888-778-4241

Support

Report A Problem

Email support issues to:  support@pathwayz.com

 

Contact us by phone at:

In Amarillo – 806-350-9000

In Fort Worth – 817-289-2650

Toll free – 888-778-4241

Support

Pathwayz Communications strives to provide the best overall value for your communications and internet spending. As part of this goal, we subscribe the following set of customer service values – we think you will like them.

  •  You should not have to spend five minutes, much less half an hour, keying numbers into your phone, waiting on hold, or being passed around to multiple departments before finally talking to a person who asks for all the same information again.
  • You should be able to talk to the same person twice. When you talk to someone at Pathwayz, we will give you our name so you can call back and talk to the same person if you have another question.
  • Your provider should not call and interrupt your dinner! Pathwayz Communications does NOT engage in any residential telemarketing.
  • You should be able to contact us via email or written correspondence with confidence that we will receive it and act upon your request.

 

Email support issues to:  support@pathwayz.com

Contact us by phone at:

Amarillo – 806-350-9000

Fort Worth – 817-289-2650

Toll free – 888-778-4241

Support Tools & Links

Calling Features

Call Forwarding

Incoming calls are transferred to another number.

For Analog subscribers:

  • To activate Call Forwarding, dial 72#.
  • After the confirmation stutter dial-tone, dial the number you are forwarding your calls to and hang up (toll charges may apply).
  • To deactivate Call Forwarding, dial 73#. A stutter dial-tone will confirm the Call Forwarding is deactivated.

 

For VoIP subscribers:

  • To activate Call Forwarding, dial *72.
  • After the confirmation high-pitch dial-tone, dial the number you are forwarding your calls to, wait 3-5 seconds for the confirmation tones and stutter dial-tone and then hang up (toll charges may apply).
  • To deactivate Call Forwarding, dial *73 and hang up to deactivate.
    NOTE: stutter dial-tone will be present on the line while activated.

Three-Way Calling

Turn an everyday phone call into a three-way conversation by adding an additional caller to the line.

How It Works:

  • You’re on one call and want to add another call.
  • To put the first call on hold, press the switch hook (or flash button)
    for one second. When you hear a dial tone, dial the third number.
  • To put your Three Way Call into effect, press the switch hook
    (or flash button) for one second.
  • If the third person doesn’t answer, press the switch hook twice to go
    back to the first call.

Call Waiting

Don’t miss important calls because of busy signals. Relax and enjoy calls, knowing Call Waiting will let you know if another caller is trying to reach you.

How It Works:

  • While you’re on a call, a “beep” alerts you that a second call is waiting.
  • To answer the second call, press the switch hook (or flash button).
  • The first call will go on hold.
  • To alternate between calls, press the switch hook (or flash button).
  • To deactivate Call Waiting, before making a call, dial *70.
  • To deactivate Call Waiting during a call, press the switch hook (or flash button). The call will go on hold, then dial *70.

Caller ID Blocking

  • To restrict the display of your name and number on a per-call basis
    (before making your call), dial *67.
  • A stutter dial-tone will confirm that Per Call Block is activated.

Anonymous Call Rejection

With Anonymous Call Rejection (ACR / aka Block the Blocker) you can refuse to
receive calls that are blocked from showing on Caller ID displays.

How It Works:

  • When you activate ACR, blocked callers will hear a message that you don’t accept blocked calls, to hang up, unblock their number and dial again to call you.
  • Once you subscribe to ACR, to activate ACR dial *77
  • To deactivate ACR dial *87
  •  

Repeat Call

Repeat Call eliminates wasted time and frustration dialing busy numbers.

You’re trying to reach someone and the line is busy again and again.

Instead of dialing the number over and over, let Repeat Call do the dialing.

How It Works:

  • Dial *66 to redial the last number you called.
  • When the line becomes free you will hear a special ring. Pick up the
    handset and the number you called will ring.
  • If the called party is not busy, the call will be completed.
  • To cancel Repeat Call, Dial *86. Listen for an announcement
    indicating that you have deactivated Repeat Call.
  • Repeat Call will automatically attempt to place the call for half an hour.
  • If you don’t pick up, the special ring will be repeated every five minutes for
    the remainder of the half hour.
  • You may make and receive calls while Repeat Call is activated.

Remote Access To Call Forwarding

Activate Call Forwarding even when you are not there (toll charges may apply).

