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Viatalk Meltdown (for me at any rate) - 1-Way Audio & Worse

The voicemail and fall over might be related to new adapter. Don't think they have to reset the CP but who knows.

In the CP is under voicemail setup is your voicemail turned on? Also double check the Network down forward in case it did get erased when the setup a new ata.

Usually once they ship a new ATA your old ata stops working. The change the sip credentials. It won't be able to log in. You just have to go to softphone section and get new password and plug it into old ata. You will need to turn provisioning off.

Thanks, you're probably right.

I got into the control panel and voice mail is turned ON and the Call Forwards page is EMPTY. (Hmm, but only two voice messages in the phantom VT voice mail inbox between 3/24 and 4/6.)

If wiping out all of one's Viatalk custom settings BEFORE adapter changes is normal, no one warned me about it.

I've now got to set up my forwards so I can get calls forwarded properly. Gee, they probably wiped E911 too? Hmm, no, for some reason that still looks okay.

Still a minor disaster for me.

And I can't get change the SIP credentials because I've been provisioned so long I lost my ATA password.

Thanks again, d.

-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function

If you sent a trouble ticket to get the admin password it should still be listed.

I have never heard of them changing any CP setting when send new adapter. At least nobody every mentioned it. Only problem is the old one stops working. Or if you have a backup ata it stops also due to password change.

Thanks again; I was able to find my old ATA credentials... but now the adapter isn't responding at all. Maybe it just went and died. I'm getting a satisfactory "Internet" light but I can't seem to ping it on its former static local address and I don't see it picking up a DHCP address at the router either. So it's just coincidence that they wiped my VT control panel settings about the same time my adapter (appears to have) died?

Edit: Solid green on "Power" and "Internet" lights, but no response by IP or through the IVR. So it's dead, Jim? (But still no explanation for missing control panel settings and voice mail.) I'll have to hook up the replacement and hope it works...

Edit 2: Testing DSLR's apparent new editing history function.

Edit 3: Curiouser -- Swapped ATAs and symptoms are almost identical, except the power light is blinking green. Internet light operates as expected (solid green, goes out when cable pulled), but no IVR response on either port, and no discernable IP address. Now what? (The replacement ATA didn't include a power supply, so this could be an obscure power issue, but it seems unlikely.)

-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function

reply to B

I PMed the VT rep who sent the adapter, and I finally submitted a request through the awful VT ticketing system.

Now they prompt you right in the web form, apparently for every ticket:

reply to B

reply to B
Guess that leaves two options.

A. Its the power
B. Its not working with router.

Tried to simulate B by unplugging from router restart ata. Got blinking power light. But IVR still responds correctly.

Not sure how to test A. Maybe unplug the phones so they don't draw power and see if it grabs an ip.

reply to B

reply to dmolavi
(re: voicemailbox) Yeah, thanks, I remembered that; I just avoid the control panel unless necessary -- like today. Come to think of it, the old voice mail messages and the voicemailbox subfolder I created last year (when they last turned on voice mail without my permission) seem to be gone too!

I keep trying to treat VoIP as a hands-off POTS replacement, facts and experience be damned.

(re: SSL) Yes, but the password still appears in the clear on the screen -- though I trust the transmission is encrypted -- and we all know that it appears in plain text in the tickets, and maybe e-mail too. It's really bad security design. The last time I did this I had to change my password; I'd rather not go through that again.

-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function

reply to B
Got a canned boilerplate response -- attach the ATA directly to the modem, blah blah blah, check for dial tone. I don't know what that has to do with a replacement adapter that (a) probably isn't provisioned yet and (b) isn't responding on any of its ports. But I've been wrong before. Sigh.

(They do realize this sort of thing screws up routers as the cable company decides to wait an arbitrary amount of time before allowing a new MAC address to use the modem, right? They seem to think it's 2 minutes; I hope so.)

-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function

reply to B

I tried it and it didn't work. In fact things are now even worse. The new adapter has a red blinking power light and the other 3 lights are blinking green (slowly) regardless of whether it's in front of or behind the router. Another dead ATA? Bad PS?

What's worse, Viatalk changed my control panel password without telling me! I was logged in this morning fine, and after making my support ticket somebody changed the password! I had to use the mail back feature to get it.

Perhaps my account is compromised/hacked or something??

-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function

Turns out I must have mistakenly swapped something when moving and testing the new setup. It was another power supply (my router's) of the same voltage and polarity, but once I switched it back to the right Linksys unit the new ATA works.

This was worked out with help from the VT online ticketing system. Thanks to Frank and the others who helped.

I'll PM you my number; according to one of the reps in my support ticket, there's no log of VT changing my password, but if someone/something at VT didn't, then something's compromised, because I sure didn't change it to the new cryptic sequence. I'm still assuming it was the less frightening course; probably because my support ticket did not specify the password somebody/something at VT decided to reset the account? (I guess I should check logs for suspicious call records.)

Again, the other weirdness was the previous loss of my voice mail settings and network-down call forwards.

Anyhow, the new adapter's working -- I don't yet know whether the random DTMF tones, my main problem, have subsided -- and VT was able to restore my static local IP address and admin credentials at my request. All in the same ticket this time!

So this was a fun day, but the turnaround time was good. Let's see how the new adapter holds up.

Thanks again to the VTFolks who helped.

-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function

reply to B


Wait -- Hold the phone. Something seriously weird is going on!

My password has now been changed automatically, three more times within the span of a minute! I had to perform an e-mail request for my password twice, and each time it was different. But none of the passwords works!!

It seems there is a loop of some kind, continuously resetting my account. I doubt anybody is that quick in screwing with my account on purpose.

I can pass you guys the autogenerated e-mail messages if you like.

Please help.

-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function

reply to B
B,

The only way that something like that would happen is if you're requesting a password at the old control panel login:

»support.viatalk.com/billing/

Any passwords sent are associated with your account on our old control panel -- an account that's no longer active. To reset your password on the new CP, you'll want to head to this page:

»cp.viatalk.com

Additionally, I've looked into your account closely and can verify that your password hasn't been changed by any VT representative. Is there anyone in your household that might have access to the account that would change the password on you?

Lucas you nailed it! I can't believe it's this old bugaboo. (The e-mail messages were from ModernBill, which I think VT stopped using.)

So... Sorry! I still don't know how the heck I got to the old panel. The old password works after all. I feel silly, but I can't understand how I ended up there; I was following links off the VT home and support pages. I think perhaps it was a link off the ticketing system pages, but I can't reproduce it without entering a fake ticket.

Anyway, thanks very much -- you solved the mystery for me.

Note: I'm not completely nuts though; the disappearing voice mail and network-down forwards were very real.

-- B
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In a realm outside causality and function

Okay I figured out where it was, and I am not crazy.

The problem is right in the ticketing system! On top of the page in my support ticket at

»support.viatalk.com/index.php?_a···w&_i=(my ticket number)

is a menu:

B,

This has been fixed - sorry about the mixup.

- Josh