to your Broadband Internet supplier.
All these problems should be sorted out by them.
No, you do not need a special phone
P
Hi. I've been using VoIP for about 7 years. I have been experiencing a few issues all this time that usually aren't too bothersome, but make me wonder if you have to buy a special phone to use VoIP. Right now I'm using a regular 2-handset cordless landline phone set with a Cisco SPA122 ATA.
First, when I'm talking to someone on the phone, apparently I will cut out for about 15 seconds, making them wonder if I'm still on the line. I just keep on saying "Can you hear me yet?" until they say "Ah, there you are!". Then I have to explain that my phone does this all the time.
Secondly, I don't have Call Waiting, and I'm supposed to. I'll be on the phone, and then there will be the beep and sound distortion that lets me know that someone's trying to call me on the other line. Over the years I've tried hitting the "Flash" button to get to the other line, and there is either no sound, or a dialtone. Sometimes another hit to the "Flash" button will get me back to the first line, sometimes that line has been disconnected. If hitting the "Flash" button a second time gets me a dialtone, I try hitting the "Flash" button a third time to try to grab that call that came in on the second line, again. But it won't be there. In the 7 years that I've used this VoIP carrier (it's FREE, so I don't want to give it up), I have only once been successful in hitting the "Flash" button and reaching that person calling in on the second line. But it disconnected the first person.
Now, when I hear the beep and sound distortion indicating that someone's trying to call me on the other line, I just ignore it and let that call go to the VoIPs voice mail ($0) and pick up the message in my email after I've finished talking to the first person.
Thirdly (and this one is a problem), often when I put the phone back in it's cradle), the phone stops working. If the computer is on with the speakers on, I usually get an electronic "Whomp!" sound coming from the speakers. Perhaps some kind of power surge? The Answering system will have turned itself off, and the phone will display "Searching..." for a few seconds, then display "No Line". If the speakers aren't on, I won't even know until ages later that the phone hasn't been working, and sometimes there will be a couple of messages waiting for me in my email that I missed during this time. Usually an unplugging of both the line for the power, and the line from the ATA from the digital answering system base, a bit of a wait, then replugging gets the phone back. But sometimes I have to unplug/replug the ATA, too. And sometimes I have to unplug/replug the ATA, and reset it as well.
I have looked up "VoIP phone" on various store websites to see if there's a special phone needed which could explain why my phone (designed for a landline) has these problems. The phones that come up in the results are corded office SIP phones, which I don't need because I have the ATA.
Is it the phone? I like having the cordless 2-handset landline phone because then I can have a phone in each room without having to plug it into a computer (I don't have Wi-Fi), and I can pace the floor during a phone call; something not easily done with a corded phone...
-If it's the programming, then I was given the wrong programming when I initially paid $80 to get all the instructions.
-If it's the ATA, then I would have to buy a new one and pay another $80 to get the programming info again because when you print out the info, the passwords are all asterixed out. And I would probably lose my phone number as because the service is free, there are no forums, no customer service. I'd have to set up a new account.
-If it's the phone just being a crappy phone, no problem; I can replace it with another 2-handset cordless landline phone set.
How would I know if it's the ATA, the programming or the phone?
Or something else?
I'd like to just be able to put that phone back in it's cradle casually (I put it back in the cradle gently like it's a delicate little baby) without signal to the phone disappearing, and have a phone call without cutting out, and be able to make use of the free Call-waiting that's part of the phone service.
So does all this sound familiar to anybody? Clues as to what the problem is, what would solve it?
(PS: There don't seem to be any forums about VoIP, or non-cell phones, so that's why this question is in "General".)

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