asterisk users - Jul 2007 - X100P pass through questions

Hi all,

Really excited to be using Asterisk and learning about VOIP and PBX's.

I'm a complete beginner at telephony but have built and installed
Asterisk 1.4.5 and read several of the Asterisk books online and have
successfully connected to FWD with IAX2 and to GIZMO using SIP.

Just purchased a Motorola Wildcard X100P and installed it into a clone
PC running Fedora Core 6.  Analog telephone plugged into "PASS THRU"
and
phone line plugged into "FXO".

With PC on or off:

When analog phone is off hook I can hear dialtone but cannot dial out.
When I press any button the dialtone quiets to barely audible but the
button pressed generates no tone; on button release dialtone returns.

However the telephone does ring on incoming calls and performs as though
the X100P were not there.

When the phone line is plugged back into the analog telephone it works
correctly.

Questions:  Is this normal?  Must Asterisk be in control of the X100P in
order for the passthru phone to dial out?  If it's supposed to be able
to dial out what could explain its symptoms?  Polarity error with the
green/red wires?  Bad X100P?

Loathe to go messing with something that could fry 1)me, 2)my new FXO
card, 3)my pc, 4)the telco, etc, etc.

Anybody feel up to helping a noobie?

Thanks in advance,
Mike Wright :m)

Mike Wright wrote:
> With PC on or off:
> 
> When analog phone is off hook I can hear dialtone but cannot dial out.
> When I press any button the dialtone quiets to barely audible but the
> button pressed generates no tone; on button release dialtone returns.
> 
> However the telephone does ring on incoming calls and performs as though
> the X100P were not there.
> 
> When the phone line is plugged back into the analog telephone it works
> correctly.
> 
> Questions:  Is this normal?  Must Asterisk be in control of the X100P in
> order for the passthru phone to dial out?  If it's supposed to be able
> to dial out what could explain its symptoms?  Polarity error with the
> green/red wires?  Bad X100P?
> 
> Loathe to go messing with something that could fry 1)me, 2)my new FXO
> card, 3)my pc, 4)the telco, etc, etc.
> 
> Anybody feel up to helping a noobie?
The X100P has not been made for years.

No, what you are experiencing is not normal.  The two ports on the card 
are electrically wired togather, much like a standard phone splitter you 
would buy at a store.

The only cause I can think of for what is happening is either a bad 
X100P, a card that claims to be an X100P, but is not, or (maybe) your 
red/green are swapped.

Mike Wright wrote:
<snip>
> Just purchased a Motorola Wildcard X100P 
Most probably you will be disappointed.
> and installed it into a clone PC running Fedora Core 6. 
Another disappointment

Not to begin a religious argument, but CentOS 4 or 5 would be a better 
choice.
Search the list archives for reported issues.
>  Analog telephone plugged into "PASS THRU" and
> phone line plugged into "FXO".
>   
Make sure Tip and Ring are not reversed with this card, or a bad modular 
to modular card made so that T&R are NOT reversed.
> With PC on or off:
>
> When analog phone is off hook I can hear dialtone but cannot dial out.
>   
Here I assume you mean DTMF dialing.
IS the phone of an age that it is sensitive to line polarity reversal?
Most modern phones have built in polarity guard, but older POTS sets did 
not.
> When I press any button the dialtone quiets to barely audible 
The dial pad normally mutes audio to the ear so the necessary loud DTMF 
towards the network isn't objectionable. There is also usually a 
limiting varistor on the receiver as well.
> but the button pressed generates no tone; on button release dialtone
returns.
>   
Sure sounds like polarity reversal.
> Loathe to go messing with something that could fry 1)me, Doubtful  2)my new
FXO card,  A blessing.  3)my pc, Normal cautions will prevent that happening.
4)the telco,  VERY WELL PROTECTED, not going to happen.etc, etc.
>
> Anybody feel up to helping a noobie?
>   
Buy yourself a Sangoma A200 card, save your configuration files, install 
CentOS 4 or 5 and use the X100 as a paperweight. I suppose it is OK for 
a timing source, but not much more.

My opinions, worth what you paid for them.

John Novack

-- 
Dog is my co-pilot