoms detailed billing as 9 times out of 10 the PABX reports do not accurately reflect the actual billed amount due to cost table updates, different trunk carriers, and no call start varification (Meter Pulse start varification).
Another factor is ESKOM. Some privately supplied PABX's actively track calls for start time and end time. Should there be a power failure on the PABX, or CALL LOGGING computer during that time, the logging system will never receive a "termination" signal and will assume the call is still active
and will only terminate once another call is cleared on that outgoing trunk. This is particulaly true if the PRI card loses sync.
My conclusion, Telkom cannot be held responsible for the errors of private equipment connected to their lines. Another example is that you cannot claim that you want your money back when a PABX answers you with ring tone (you are unaware that the call was answered but to Telkom, the call was indeed answered by the Auto Attendant.)
There are so many truly rubbish PABX's out there and many fly-by-night techs, one must be very careful out there.
Telkom has dedicated PABX specialists in each region and they are there for exactly these type of investigations. KZN has 7
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Take the PABX off the UPS and Eskom will do it for you
/Off topic
Anyone advise me what UPS is suitable for a PABX System?
Where to get them as well.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
BTTB.
/End
rvanwyk
Expert Member
what's new?
at least they cant complain their telkom lines dont work properly. 60 hrs without being cut off
any UPS that u would use for a server/pc. its basiccally a big computer box. (well the telkom opticon that we have is)
rvanwyk
Expert Member
we use a 2kva on a digital pabx (toshiba crap) and it lasts just short of 2 hours.
I have some sort of Avaya/Tenovis System. Not sure the model number.
Cannot find a direct link on the internet at the moment.
I will configure a PC UPS to it when I can get to purchase one. Heard they are in short supply.
Thanks.
mancombseepgood
Executive Member
The problem is,
Rule 1) it's never a telkom problem...
Rule 2) if it is a telkom problem, refer to rule 1...
Good luck to anyone trying to prove it's a telkom problem. Of course they will say pay the bill first then we can talk.
They are crooks, plain and simple, and they care nothing for the client.
damian24
Senior Member
in 10 years of calls at R40k a month in spend, I have yet to find an apprieciable difference in costs between our call reports and Telkoms' billing, but then again we metre calls based on Telkoms metering.
my call costs have were never accurate on Premicell devices because they were not able to give accurate call establishment times.
I think Telkom has a substantially accurate billing system, with all the variation in PBX equipment and different reporting software that isn't properly audit tested, I would easily venture to guess it's that software and PBX that's at fault.
But then again, you'd expect that the service provider billing is accurate, it has to be because it's part of the over-priced revenue collection regime.
D
my call costs have were never accurate on Premicell devices because they were not able to give accurate call establishment times.
I think Telkom has a substantially accurate billing system, with all the variation in PBX equipment and different reporting software that isn't properly audit tested, I would easily venture to guess it's that software and PBX that's at fault.
But then again, you'd expect that the service provider billing is accurate, it has to be because it's part of the over-priced revenue collection regime.
D
rvanwyk
Expert Member
Leftfoot
Expert Member
That is my experience. These systems come from all over the world, different metering systems that are "fixed" for the SA market.
I remember doing field trials on different Telkom PABX system to test accuracy and complience. 98% was deamed accurate enough, the rest were rejected for software improvements. There are many PABX's that aren't qualified in this manner yet they still get Ivy's ICASSA sticker.