THG3000 Wi-Fi Hub with an unreliable ATA Port (Phone not ringing)

[timodonoghue]

Productname:                  Vodafone Wi-Fi Hub
Firmware-Version:           19.4.0551-3261126

I have 2x analogue phones plugged in to the ATA ports (TEL 1 and TEL 2):

• TEL 1 - DECT basestation (Siemens Gigaset N300A IP)
• TEL 2 - Wired handset (BT Duet 210 v2)

Every couple of months, TEL 1 stops ringing.

Worth noting:

• This isn't a REN issue as there are only single devices plugged in to each TEL ATA (i.e. no socket doublers/splitters and multiple analogue phones hanging off a single TEL ATA)
• TEL 2 rings just fine.
• If I move the DECT basestation from TEL 1 to TEL 2, it rings just fine on TEL 2.
• And SIP signalling is working fine (I can see from the logs, plus TEL 2 rings so SIP signalling must be working!)

My diagnosis is that this is a reliability issue with TEL 1 with MTBF being "every couple of months".

Power-cycling the Wi-Fi Hub resolves the issue which leads me to believe this is more likely a firmware / software reliability related issue rather than (say) a hardware issue with the TEL 1 ATA.  That said, a newer Wi-Fi Hub may also resolve the issue.

Has anyone else suffered this annoying issue?

Could/Would this issue be resolved by a replacement router?  I'm pretty sure this is the router I received from Vodafone back when I first became a broadband customer in December 2017 (!!!) so I expect there is a newer / better Wi-Fi hub I could have, especially as I have been a loyal customer for nearly 6 years.

Thanks.

Tim

[Jayach]

Well done for at least trying to get some data on which we could possibly make some suggestions.

However, if you have the THG3000 router, there is nothing newer, unless you go to PRO II with the Ultra hub

 I wish I could be able to give advice, but with an MTBF of months, it's difficult to suggest anything that may improve on that.

However, if you did get your router in 2017 (although the firmware suggests it's a THG3000) it's likely to be a HHG2500, which predates digital voice on Vodafone, so yes. press for a newer hub.

Good luck.

[timodonoghue]

Hi Jayach,

Thanks for the reply.  My Wi-Fi Hub is definitely a THG3000; as I have been on Vodafone broadband since December 2017 it might be that I got a new router at one of my renewal points, but I have had this router as far as I can remember and believe it to be the first/only router I received.  But I only got moved to Digital Voice at my last contract renewal (as Salisbury, where I live, was one of the pilot areas for Digital Voice) and I've only experienced issues since then.  The best Vodafone service I can get at my home address is Fibre 1 and I can see that I could get PRO II with an Ultra Hub but as I already have a 6E Wi-Fi mesh I'd feel like I'd be paying for stuff that I don't need.  I don't even have Wi-Fi enabled on my existing THG3000 as my mesh looks after that and my THG3000 has a single wired IP client (the WAN of my Wi-Fi mesh).

I have tried manually updating the firmware on the THG3000 but to no avail so I'm assuming that 19.4.0551-3261126 is the latest and greatest firmware.

Feel like I am stuck 😕

[Jayach]

Is there any benefit to you in using both TEL sockets? (I'm not yet on digital voice)

How about using a phone doubler/splitter on TEL 2 and running it all from there?

[timodonoghue]

Thanks (again) Jayach.  You're right, using a phone doubler/splitter on TEL 2 is also a workaround to consider, but slightly complicated by the fact that the connection to my DECT Base is RJ11 (so I just plug directly in to TEL 1) vs the BT Duet which has a BT plug (and connects to TEL 2 via an adaptor).  I have no idea what the REN constraints are on each ATA TEL port which is why I was using one device per port (and also for wiring elegance!)

I may have to put my tech purist self in a box and go buy a RJ11 doubler... 🙈

That's probably less painful than tellng my online 24/7 daughter that I'm power-cycling the Hub and restarting the internet to fix a teleohony issue! 😆

[Ripshod]

The BT duet is powered by the router, whereas the dect base is mains powered. So REN is irrelevant. 

Both phone leads should connect to the phones with rj11 plugs, so how about swapping them around so the duet is attached via the adapter? 

[timodonoghue]

Thanks Ripshod.  And noted on the REN (which is now blindingly obvious as the DECT base is powered... duh).  The Duet is typically connected on TEL 2 via an adapter (as it has a BT cable, hence needs one) and never experiences any ringing issues, as I haven't had any issues with the TEL 2 port.  The DECT base is connected to TEL 1 via straight RJ11 and its ringing issues are due to the TEL 1 port failing (it rings fine when connected to TEL 2 which hasn't yet failed).  Given the reliability issues with TEL 1, I'm going to go the splitter route suggested by Jayach and just connect both devices to TEL 2 (which hasn't yet failed; it continues to work even when TEL 1 doesn't) as the REN is unchanged in tha configuration (N+0 = N).

Note: when TEL 1 fails, my workaround has been to swap connections so that the DECT moves to TEL 2 and sacrifice the Duet by moving it to non-ringing TEL 1.  The Duet is really only a fallback device and not actively used.  It is also somewhat used as a canary - if it rings and the DECT doesn't, it tells me that TEL 1 is dead, so it has its uses!

[Chairman]

Just experieced the same problem a couple of days ago with a router supplied in September 2023. I use Dect basestation plugged into socket and a non DECT plugged into the other which gives me the same number of phones I had before going to full fibre. Missed a number of calls before we twigged what had happened. Have switched the phone lines around and hope that Line 2 holds up.

[timodonoghue]

@Chairman - I had to factory reset my router (to resolve another VOIP issue which resulted in my VOIP service being offline for 17 days due to an OpenReach equipment issue which took out VOIP for ourselves and many other properties in our village, with service then failing to come back online successfuily after the OpenReach equipment issue was resolved).  Since the factory reset, I haven't had a TEL port go bad.  Fingers crossed the factory reset may have helped reliability here. Time will tell...