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[barrister2]

Hello,

I am a newbie to this board, but not to X-10.  I recently purchased a telephone responder and cannot get it to work correctly. I can control my modules manually from the responder's keypad, but not from a telephone, which is what it is for!  After a bit of troubleshooting, I found that if I put a DSL filter on the responder, I could control my modules from my touchtone phone WITHIN THE RESIDENCE.

I do have DSL, and feel it is probably part of the problem, but if I can fix it internally in the house with the DSL filter, what can I do to fix it so it hears the  touchtones from an outside line?  The responder answers the phone properly, but does not hear any of the touchtones (unless from a telephone within the residence) and then hangs up.

Any help or suggestions that you can  offer would be appreciated.

Thanks 

[Oldtimer]

Hello,

I am a newbie to this board, but not to X-10.  I recently purchased a telephone responder and cannot get it to work correctly. I can control my modules manually from the responder's keypad, but not from a telephone, which is what it is for!  After a bit of troubleshooting, I found that if I put a DSL filter on the responder, I could control my modules from my touchtone phone WITHIN THE RESIDENCE.

I do have DSL, and feel it is probably part of the problem, but if I can fix it internally in the house with the DSL filter, what can I do to fix it so it hears the  touchtones from an outside line?  The responder answers the phone properly, but does not hear any of the touchtones (unless from a telephone within the residence) and then hangs up.

Any help or suggestions that you can  offer would be appreciated.

Thanks 

My first question is:  Are you trying to control it from outside the house with a cell phone?

My second question:  Is you cell phone set up to transmit true touch tones when you do it inside a call.  Most cell phones have this option but not all cell phones default to sending them without you telling them to.

Let us know the answer to these questions and we'll work some more on your problem.

[barrister2]

Thanks for your quick response. I anticipated that there could be a problem with cell phones, so I tried it from one land line to another, and in fact, listened in on the call. I could press the appropriate keys on my phone (as long as the DSL filter was on the responder) but the touchtones from my friend helping me who called in on the landline went unrecognized, even though I could hear them.  I also had my friend try when I was not on the line.

Summary,

Works from inside my house on the landline phone with DSL filter -- otherwise does not work anywhere, anyhow.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions that you may have.

[Brian H]

I have DSL and my Touch Tone Responder works fine. The filters I got in my DSL kit have two outputs. Data which is the unfiltered to the DSL interface and the phone jack is filtered. Mine is on the filtered jack and works fine. The DSL filter should only block the high frequency DSL signals from the normal phones. If yours is killing the touch tones something is wrong,

[barrister2]

Well, I am glad to know that the responder will work with DSL service. However, in my case something else must be killing the touch tones, and they are being interfered with BEFORE they get to the transponder. I have a wall filter, which has an unfiltered port which goes to the modem, and a filtered output going to the phone. However, every other wall plate in the house is unfiltered, unless I put a single output filter on it, which I did in the case of the wall plate going to the responder.

As I stated above, without the filter, the responder does not hear the touch tones at all, and with the filter, it hears ONLY the tones from the phone within the home. It still does not hear tones from OUTSIDE the home, dialing in -- which of course, is what is needed to control the responder when away.

Any other suggestions as to places to look for the problem will be appreciated.

[dave w]

 and with the filter, it hears ONLY the tones from the phone within the home. It still does not hear tones from OUTSIDE the home, dialing in -- which of course, is what is needed to control the responder when away.

Any other suggestions as to places to look for the problem will be appreciated.

How are you getting the TR16A to answer an inside line? Mine needs the incoming ring voltage before it will go "off-hook' and is not capabile of responding to an extension phone (it is an older unit, but I don't see in the current instuctions manual that the TR16A can respond to an extension either).
When it answers your outside call,  are you hearing the "answer beep" and the three beeps after you input your PIN? I'm just fishing with these questions, but am wondering if your TR16A could have some defects.

[barrister2]

Hello,

Actually, I cannot get my responder to answer an inside line. Rather, when my friend called from the outside, I picked up first, and then the responder picked up afterwards. Then, I was "online" with the responder and I was able to control it from the inside phone.  I should point out, that really this is not a TR551 or a TR16A, but rather an X10 Pro PHC06.  Also, since my last post I have found out more. I emailed a request for support to X10 Pro, and they replied:

"Yes I have encountered this, The last time we had to put 2 filters on the telephone controller. Depending on the signal level of the DSL in your area... Some areas are worse than others. Try the double filter and call it from outside"


X10 PRO Technical Support
http://www.x10pro.com
800 832-4003 Mon-Fri 8:30-5:30 Eastern


My responder is located at my cabin, and I left it there. I am attempting to get someone to go by and put on an extra filter so that I can try it again.  It does appear that the DSL signal "drowns out" the touch tones.  I will advise this forum of the outcome, but in the meatime, if anyone has advice on how to alter the nature of my phone line for better differentiation of the touch tones from DSL noise, I would greatly appreciate it.

[steven r]

...I emailed a request for support to X10 Pro, and they replied:
"Yes I have encountered this, The last time we had to put 2 filters on the telephone controller. Depending on the signal level of the DSL in your area... Some areas are worse than others. Try the double filter and call it from outside"...

I've never heard of anything needing more than one filter. I would think one good  filter would be enough. While it's a part that I would rarely expect to fail, I'd still bet on a bad filter than a situation requiring two filters.

Anyway let us know if it works but for my curiosity just try a new filter first.

[barrister2]

Well, I returned to my cabin and have tried 3 different types of filters, either by themselves or in series.  I cannot get the responder to recognize the touchtones, UNLESS I am online with it locally by having someone call in, and I pickup along with the responder.  Does anyone have any ideas?

[Brian H]

Is the delay switch set to short or long? I believe in long it allows an answering machine to pick up first and then only listens for touch tones.

Just did a test with mine on Long Delay and the answering machines phone line disconnected. It eventually answered the phone and I sent it the security code. It then let me control chimes and modules.

Does your responder even answer the phones ringing and just miss the touch tones?

[Oldtimer]

I have been watching this thread since my post to it and have an additional suggestion.  There is a possibility that the phone wiring itself has a fault of some kind in it.  Since the tests you need to run require equipment you probably don't have access to I'd suggest taking the responder and an X10 module to another location to see if it works there.  If it works at the new location you've got a wiring problem, if it doesn't you've got a defective responder.