TAP Gateway numbers

[Graham1234]

I have a home alarm with a modem that dials a Vodafone TAP gateway number which forwards SMS messages to my mobile phone.

Its stopped working, the alarm and modem are working and has been checked out by the alarm company.  I've tried another TAP providor, same problem and their systems are working and checked out.  I've tried 3 different mobile phone providers to rule out the mobile network, same problem.

The TAP providor numbers are  09018600011  and  07785499993

Is Virgin Media blocking these numbers in some way?

[Akua_A]

Hi @Graham1234.

Welcome to our community forums and thank you for your first posts.

Sorry to hear you are having issues with your TAP gateway numbers. We can understand the inconvenience caused and we want to best help. Just to confirm, when did this issue first occur? Do you only get this when the texts are set to be sent to your VM sim? Have you also been in touch with the manufacturer of the home alarm regarding this?

Thanks,

[Graham1234]

Hi Akua,  thanks for the response.

As the alarm does not operate very often, I can only say it stopped working during the last 6 months.   My mobile phone is on Virgin Mobile but to rule that out I have tried using mobile phones on Vodafone and Sky (02) networks.

I'll try and keep this story brief, the alarm company has investigated the alarm and its modem, it all seems to be working, the modem dials out on my landline and connects but after 60 seconds of handshake - tones, beeps and static,- the "SMS Fail" message appears on the alarm and I don't receive an SMS on my mobile.

The TAP gateway company says it can't see my phone number in its logs, so it hasn't received anything from the alarm, otherwise they have thousands of happy customers and no other faults being reported.

As both ends of the connection can't find a fault we thought we would try the technology in between, the VM land line, hence my question about those 2 phone numbers and is VM not passing the data up the line to the TAP gateway?

Thanks

Graham

[goslow]

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@Graham1234 wrote:

Hi Akua,  thanks for the response.

<snip>

I'll try and keep this story brief, the alarm company has investigated the alarm and its modem, it all seems to be working, the modem dials out on my landline and connects but after 60 seconds of handshake - tones, beeps and static,- the "SMS Fail" message appears on the alarm and I don't receive an SMS on my mobile.

<snip>

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Are you on a 21CV connection or a traditional phone socket on the wall for your VM phone services? May not be relevant but a topic at the start of the year (message #3 below)

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/Faxing/m-p/4950804

mentions possible issues with fax machines trying to communicate over 21CV connections.

Perhaps a similar kind of issue might be affecting the communication of an alarm system transmitting its data across a 21CV line if you are on one.

Edit: There is also an article about this on the tapgateway website

https://www.tapgateway.co.uk/what-type-of-phone-line-should-be-used-with-my-opentap-compatible-devic...

09 is a premium rate number and this can be blocked by a chargeable add-on feature to your line from VM, which also includes anonymous caller rejection. Could you have had an 09 premium call block added on your line via some means? (I would imagine though if the 09 number is not functioning the 07 is a backup alternative).

[Graham1234]

Thank you goslow,

I'm still on the traditional phone socket and totally agree it won't work over one of the new digital lines, come 2025 when the PSTN network gets switched off I'll have to find an alternative.  I say I'm on a standard analogue line but .. I was wondering if VM has changed something this summer and maybe the line I have is not what it was ...

I also note that interesting article on sharing the line with fibre and broadband which of course is what I'm doing.  It certainly does look like a corruption or loss of the data in transmission.

As far I can tell there is no block on the 09 numbers, VM charge me every time it dials !

At the end of the day it worked for 8 years and now it doesn't so something has changed, having swapped components on the alarm and had it checked out with no fault found I'm was hoping someone from VM would come forward and say 'oh yeah we did some upgrades this summer and there might be a problem sending data now'.   At least I would know why it doesn't work anymore.

Tech support at the alarm company and the gateway supplier are intrigued as well !

Thanks for your interest.

[Tom_W1]

Hi @Graham1234 thanks for your reply here.
This is a strange one, everything does appear fine on our side but have you tried a different handset perhaps or alarm device (have the company tried replacing this), to see if this helps resolve the issue?

Many thanks

[Graham1234]

Hi Tom,

Telephone handset is working fine and the alarm hardware has been replaced, reconfigured, and a new modem fitted as well just for good measure.  You can give it any number you like and it dials it and connects fine.   But give it the TAP gateway number and it dials, connects, then you hear the usual handshake, tones, shushing, static etc  (by listening in on the handset)  60 seconds later "SMS failed".

It does the handshake as far as we can tell but the data just doesn't get passed down the line ...

Its got everyone puzzled ... 

[goslow]

What have TAP gateway said about how/when their logs actually record a call as having happened? Do their logs record a call simply based on receiving an incoming call to their number or do they only log a call if data is successfully exchanged between the alarm system and the TAP Gateway equipment? i.e. do you think is it the telephone call connection part that is not happening or the data exchange bit that is not happening even though the call has connected?

[Graham1234]

Hi,

The gateway people say they are not receiving messages from the modem but aren't clear as to whether the call is being received, connected etc.  Whether they don't have this information available or the log doesn't keep it I don't know.

I know from listening in on the call I can hear all the handshake noises which I assume are coming from the gateway equipment saying 'hello who are you"

Its seems either the modem isn't sending the response/data or the line isn't carrying it.  With the alarm people adamant its correct (and it was working) for now it remains a mystery.

For the time being I set the modem to call my mobile phone, at least I know its trying to contact me, just not why ...

[Tom_W1]

Hi @Graham1234 thanks a lot for your reply.

This is a very strange one - we have exhausted our checks here and everything is connecting as it should be from our side.

I'm very sorry for the lack of further help offered here but we do firmly believe this is an issue with the third party device you've been referring to. 

The calls are connecting from our side, but we will keep this thread open in case anyone here is able to offer any further help to you.

Many thanks