Telewest cleardown (hangup) line signalling
 

Hi,

I have a Telewest phone line in London (SW19). I have plugged this into my Asterisk server. This is working fine for receiving calls, however, if the remote party hangs up, the Asterisk box does not detect the clear down. Has anyone successfully setup a Telewest line with Asterisk?

Does anyone know how the Telewest line signals a clear down? I have plugged a phone into the line and cleared down from my mobile. The line goes silent and the lights on the phone do not go off, so it seems there is no disconnect tone and there is no disconnect. Is there a reverse polarity?

Additionally, does anyone know how a BT line clears down? I understand it's a reverse polarity + disconnect tone. Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks for your time,
CF

Re: Telewest cleardown (hangup) line signalling
 

You might need to get a an engineer out to change the channel at the junction boxes outside. I know that after a call has ended it would make a clicking sound or say the other person has cleared and then click off. The engineer changed the channel which our phone line was using and it has since stopped doing that, so when we call somewhere, the other person sometimes cannot hear what I am saying and cuts off saying 'Sorry lines are busy please try later after 10 seconds, this is probably because the exchange/billing system does not recognise it as connected call.

I would suggest that you call 0800-953-2800 and get technical assistance if you are a business customer or 151 from the Virgin/NTL:Telewest line or 0845-454-1111 for residential faults and technical support.

Re: Telewest cleardown (hangup) line signalling
 

Just a word of warning on the above, if you are using asterisk on a residential fault line, the faults department "shouldn't" offer to book a technician for you as it's not something that's supported from a residential landline.

Re: Telewest cleardown (hangup) line signalling
 

I think they do in some areas, but the OP hasn't stated whether they are residential or business customers which is why I have listed both contact numbers.

Furthermore, it may vary from franchise to franchise.

For example, I'm an ex-Telewest customer in the Cable London franchise and Speed Dial is no longer available in this area, however, Incomming Call baring is available and in Yorkshire, Call sign and Warmline are available, so like I said it will vary from area to area.

Ex-Nynex,Bellcable and some Videotron lines use the same system so therefore may offer all the same features, but Telewest areas definately vary as each franchise uses different systems as they were originally set up around 1991 and where all seperate/independent companies.

Re: Telewest cleardown (hangup) line signalling
 

Can you not just run the Asterisk over the broadband? We have an an Asterisk server at work. It runs on its own broadband router with QOS and handles calls over voip for the office. It does connect into a phone line but only as a back-up.

Re: Telewest cleardown (hangup) line signalling
 

I don't necessarily need to log it as a fault, I just need to know the signaling that is used to indicate a clear down. On my BT line, when the remote end clears down the line goes open circuit for a few hundred milliseconds and then I get a NU tone (I believe 400Hz). However, clearing down the Telewest line, the line just goes silent, there doesn't appear to be an open circuit and there is no NU tone.

If I could get hold of a Telewest engineer and find out what kind of clear down notification is given, then I could configure the Asterisk box accordingly. At the moment, it seems like there is no notification, which makes me wonder how an answerphone would work.

I have tried calling "tech support" however, finding someone who understands what I'm saying is rather tricky. All I need is five minutes on the phone with an engineer.

Re: Telewest cleardown (hangup) line signalling
 

Depends where the phone numbers terminate surely, if they're on a SIP server somewhere on the Interweb then yeah fair enough.