ATA Troubleshooting Tips

FaxSIPit’s ATA is what sets us apart when it comes to faxing. Its ability to covert fax machine analog signals into real–time HTTPS is what differentiates us from the standard VoIP ATA, and helps you and your end users send faxes quickly eliminating the impact of jitter or packet loss. The high reliability of our product means you and your clients won’t have to deal with technical issues. This in turn, will yield higher customer satisfaction.

Every month, we collect the most common issues of end users. FaxSIPit receives calls from our customers who are troubleshooting end users ATAs so I’ve included some tips below for ATA configuration problem-solving.

You can also check out our wiki http://wiki.faxsipit.com/doku.php to learn how to create an account, activate an ATA, use virtual faxing and even our PC to Fax solution with step by step instructions. This space will be updated regularly with more useful tips and suggestions.

ATA Configuration

It is crucially important to have your ATA configured and running properly. Usually an ATA comes online right away with the *1*registration command. This is, of course, if it already has an account configured in the portal. But sometimes, even when things are properly configured, no amount of rebooting and resetting seems to work. More often than not, the problem is a configuration issue and not on the ATA itself.

To resolve this:

  1. Type *2* using a handset connected to line 1of the ATA.
  2. Listen for a dial tone.
  3. An IP address should show up indicating proper configuration.

If there is no IP or it’s not one from the network it’s connected to then this is obviously the problem. Assuming the network is connected to the WAN port and DHCP services are available there is no reason the ATA shouldn’t get an IP address. This is where accessing the ATA’s webGUI can be really helpful.

When to Call Support

While there are many things you can do in the field and remotely with your client to solve most problems, there are certain things only we can help you with.

Push the Queue:
From time to time, delivery to a fax machine is not possible and so the ATA has a queue (backlog) of faxes to be sent. We have access to this queue so can “push” faxes for you as needed.

Remote Reboot:
We can reboot an ATA remotely. This is often helpful if you can’t be onsite and have made changes that need to be applied or you are troubleshooting connectivity issues.

Understanding Portal Errors:
The portal reports contain error descriptions that sometimes need more details to better understand the problem. We have access to the CDRs and so can provide the actual error and give a more complete explanation. This is handy when trying to determine where a fax is failing and why.

 

William Jordan,  FaxSIPit Manager of Operations