Cisco SPA122 Setup and Troubleshooting Guide

Introduction

These instructions will help you with the setup of your Cisco SPA122 Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) with Router. It will tell you about some of the features it and your Phone.com service provide, so you can take advantage of what the two together have to offer you. This guide will also help you with some of the more common problems you might run into, which typically arise from your network’s configuration.

So that you understand the features and potential issues beforehand, you should thoroughly review this guide along with the Cisco Quick Start Guide, which you can find in the box or online.

Expect to spend about 20 to 35 minutes getting your SPA122 set up and ready to use. Once it’s set up, your phone will work in nearly the same way as your typical home phone. Some familiarity with networking may be required, particularly if you have to change the configuration or any network settings.

Device Setup

Do you already have a router?

Figure A

• Connect your SPA122 to an available LAN port on your router, using the ethernet cable provided in the box.

Figure B

1. Unplug the ethernet cable that connects your modem to your computer.
2. Connect the ethernet cable from your modem to the Internet port of the SPA122.
3. Connect another ethernet cable from the Ethernet port of your SPA122 to your computer.

Once you’ve plugged everything in

Once you power up the SPA122, it will take about two minutes to fully boot. After that period, at least three LEDs on the top panel should be illuminated: System, Internet, and Phone 1. If any of these aren’t illuminated, refer to page three of the Cisco Quick Start Guide to interpret the meaning.

Once all three LEDs on the top panel are illuminated, you should be ready to start making calls.

Features

Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) and Voicemail

When you have a new message waiting in your inbox, you will hear a fast “stutter” tone when you pick up the phone. To listen to voice messages:

1. Pick up the phone.
2. Dial [*][8][6][8][6].
3. Follow the voice prompts to listen to your messages.

Transfer

You can transfer incoming calls to other numbers or extensions, although you can’t transfer outbound calls.

1. While on the call, press [*][2]. You will hear: “Transfer.”
2. Dial the number you want to transfer your call to.
3. Once you hear ringing, you can either hang up immediately, or speak with the new party and then hang up when you’re ready.
4. Once you hang up, you are removed from the call and the two other parties are connected.

Do Not Disturb (DND)

You can prevent any calls from ringing your phone by enabling the DND feature. If you don’t want to be bothered, during dinner for instance, this is a useful feature.

1. Pick up your phone.
2. Dial [*][7][8] to activate DND.
3. You will hear a slow “stutter” dial tone instead of a normal dial tone, to let you know the feature is enabled.
4. To disable, dial [*][7][9].

Forwarding

You can forward any calls to another destination by enabling the forwarding feature. For example, this might be convenient if you suddenly need to step away from your home or office phone, but still want to receive your calls to your cell phone.

1. Pick up your phone.
2. Dial [*][7][2] to activate.
3. You will hear a high-pitched dial tone.
4. Enter the destination extension or number.
5. You will hear a high-pitched double beep if your entry is accepted.
6. You will also hear a slow “stutter” dial tone instead of a normal dial tone, to let you know the feature is enabled.
7. Dial [*][7][3] to deactivate.

Call Recording

As a Phone.com user, you have the ability to record incoming calls.

• Dial [*][7] to start recording. You will hear: “Recording is now on.”
• Dial [*][7] again to stop recording. You will hear: “Recording is now off.”

To review the recording, visit the Call Logs section in your Phone.com Control Panel. Please allow a few minutes after the call ends for the recording to be available.

Call Blocking

As a Phone.com user, you have the ability to block numbers from calling any number in your account.

1. Dial [*][9] to block a number while on the call. You will hear: “This caller has been blocked.”
2. Upon disconnecting the call, that caller will not be able to call again.

Anonymous calls cannot be blocked. To block callers with hidden caller ID, refer to the “Numbers” section of your Phone.com Control Panel.

If you blocked a number by mistake:

• Dial [*][9] again if you’re still on the call. You will hear: “This caller has been unblocked.”
• Or, visit the Call Logs section in your Phone.com Control Panel, then click “Call Blocking Settings.”

Troubleshooting

If I lose power or my internet connection goes down, will I lose phone service?

If you lose power, or if your internet service is unavailable, you will not have phone service.

I don’t get a dial tone.

