[Resolved] Stutter tone, but no voice mail messages

[Kwyjor]

I'm getting a stuttering dial tone when I pick up my handset. Previously, this stuttering tone has been an indication that I have voice mail waiting, but I see nothing at https://www.freephoneline.ca/mailbox , nor does dialing *98 suggest I have any messages.

The only thing out of the ordinary that has happened lately is that there was a power outage, during which someone might have tried to contact me.

Is there something else that can cause a stutter tone, or some other way I can get rid of it?

[Liptonbrisk]

Does leaving yourself a new voicemail message, waiting for it be acknowledged by Freephoneline's voicemail system, deleting it by dialing *98 (follow the appropriate responses to delete all voice mail, and then hang up), and finally waiting up to 10 minutes resolve the problem?

In theory, receiving another voicemail message and deleting all voicemail messages afterwards should force FPL's server to send your ATA a notification that no voicemail messages exist. The stutter tone should clear after waiting (up to 10 minutes after deleting all messages).

If you test with another SIP client (app or another ATA) and if there's no voicemail at all, but the SIP client suddenly indicates voicemail is waiting, then there's a problem with your Freephoneline account. You would then need to send a "my account inquiry" ticket, explain the problem, and ask to have voicemail on your account reset: https://support.fongo.com/hc/requests/new.

[Liptonbrisk]

You can try to workaround this issue either by getting Freephoneline to send a proper “no voicemail” signal/packet (so the Mediatrix stops stuttering), which I described in my previous response, or by configuring the Mediatrix to ignore voicemail indicators so it always plays a normal dial tone (but that probably won't be easy or desirable). I do see that mwiConfigActivation can be disabled (mwiConfigActivation = disable). However, that prevents MWI (message waiting indicator) from working at all, which isn't something I would want.

Your Mediatrix 2102 plays a stutter dial tone whenever its internal Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) state indicates that there is voicemail waiting. That state is set and cleared by voicemail notifications from the provider (Freephoneline/Fongo), which sends data to tell your ATA that you have messages or that you have no messages.

​If your ATA is off during a power outage (shortly after clearing all message), the 2102 probably kept the stutter tone indicating that you have voicemail because it never received anything from Freephoneline's server to signify there's no more voicemail. Then the dial tone remains stuttered forever even though your mailbox appears to be empty.


https://dn721808.ca.archive.org/0/items ... 996082.pdf

Unfortunately, that manual from the above link does not offer a precise web GUI path to disable the message waiting indicator. I just see a discussion in Chapter 22 (labelled on page 221 of the PDF) regarding MWI methods. Never use the subscribe method with FPL (FreePhoneLine). So mwiConfigUserSubscriptionAddress should be empty or undefined in your ATA. (Via SNMP or Configuration File set mwiConfigUserSubscriptionAddress to an empty string, or leave it unset. mwiConfigUserSubscriptionAddress probably isn't configured anyway, which is what you want).

MWI is sent unsolicited with Freephoneline. The manual shows MWI (Message Waiting Indicator) is configurable via MIB (Management Information Base) objects and configuration files. Unless, I'm misreading, the manual does not provide a way to clear stuck MWI state while keeping MWI functional for Freephoneline's unsolicited notification method. It also doesn't help that I've never used a Mediatrix 2102 (I'm not familiar with it at all); so to a certain extent, I'm guessing.

[Kwyjor]

Does leaving yourself a new voicemail message, waiting for it be acknowledged by Freephoneline's voicemail system, deleting it by dialing *98 (follow the appropriate responses to delete all voice mail, and then hang up), and finally waiting up to 10 minutes resolve the problem?

... Well, shucks. I should have thought of that. The problem resolved instantly.

Thank you for the voluminous insight.

[Liptonbrisk]

Well, shucks. I should have thought of that. The problem resolved instantly.

Wonderful!

Thank you

You're very welcome!