All circuits are busy...

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: May 04, 2005 Posts: 2

I love Vonage but the unreliability is getting to be a bit much. This has been going on since I got this account (Jan). It's been really bad this week.

Area code = 631 (long island)

People calling my Vonage phone get: "All circuits are busy". I get a fast busy signal when I call my Dad's Vonage phone two towns away. I get "All circuits are busy" when I call my friend's Vonage phone three miles away.

Is it my hardware? No, I replaced and upgraded everything.
My friend and my dad both have different hardware. Tests show that my connection is prefect when the issue occurs.

If it was my system then the caller would get my voice mail or be forwarded to my cell phone (a better alternative). "All circuits are busy" must be happening on the lines going into Vonage.

Does this mean Vonage doesn't have enough capacity to support their customers? Is it a cost or a technology issue? Will it ever be resolved or will it just keep get worse as more people sign up?

Vonage, I not looking for a guily plea. I just want a commitment that you will resolve this. Are you on top of this problem?

Cutomer in the balance,
-Zak

Posts: 6 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 07, 2005 Posts: 6

Zak I'm in 516 area code and haven't had any problems, I also have had it since Jan.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: May 09, 2005 Posts: 1

Zak,
I have had Vonage for almost 2 years and it has worked flawlessly, until about 6 weeks ago. I am now also experiencing this problem. I am in the 516 area code and, particularly after 6:00 PM anyone trying to call me will receive the all circuits busy recording. Even if I try calling the voicemail number, I will get a recording on that.
It seems to be getting worse...

Posts: 492 · Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 8:09 pm Post subject:

Gentleman,

It sounds to me like the problem is your ISP. I could be wrong, but I would like to see you prove it. If it turns out not to be your ISP then you can bring that to Vonage. There are several tests to perform.

First, do regular line speed tests at a website that you trust and gives consistent results that are at best 90% of you ISP's advertised line speeds. I always use www.dslreports.com speed test to the Speakeasy server. There is one on the Vonage forum. Log the results.

Use the www.TestYourVoip.com and e-mail the results to yourself so that you can keep track of them.

Download the PingPlotter from www.pingplotter.com you can use it for a month. Set the packet size to 100 bytes, the number of packets to 100, the rate to 10 seconds, and the interval to 60480 (1 week). It will take you a day or so of reading to begin to get the hang of it. You will need a destination to test. Try an IP address out west or one of the domain names that are given you. A graph of the internet condition in miliiseconds will be displayed and saved on disc on an hourly basis. You can keep it running in the system tray and use your computer normally. Just leave it on for a week. You can always PM me if you have questions.

If you're willing to do all this, you can either prove that your ISP is at fault, Vonage, or your equipment. Vonage is not the usual kind of server, you can't ping it or tracert to it. I know this is a pain. Your ISP will say that it's not them. Vonage will say that it's not them. If you can hand them the proof, you win the battle. It's one solution. It's up to you.

Mike

Posts: 2251 · Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 9:16 pm Post subject:

Zak:

Are you on Optimium Online (CableVision)?

I am asking because I am, and today, for the first time ever, I had your problem.

I am very busy at the moment, but I am going to check out their forum in a few hours to see what might be up.

Posts: 196 · Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 7:26 am Post subject:

dconnor wrote:

Zak:

Are you on Optimium Online (CableVision)?

I am asking because I am, and today, for the first time ever, I had your problem.

I am very busy at the moment, but I am going to check out their forum in a few hours to see what might be up.

Generally, the "All Circuits Are Busy" message is coming from the CLEC who provides the termination into the Voange network. It is possible that Global Crossing (or whomever serves your area) does not have enough inbound or outbound capacity to handle peak load.

At the rate Vonage is growing, I suspect we'll be seeing more instances of this. I've already seen indication that data pipes to some of the local softswitches aren't large enough for the call volume. I suspect this is all growing pains.

If there is a lot of "All Circuits Busy" activity, I'd certainly put in a trouble ticket with Vonage so they can analyze trunking and have those discussions with the CLEC provider.

Posts: 40 · Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 10:51 am Post subject:

This is not an ISP problem. I don't have the problem dialing out, but people have told me they have the problem dialing me. I'm in 512 area code. They just hangup and try to dial again and it usually goes through so its not a bandwidth isp thing.

Posts: 19 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Mar 25, 2005 Posts: 19

i've started getting "all circuits busy" and "call cannot be completed as dialed" this week. it happens randomly.

i know that i'm dialing the number correctly because i usually get through after a couple redials.

i've been getting the messages around 10 or 11 am (mountain time).

my ISP is path broadband (local provider).

-brad

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: May 04, 2005 Posts: 2

mbhn5204 wrote:

Gentleman,

It sounds to me like the problem is your ISP. I could be wrong, but I would like to see you prove it. If it turns out not to be your ISP then you can bring that to Vonage. There are several tests to perform.
...
Mike

A network issue would show up in different ways.

I have 10Mb down and 1Mb up almost all the time. (I could run a company with this bandwidth - For phones a least)

During this period I did the following just to make sure:
- Made calls out
- Pinged all known Vonage sites
- Went to all web sites
- Tested with CableVision's software, dslreports, Vonage bandwidth tester. You name it...
- No errors on my cable modem, VIOP device, etc...
- traced routes, etc..

Besides, if this was a network problem people would get my voice mail or call forwarding since that is done on the Vonage side.

Must we keep calling support and having them tell us its our network?

Does anyone have Optonline's VIOP? Do they get the same problems?
-Zak

Posts: 9 · New Forum Member Joined: May 01, 2005 Posts: 9

I am also experiencing the problem where calls coming in get the "all circuits busy" or just go to a busy signal. I suspect it is PaeTec's problem (area code 407 in Central Florida). I'll try to get a trouble ticket going on it soon.