Orchid V4, V4+ and Ranger 400 phone users - Discussion

fat-pudding

Hi all,

My partner had a big !!!!! at me today as she's been having problems with the phones, mainly she couldn't call NHS direct the other day so I decided to have a look about getting my orchid dialler up to date only to look here and see that the server is gone! I'm guessing that this was related to when I plugged our new router a few weeks ago and had a good clean out unplugging the dialler box etc.

Anyhow, what I'm asking is... what should I do? I've set everything up a couple of years ago and just updated the box when I was told and all has been good. My situation is that primus appear to have stopped taking any money from us and I'm not sure what our account with them is called, logging in doesn't reveal too much. 18185 appear to still be taking money so some calls are being routed via them and BT seems to have a couple of other charges listed from 0845 calls.

At the moment I'm utterly confused as to what state my dialler is in and what the setup is with Primus. We don't really use the phone much would I be best to just call up BT and get them to take over our line as preferred service, forget about primus and unplug the orchid? I don't think I can be bothered to program the dialler manually and the spreadsheet requires Windows (which i've got but means messing about) and Excel, which I don't have.

Sorry for all the questions but I really can't recall how this was all working, it just worked for 2 years and now I'm not really sure what is working, what isn't working and how it's all setup and interacts.

It's a bit of a shock to see that the orchid is no longer supported, nobody told me! :mad:

Heinz

The panic about pig flu probably means that your partner joined the multitude of people trying to get through to 0845 46 47 and that's more likely to have been the problem.

Anyway, from what you say (disconnecting the Orchid and so on), the likelihood is that your Orchid has just lost its time/day/date settings and the program is working as normal (the last "force your dialler home" email from Orchid-Telecom was sent on 23-1-09 so that's the version of the program your Orchid should now be on).

Primus are very behind with their bills at the moment - I haven't had one since mid March and that only covered calls up to 14 January - so I wouldn't worry about that.

When changes are needed to the program, I will post precisely how that can be done USING THE KEYPAD ON YOUR TELEPHONE (each change - and it's unlikely more than one will be required when the next change comes - will require about 11 key presses). There is no need to have Windows or Excel.

I'd suggest you just reset the time on your Orchid using the procedure shown HERE.

fat-pudding

Heinz wrote: »

The panic about pig flu probably means that your partner joined the multitude of people trying to get through to 0845 46 47 and that's more likely to have been the problem.

Thanks Heinz for answering all that :beer: very much appreciated, I've now reset the clock (i hope!). Only thing is dialling 0845 46 47 gives me a recorded female voice saying "the number you are trying to dial is incorrect please check the length of the number you are trying to dial and try again, please enter the number you would like to dial and finish by pressing the hash button" dialling 1280 0845 46 47 to override whatever routing is being applied and it works?

Heinz

fat-pudding wrote: »

Only thing is dialling 0845 46 47 gives me a recorded female voice saying "the number you are trying to dial is incorrect please check the length of the number you are trying to dial and try again, please enter the number you would like to dial and finish by pressing the hash button" dialling 1280 0845 46 47 to override whatever routing is being applied and it works?

That NHS Direct number (which prevents the use of 9999 - or is it 99999? - other numbers for the sake of making it uniquely short instead of just numerically memorable - as 0845 46 47 48 would have been) can be a pain with call routers (as you've found out). Your use of the 1280 prefix has sent the call via BT instead of via 18185. Apart from the more expensive connection charge, the cost is the same in the evening (½p per minute).

Old_Git

I have an old V4 dialer that I used for a while before getting the ranger phones .I now want to use the dialer but haven't a clue what it is programed for .
How do I go about resetting everything .

Heinz

I'd suggest you phone Orchid (01572 717888) and give them the unit's serial number. Toby or Maggie will then send you an Excel file showing you what the current program is.

That'll be easier than starting from scratch.

However, if you're really determined:

To clear the entire Carrier Code table enter the following code:
** # 0000 * 2222 * 6 and

To clear the Routing Code table enter the following code:
** # 0000 * 1111 * 6

Speedee

Heinz, I wonder if you can give me some help?

One of my V4+'s isn't working right - I haven't had it that long, and don't use it on this phone extension much so didn't spot the mis-route until last week. (I put the phone down quick and used 121....... to phone who I wanted!!).

Instead of going through BT in the evenings for a 01' number I get the 0p per minute voice. (I'm on BT Evenings and weekends). To sort this I'm not sure whether to use Kevin's latest program or not (is it exactly the same as the Heinz Program that should be in my V4+'s.).

I have tried setting the clock a few times, but it still tried to go through 18185 in the evening for a 01 call.

What would you try first?

Thanks, Speedee

Heinz

It's got to be the clock because 'the program' routes weekday evening UK 01/02/03 calls through the default carrier (i.e. it inserts no prefix).

The only time (pardon the pun) I had such a problem was when I mistakenly inserted a # instead of a * as the 8th character when updating the clock.

** # 0 0 0 0 * hh mm DOW dd mm yy *2

Could that be the problem?

Speedee

Heinz wrote: »

It's got to be the clock because 'the program' routes weekday evening UK 01/02/03 calls through the default carrier (i.e. it inserts no prefix).

The only time (pardon the pun) I had such a problem was when I mistakenly inserted a # instead of a * as the 8th character when updating the clock.

** # 0 0 0 0 * hh mm DOW dd mm yy *2

Could that be the problem?

Thanks for the reply, Heinz.

I did suspect my time setting! but I have done it 3 times, that's why I wondered what is best to try next. I wondered if the program in this one was part corrupted or had another fault?

I haven't studied Kevin's spreadsheet, but I think there may be a "set the time button only"?

I will have another go at manual setting and if it still doesn't work right check Kevin's spreadsheet - I'll let you know how I get on!

Thanks, Speedee

Lplates

It’s not explicitly a ‘set the time only’ button, but there is provision for sending just one cell from the spreadsheet to the dialer.

Assuming you have version 1.4 of Kevin’s work, it’s cell D33 that contains the string which sets day, date and time. Press F9 to update the cell contents, then click on ‘dial single table entry’. This should put the dialer clock back on track.

I hope this will help you.