1. If the top panel LEDs for System, Internet, and Phone 1 aren’t illuminated, refer to page three of the Cisco Quick Start Guide to interpret the meaning.
2. Make sure your phone is plugged into the correct phone port on the back panel of the SPA122. For example, if the LED for Phone 1 is lit, make sure the phone cord is plugged into the Phone 1 port.

My calls have choppy audio, or words are dropped intermittently.

If you experience choppy audio, this is usually an indication of insufficient bandwidth. The bandwidth available for your VoIP calls can be reduced by file transfers, streaming video, online gaming, or other heavy network activity. For best call quality, it’s recommended you limit heavy network or internet activity during VoIP calls.

You can test your network VoIP performance at: http://www.phone.com/customer-support/test-your-network-voip-performance/

My phone does not ring.

Make sure that your phone’s call forwarding or DND features are disabled. The easy way to tell if either of them are enabled is when you pick up the phone. If you hear a slow “stutter” tone, one of those features is probably enabled.

If you still have issues after checking these features, certain network configurations can prevent your phone from receiving VoIP traffic properly. See the “How should I set up my network?” section below for some tips.

My calls drop after 15 minutes.

Certain network configurations can prevent your phone from receiving VoIP traffic properly. See the “How should I set up my network?” section below for some tips.

How should I set up my network?

Your network will consist of a variety of components, each with its own unique features and configurations. Though VoIP devices are designed to work with all types of routers, you may encounter special issues with getting your network to work with VoIP properly and certain features of your network might need to be modified.

Here are some general rules for configuring your network. Consult the user guide for your network component, or contact the manufacturer’s support department if you need specific guidance.

Disable any SIP Application Layer Gateway (ALG) features.

Routers with SIP ALG enabled can interfere with SIP VoIP packets, preventing them from reaching your device, or routing them incorrectly. This means your VoIP device might drop out in the middle of a call, not ring on incoming calls, or the wrong device might ring (if you have more than one).

If you have a router where this feature cannot be disabled:

• Consider putting your VoIP device in the DMZ. Though this will expose that device to the internet, it eliminates the SIP ALG issue for it, while still using your existing network hardware. Most consumer routers can only assign one IP address to the DMZ.
• Consider purchasing a router where disabling this feature is possible. This way your VoIP device can remain behind the protection of the router’s firewall.
• You can choose to connect your SPA122 to your modem, then connect your router to the SPA122, so that the device is no longer inside your router’s network. See the “This all sounds too complicated” section below for more.

Make sure your network isn’t “double-NAT”ted.

Network Address Translation (NAT) is what a router does to get traffic to your computer. “Double-NAT” is an issue where two routers are placed one after another. This can be a common issue if, for example, someone adds a router to a network that already has a modem/router combination device.

A computer that is behind a double-NAT setup can usually still browse the web, while other activities like sending and receiving e-mail might be problematic. More advanced applications—like VoIP—aren’t likely to work at all.

To resolve this issue, you will need to put the modem/router device into “bridged” mode. Most modem/router combination devices will allow this. This will disable all routing and NAT functions on the modem/router, so only the standalone router will perform these functions.

DSL modem/routers may support “half-bridged” mode, where the modem will take care of the PPPoE authentication but leaves the NAT functions to the standalone router. If “half-bridged” mode is not possible, select “bridged” mode instead, and input the PPPoE authentication details into the standalone router.

This all sounds too complicated. Is there an easier way?

If changing these settings sounds like it’s more than you want to get into, or if your router won’t let you change some of these settings, you can use your SPA122 ATA as a router instead of your normal one.

Your normal router won’t interfere with VoIP calls.

Your ATA will limit your internet upload/download speeds (~20 Mbps).

You may have to configure your ATA to connect to your ISP.

Figure C

1. Unplug the ethernet cable that connects your modem to your router.
2. Connect that cable from your modem to the Internet port of the SPA122.
3. Connect another ethernet cable from the Ethernet port of your SPA122 to the WAN or Internet port of your router.

Now you’ve put your SPA122 outside the network that’s run by your router, so the technologies that might otherwise interfere with your VoIP calls aren’t affecting your SPA122 anymore.

Additional Support

In the end, this guide should help you get your Cisco SPA122 ATA up and running with your Phone.com service, and help you use some of its basic features.

Thank you for your looking over this information. If you have any questions or require further assistance, you can reach Phone.com Customer Care 24×7. Simply send an email to support@phone.com, visit us on the web at https://www.phone.com/customer-support/, or call us at 1-800-998-7087.

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