What to Do When Your Phone Service Goes Down

Here are six steps on what you can do, on your end, when your Phone Service goes out.

1. Make Sure Everything Is Plugged In

It might seem like a no brainer, but a good first step is to do a quick sweep of your routers, modems, and phones to make sure that all the cords are plugged into the right sockets. A stray power cord could knock your entire phone system offline. You don't want to go through hours of troubleshooting only to find that the modem was unplugged the whole time.

2. Check Your Internet Connection

If your Phone System has gone down, there's a good chance that your office Internet connection has failed. A quick way to see if your Internet connection works is by attempting to load a website in your browser window. If the page loads, your Internet connection isn't to blame for the outage.

If the page doesn't load, test your WiFi connection by plugging your computer directly into your cable or DSL modem with an ethernet cord. Some manufacturers recommend unplugging and resetting your modem before doing this. If you're still not getting a connection, that means that your office Internet is likely down. In the short term, call your ISP and lodge a service request. In the long term, consider switching to a more reliable business Internet service.

If you frequently experience disruptions to your Phone Service due to Internet connectivity, we recommend running a Speed test to check for jitter, latency, and/or packet loss. All of these issues can degrade the quality of the call, perhaps to a point where nothing intelligible is heard on either end.

The average VoIP Phone call requires 100kpbs of bandwidth. If your network experiences a lot of simultaneous calls and usage, you may have to talk to your ISP about amping up your bandwidth threshold. In some cases, employees will inappropriately download large files with file sharing clients. Make sure the office Internet policies are clear so there's no confusion on what constitutes proper use.

3. Rule Out Router Issues

If your Internet is in fact working, and it's not suffering from crippling bandwidth issues, then it's time to take a look at the routers in your office. You can usually fix problems with your router by adjusting standard features on an Admin portal, although there are some exceptions.

Firmware

Updating a router's firmware can reset or change critical network features without your knowledge. First of all, make sure that the firmware type is supported by your service provider and the VoIP phones you use. On occasion, certain firmware updates can obstruct VoIP traffic and disable phones that worked with earlier versions. If you're experiencing a service outage right after updating router firmware, you may want to consider switching back to the older version.

ALGs/NATs/Firewalls

NATs (Network Address Translations) and firewalls are designed to block certain data packets from entering a network. Sometimes NATs and firewalls implement ALGs (Application Layer Gateways) designed to block VoIP packets. Even without an ALG, a firewall can inadvertently block benign traffic if certain settings are implement improperly. Consult your provider's online support center or Knowledgebase to find out how to disable these blockers and optimize your routers so they're compatible with the VoIP service.

Hardware Failure

Although this situation is less likely, it is possible that your network hardware has deteriorated or malfunctioned to a point where quality calls are not possible. There's no surefire way to test for this. But if your router seems unreasonably hot, or the power supply is having major issues, you might have to swap out the failing device for another model. You can view our recommendations in this Top Router guide.

4. Verify Phone Configuration

If your routers and your Internet are functioning properly, the final step is to check your IP phones. Many issues are phone specific, and there are plenty of resources online that detail the quirks of each device.

First, make sure the phone is plugged into a power source. Many phone failures are simply attributed to misplaced power cords. If your phone uses Power Over Ethernet (POE), move the phone's ethernet cord into a different jack. If other phones are not having trouble powering with these outlets and jacks, that's a sign that your phone has malfunctioned and needs to be replaced.

Make sure your phones are registered, and monitor them closely after you upgrade any firmware. As a last resort, you can power cycle the devices. Unplug the phones, routers, and modems for over a minute, and then plug them all back in, starting with the modem, then the routers, then the phones.

5. Look for Internet Service Provider(ISP) Network Alerts

If you know that your Internet, routers, and phones are working fine, it's time to see if a network alert has been posted. Check the Internet Service Provider(ISP) Web Page to see if there are any outages or issues that the provider is aware of.

Also you can call your Internet Service Provider(ISP) to see if any outages or issues that the provider have in your service area.

6. Contact Support Team

If you've tried the steps above, and you're still experiencing a service outage, it's time to call our Support Team. You're probably not suffering from common network problems at this point.

When you call a support agent, detail to him or her the steps that you've already taken on your own. That way, the support agent can weed out these basic problems and start to look at the real issue.

Of course, you can contact a customer service agent at any point during your service outage. If you feel completely flustered, don't hesitate to pick up the phone or make a Emergency Support Ticket; we are pleasure to assist you.

When routers, phones, and Internet connections are all intertwined, a single missing piece of the puzzle can cause your Phone System to go down. You can usually save time if you follow through with some of these tips before you contact Customer Support.