Grandstream will not register phone plus other issues with FF150 + voip

[btcolin]

I am a long-time TalkTalk/Tiscali customer (more than 20 years!). I had been on what I found out was FF65 plus copper landline for more than 2 years. My plan came to an end and I suddenly started getting charged north of £33 per month after being on low £20s for the previous plan.

I got in touch with TT and they advised me that my best offer would be FF150 + Voip.

So I agreed to the upgrade.

They organised an Open Reach Engineer to come and "install" the system.

My equipment arrived by post.

I chatted with TT and asked if I could install the equipment as I already had FTTP and asked if I really needed an engineer visit. We agreed that I would install the Eero and Grandstream as I already had the working FF65.

I got the Eero up and running with the Grandstream connected and interacting with the Eero.

The engineer came at his allotted time and checked my installation and said he had been asked to install a completely different fibre to cat6 (OTR?) router, but advised that this wasn't necessary. 

He checked what I had done and said it is all connected correctly, and to wait until TT switch me to the FF150 plus voip.

So here is the problem:

My switch day was 17th July.

I received a text from TT to say that my FF150 package had been activated.

I checked this and found that my speed was still the same as the FF65 and my telephone only worked on the old copper line. 

I therefore assumed that my new package had not been activated.

Back on to TT chat on 18th July am. I was shuffled around a few "experts" and told to give it a little time.

Later that day my copper telephone connection dropped. So I checked again.

Still same speed as FF65 and my grandstream voip box said "device not registered"

I got back on to TT chat in the afternoon of the 18th and was tossed around like a hot potato between all sorts of very polite "experts" and after more than 2.5 hours! I was told that the system needed to adjust itself.

I've now waited for the system to "adjust itself" but I still have the same FF65 speed and the same "device not registered from the voip box.

I've reset the Grandstream, I've turned off and on the Eero, all to no avail. still FF65 speed and same voip box message.

Oh and I also got an email from TT saying the package was switched on!

I'm not wet behind the ears with computers and still think that TT haven't properly checked that they have "switched on" my package properly.

HELP

[btcolin]

Hi Chris,  I  have FF65 which I've had for ages. I had a separate copper telephone line. The FF65 is working but the telephone line has been disconnected. 

I was sold FF150 plus VOIP to keep my old landline number.  

Yesterday is was told to disconnect my house ethernet set up from the Eero and plug in the Grandstream directly to the second port and leave it like that. Consequently I cannot use my ethernet connected devices (PC and printers scanner etc.) until I am told otherwise. The Grandstream only has the Internet light and power lights on. And if I lift the handset ( which I was told not to do) I get a device not registered message.

I hope that helps.

Cheers Colin 

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Thanks, and you still have no internet connection at the moment?

Chris

[btcolin]

Left middle right and right. All green. Middle left is off.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Thanks Colin, so just to confirm, which lights are currently on, on the ONT?

Chris

[btcolin]

Hi Chris... added as requested.

Cheers Colin

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Colin

Could you add your TalkTalk home telephone number or account number to your community profile and I'll take a look at this for you

Chris

[btcolin]

Hi Chris, I've just come off the phone with another TT person who asked me to tell her what my problem is. She obviously hadn't read the notes that everyone else has put on the system. 

When she had finally understood the problem ( I think she understood it), she asked me all sorts of information about my eero setup and the lights on my grandstream, how old my telephone handset was. I explained my setup including the ethernet switch and using my old router as an extender etc. She told me that I must use the grandstream cable direct into the eero. I found the Grandstream cable and connected it into the eero. She asked me to reset it, I did. It booted up and returned to the same status as before. Power light and Internet light. She then said that should listen very carefully and she would speak slowly. She asked me to remove my eero cable from the ONT and plug the Gstream directly in to it. I did and it again returned to the same state power light and Internet light but no telephone light. She then asked me to plug the eero back into the ONT and the Gstream back directly into the eero. She asked me to reset the Gstream and it again returned to the same two blue light status. She then went on to tell me that I can only use eero equipment with eeros and if I need any hardwired devices, I need other eeros and the connect them to my ethernet switch! She also intimated that I shouldn't have used the same SSID and password as my old router ( the eero quick start guide suggests using these to allow all my connected devices to connect to the eero without redoing them). 

It obvious came to her home time as she said just before 6pm that she couldn't do anymore today and would look at it tomorrow. 

She ignored the fact that I'm still on FF65 and was sold FF150. I felt treated like I was an idiot.

She contradicted so much of the advice that I have received from previous chats and helpdesk calls and from help on this forum and the Internet in general. 

So I  am left without my PC connected to the Internet, my printer and printer/scanner disconnected from my network, feeling an idiot, and very frustrated.

