Caller ID shows "incomplete data" with new U-Verse installation

[marknewman]

Ever since my recent U-Verse installation, my caller ID intermittently displays "incomplete data" for many incoming calls. I thought at one point it may be related to the "display caller ID on TV" setting, which WORKS. Any ideas? I have a Seimens Gigaset phone system. Could it be some type of voltage issue?

Thoughts or comments?

[aviewer ACE - Wizard]

marknewman - I have seen a number of posts from people who had problems with U-verse voice caller ID - It did not work at all. So, there is evidence of some incompatibility cases.

I believe yourss is the first to say incomplete data.

Probably the two choices are get a new phone or go back to POTS.

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

Mark, call TS using the phone number in my sig.  Let the CSR know what is going on with your phone service.  If they seem to not be able to figure out what is going on request to be transferred to a tier 2 tech.  If they are uncooperative politely end the call and call back.  Let us know what happens,

[marknewman]

Lol.Yeah, called today and was blown off by the 1st level support. She said "we can't guarantee caller ID...." anyway, I'll take your advice, call back tomorrow, and ask for level 2. Thanks. 

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

FYI, you don't have to wait after you end the call.  You can hang up and call right back and you will get a different CSR.  I have done this a number of times.

[marknewman]

I called back and the tech suggested that I hook up my phone directly to the RG to see if it's a wiring issue in the house or an issue with the phone. The caller ID numbers show up properly on the TV, so I'm guessing it's my 10 year old phone system having some type of trouble with the voltage out of the U-Verse system. I've heard of lots of people having the same problem with their alarm systems not liking the voltage difference between U-Verse VOIP and POTS lines.

Anyway, no solution yet. I may try their suggestion and hook my base-station up directly to the RG and see if that makes a difference.  It's just a pain to do, so I've been putting it off.

Needless to say, this hasn't been the most perfect switch to U-Verse. And the one service that should be the most simple, PHONE, is the one giving me the most trouble. Go figure....

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

Yeah, I know.

[ScottMac]

The caller ID information is provided between the very first ring and the second ring. If your phone, or some other system connected to the same line somehow interacts with the line after the first ring, then it can interfere with the caller ID burst. In newer phone systems (with caller ID) the first ring the user hears is actually the second ring signal sent from the CO. That's why old, stupid phones ring one time before the electronic (Caller ID enabled) phones ring. If someone were to answer the old phone on the real first ring, they'd hear a burst of static-like noise before the real second ring (and there'd be no Caller ID on the electronic phones).

Another possibility is (as mentioned) the load on the line. Back in the POTS day, you could only have so many devices on any one phone line (same as today). Each device was assigned a "Ringer Equivelance Number" (REN). There's only so much power avaiable; too many devices divides the power too much (or in some cases, causes enough of an issue to distort the Caller ID signal) for proper ring functions.

If you have another phone available, try removing the old phone and replace it with a different phone and see if the character of the problem changes. Thre's a (small) chance that the phone is somehow overloading the line.

In a regular POTS system,during the RING,  the CO changes the line from a standing minus 48 volts DC ("Battery") to a ~100 Volt AC signal @ ~ 20 Hz. Since the U-verse voice is VoIP based, the RG is the device that generates the ring voltage and translates the Caller ID burst into the TV display.

It is possible that the voice section of the RG might be a little weak (the ring generator or some internal logic failure). If all else fails, perhaps an RG swap is needed.

[sandblaster]

I have a similar issue with caller id but it only happens on one specific phone and it is intermittent. I have two phones and a dvr plugged into phone jacks and caller id info shows up on the dvr and one of the phones always but for some reason caller id info shows up on the second phone only about 1/2 the time. I will try swapping phones to see if the problem moves with the phone.

[ScottMac]

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sandblaster wrote:

I have a similar issue with caller id but it only happens on one specific phone and it is intermittent. I have two phones and a dvr plugged into phone jacks and caller id info shows up on the dvr and one of the phones always but for some reason caller id info shows up on the second phone only about 1/2 the time. I will try swapping phones to see if the problem moves with the phone.

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Good idea.

If it follows the phone, the phone is probably a little deaf.

If it follows the jack, then the cabling might be a little funky ... i.e., too long, too many drops, bad connections, etc.

It may also be that the first phone in the chain sucks a little too much of the ring voltage, with the intermittent issue being reliant on what other functions the RG is handling at the time.

Since it's working on the DVR and working on at least one drop or phone, the system is likely to be working OK / whithin spec.

[BeeBeeSA ACE - Wizard]

If you have one of the old CID boxes try just plugging that in and see what you get.  You can try it at a phone jack to test and if it doesn't work try plugging it in directly to the RG and test there.  That way you won't have to move your base station around.