Test Tone

The Cisco Unified IP Phone supports a test tone, which allows you to troubleshoot echo on a call as well as to test low volume levels. To use a test tone, you must:

• Enable the tone generator
  
• Create a test tone
  

Enable Tone Generator

To enable the tone generator, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Verify that the phone is unlocked.

When options are inaccessible for modification, a locked padlock icon appears on the configuration menus. When options are unlocked and accessible for modification, an unlocked padlock icon appears on these menus.

To unlock or lock options on the Settings menu, press **# on the phone keypad. This action either locks or unlocks the options, depending on the previous state.

Note If a Settings Menu password has been provisioned, SIP phones present an “Enter password” prompt after you enter **#.  

Caution Make sure to lock options after you have made your changes. Do not press **#** to unlock options and then immediately press **#** again to lock options. The phone will interpret this sequence as **#**, which will reset the phone. To lock options after unlocking them, wait at least 10 seconds before you press **# again.  

Step 2

While offhook, press Help twice to invoke the Call Statistics screen, or press Settings > Status > Call Statistics to invoke the Call Statistics screen.

Step 3

Look for the Tone softkey.

When the Tone softkey is visible, the softkey remains enabled for as long as this Cisco Unified IP phone is registered with Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

Step 4

If the Tone softkey is present, proceed to Create Test Tone, see below.

Step 5

If the Tone softkey is not present, exit the Call Statistics screen and enter the Setting Menu.

Step 6

Press **3 on the phone keypad to enable (toggle) the Tone softkey. If you press **# **3 consecutively, with no pause, you will inadvertently reset the phone because of the **#** sequence. Note

Step 7

While offhook, press the Help button twice to invoke the Call Statistics screen, or press Settings > Status > Call Statistics to invoke the Call Statistics screen.

Step 8 Verify that the Tone softkey is present.

When the Tone softkey is visible, the softkey remains enabled for as long as this Cisco Unified IP Phone is registered with Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

Create Test Tone

Note When measuring echo, make sure you first set the input and output levels to 0 dB gain/attenuation on the trunk. This is set for the gateway (in Cisco Unified Communications Manager for MGCP) or under IOS CLI for H.323 or SIP.  

To create a test tone, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Place a call.

Step 2

After the call is established, press Help twice, or press Settings > Status > Call Statistics. The Call Statistics screen and Tone softkey should appear.

Step 3 Press Tone.

The phone generates a 1004 Hz tone at -15 dBm.

• For a good network connection, the tone sounds at the call destination only.
  
• For a bad network connection, the phone generating the tone may receive echo from the destination phone.
  

Step 4 To stop the tone, end the call. For information on interpreting the results of test tone for volume and echo, see Echo Analysis for Voice over IP.