Cheers Colin 

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Thanks for the update Colin, hopefully everything will be resolved soon

Chris

[btcolin]

Morning Michelle,

I'm not sure how the bulletin board works, so apologies if I'm repeating myself. 

I've got my printer/scanner up and running by adding my old TT router as a network extender and using their wps buttons. 

I'd discussed poor WiFi coverage where smart devices were sometimes in the network and sometimes not working. I requested another eero then but was told that I'd need FF900 to get a free or I could buy one for about  £89.95 . I declined and got one off ebay for £41 and it's solved my WiFi coverage problems.

So touch wood, my network is working fine, it's just the original issues that still need fixing: FF150 and VOIP. Hopefully today TT will solve those and your colleague will call me with good news. Fingers crossed 🤞 

Cheers Colin 

[btcolin]

Morning Fergerson.

My printer seems to be behaving itself using the old router as an extender. I actually connected it using the wps buttons on printer and old router. It shows up on the Eero network now too, but I haven't managed to recognise my old router as a device and haven't been able to get into its configuration settings to make any adjustments. But hey... it's working... why fix it!

Cheers Colin 

[btcolin]

Thank you Fergerson. I've tried this plus turning on the Legacy setting without success. My memory is hazy, but I seem to remember having to set up static ip addresses for my printers in the past. I can see this printer on the Eero list of offline devices but it doesn't come online when I turn it on.

Before I added my old router as an extender I couldn't even get that far. I think I'm close to solving it. I'd certainly like to connect it without having to use my old router in the mix.

Cheers Colin 

[ferguson]

The eero can have the 5GHz band temporarily disabled which will help to connect to devices such as your printer which probably connect at 2.4GHz only, have a look at the help article here:

https://support.eero.com/hc/en-us/articles/360049983772-How-Do-I-Temporarily-Hide-the-5GHz-Band-on-M....

[btcolin]

Today I've nearly managed to resolve my printer/scanner connection problem by using the old Talktalk router as an extender. I still have a configuration issue but I did manage to print out via ethernet. I think I have to disable dhcp. 

Cheers Colin 

[btcolin]

Sorry, I forgot to say that they did say they would call on Monday.

Cheers Colin 

[btcolin]

Morning Michele. 

Yes. I had both fttp and copper landline. I still have fttp 65 but copper landline has been disconnected. 

The VOIP device (Grandstream) os connected in my network but my device (telephone) is not registered. 

Cheers

Colin

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi Colin,

I'm really sorry to hear this. Have the team arranged to keep in contact with you? Can I just ask, did you have a working FTTP connection with a separate copper voice service and the VOIP service was added after the FTTP was already live?

Michelle

[btcolin]

Hi Michelle, 

Sadly no good news today. When the guy called me today he explained that they would have to backtrack and re-initiate my copper landline and start again. This will roll on into next week.

At least he called me to tell me.

It's crazy. I was very happy with my service before receiving a huge hike in the price. All I  wanted was the same service with the same price plus inflation on a continued contract.

Instead I was told I'd have to upgrade to FF150 + voip to keep my phone number which I've had for nearly 40 years.

And now all this hassle. Setting up the Eero was a pain as although I kept my old WiFi name and password the only devices that automatically linked were my two echos. Everything else had to be manually reconnected to the WiFi and one printer will not connect anymore because Eero doesn't support it.

I could go on. I'm too old for all this hassle. 

I'm very disappointed in Talktalk.

Cheers Colin 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning Colin,

Thank you for the update and I'm sorry to hear this. Hopefully my colleague will be able to resolve this as soon as possible for you.

Michelle

[btcolin]

Hello Michelle,

So it goes on...

An Open Reach engineer called today as promised. He looked through my system and spent probably about an hour on the phone to his TT contact number.

He explained to me that TT had asked OR to install a double ONT which is an expensive business device that shouldn't be installed in a domestic property. He said I currently have two services, the FF65 and the FF150 however my ONT can only see one which is the FF65. The problem is not with the wiring/fibre; he was talking about 2 OGEA's, at which point I lost the thread. He left after spending well over 1.5 hours here. 

The same TT guy that I spoke to yesterday has just called me back and I passed on to him what had happened.

He told me that my FF65 will have to terminated before my FF150 is then assigned to my ONT (I think that's what he said). It's all getting too complicated for me.

He apologised for all the messing about that is going on and did mention compensation. He will speak to someone tomorrow who should be able to help get me connected to the FF150 service with the VOIP working.

He will call me again tomorrow to update me.

He asked me to reset the VOIP device while he monitored what it was doing, so it is certainly physically present on the system.

At least I have FF65 and my landline is forwarding to my mobile successfully at the moment. 

Cheers Colin

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning Colin,

Thanks for the update.

Michelle