. . .and continues

I had the phone techs here for 2 hours yesterday re-routing lines and checking connections. When they left, my 2 Optimum voice lines worked, only the call hunt feature was not working. I called optimum voice support, who remotely accessed the modem, made some changes, and then it worked. For the rest of the day everything went smoothly. And we booked 4 new patients.
My credit card processor was on a dead line. The techs were able to re-connect the line, though the credit card processor was unable to connect to the carecredit site. We tried a number of maneuvers, such as powering up and down, connecting the processor to the router itself, and connecting the processor to the modem itself. The processor only worked if connected directly to the source jack, which was in the closet, close to the ceiling. No problem. I'd just have to make my staff climb a ladder in the closet 20 times a day.
That works for me. Yeh right!
Finally I sent home the install techs and decided to call Vonage, since the credit card processor was on one of the remaining Vonage lines. As I was on hold with Vonage tech support, which is actually pretty good support, "firewall" popped into my head. Yes, the firewall, you knucklehead. All routers have built in firewalls that are distinct from the firewall that are installed in your computers, you know the ones you buy from Semantec, etc. These router firewalls need to be set and adjusted to allow for 2-way traffic. When the credit card processor transmits to the processing company, it also receives signals. The firewall was preventing that incoming signal from reaching the unit. The Vonage guy fixed it in several seconds. Now it works.
So everything is now good, right?
No.
This morning I came into work, un-did the forwarding feature so that calls would come into the office phone. Call one worked fine. Call two came while I was on with call one, and . . dropped. WHAT THE F---!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Optimum voice, my local, Long Island, VOIP provider is having difficulties and call hunt on their end is temporarily disabled. Calls that come into a busy line 1 go immediately to voice mail. "We're sorry for the inconvenience," said the tech. INCONVENIENCE! An inconvenience is getting a BLT when you ordered tuna. I'm losing money, lots o'it.
I really just want this fixed.
On a good note, I got 3 new patients this morning.
Thanks, the IU.

The phone saga continues. . .

Seaspray asked me why I felt loyal to VONAGE. The answer is that I don't. But I do know that fixing one problem will create 5 others that need to be fixed before things begin to run smoothly again. This is exactly what has happened to me since last Friday, when I changed phone service providers.

• My dedicated fax line is no longer working.


• My credit card processor is no longer able to connect and we can't use it.


• The data line in my office is on the fritz--it intermittently goes out--making it impossible for me to connect to my server from my workstation.


• Today, lines one and two on my Optimum voice phone are dead.


• My remaining VONAGE lines, 326-6035 and the other in the hunt sequence, are the only working phone lines, though calls still drop.
• My cell phone, thankfully, still works.

As I have said before, phone systems are like urethras. If they cause you pain, you got a problem.

Thanks for listening.

The IU.

Something in my phones is actually trying to kill me!

This weekend my phones were down. Only this down, it was my home phones. Not my VONAGE phones, my Optimum Voice phones. I do have a separate VONAGE line at home, and that worked fine. SOMEONE IS MESSING WITH ME!

The IU.

PS: and my toilet overflowed twice.