To Activate:

After each step you will receive a confirmation stutter dial-tone:

  1. Place a call to the Remote Call Forwarding Access number: 806-350-0099.
  2. Enter your telephone number including the area code (806-XXX-XXXX) followed by the pound sign (#).
  3. Enter your 4-digit security code followed by the pound sign (#).
  4. Dial 72#.
  5. Dial the number you are forwarding your calls to including the area code (806-XXX-XXXX) followed by the pound sign (#).
  6. A stutter dial-tone will confirm that Call Forwarding is activated and you can hang up.

 

To Deactivate:

  1. Place a call to the Remote Call Forwarding Access number: 806-350-0099.
  2. Enter your telephone number including the area code (806-XXX-XXXX) followed by the pound sign (#).
  3. Enter your 4-digit security code followed by the pound sign (#).
  4. Dial 73# and a stutter dial-tone will confirm that Call Forwarding is deactivated and you can hang up.

Caller ID

Know who’s calling before you answer the phone. Caller ID service will display, after the first ring, the name and telephone number of the calling party.

If the display shows number only, the name is not available from the calling area. If you receive a call from an area not offering Caller ID, the display will flash “Out of Area” or “Unknown Number”.

To use Caller ID, you must have a display unit or a display telephone.

Caller ID With Call Waiting

Caller ID with Call Waiting allows you to manage two calls at once.

When you are already on a call, Caller ID with Call Waiting works in conjunction with Caller ID to let you know who the incoming call is from.

You can then choose if you want to answer the second call or stay on the line with the first caller.

You must also be subscribed to Call Waiting to have this service.

How It Works:

  • When you hear the Call Waiting tone you will see the second caller’s name and number on your display.
  • To put the current caller on hold while you answer the new call, briefly press the switch hook or flash button on you phone.
  • You can switch between callers as often as desired.

Return Call

Return Call provides a verbal message indicating the last number that called you including date and time.

How It Works:

  • Dial *69
  • To call that party, press “1”. If the called party is busy, hang up and you
    will hear a special ring when the line becomes available.
  • Lift the receiver and wait for the called party to answer.
  • To cancel Return Call, dial *89. Listen for an announcement indicating that you have deactivated Return Call.
  • Return Call automatically returns the last call received whether answered or not.
  • Return Call will automatically attempt to place the call for half an hour.
  • If you don’t pick up, the special ring will be repeated every five minutes for the remainder of the half hour, provided the line remains free.
  • You may make and receive calls while Return Call is activated.

*PER USE CHARGES MAY APPLY ON SOME FEATURES.

Setup Voicemail

Your telephone line uses the “call forward busy” and/or “call forward no answer” feature(s) to send calls to voice mail while you’re either on the phone or if you’re unable to answer a call.

Follow the steps below to set up and personalize your voicemail box:

  1. Remove answering machine from the line if necessary
  2. Call (806) 350-9400
  3. At the ‘mailbox number’ prompt, enter your 7-digit phone number
  4. At the ‘passcode’ prompt, enter your 4-digit passcode
  5. Press 0 for mailbox options
  6. Press 5 to change your passcode
  7. Enter your own 4-digit passcode followed by the pound (#) sign
  8. Re-enter the same 4-digit passcode for verification followed by the pound (#) sign.
  9. Follow prompts to record your name and messages
  10. Your voicemail box is now ready for use

Check Your Demarc

The Demarc (abbreviation for demarcation point) is the gray box on the outside of your house where the phone line(s) connect to the wiring that is inside the house. When you’re having phone troubles such as no dial-tone, or noises such as static, you can determine where the problem might be coming from yourself by checking your demarc. Checking the demarc yourself will also save time in resolving the problem and may also help to avoid any charges that could apply for having a technician dispatched to your home when the problem is actually caused by something inside the house.

  1. Find the demarc box on the outside of your house (usually in the back yard or on the side of the house), and using a flat tip screwdriver open the cover by loosening the screw on the side of the cover.
  2. With the cover open, you should be able to see the module that connects to the inside wiring from the house.
  3. You can disconnect the inside wiring by unplugging the short phone line from the side of the module. This is also how you “reset” the phone lines (by leaving unplugged for 5 minutes or more).
  4. Connect a standard corded telephone to the phone jack on the module and test the line (by checking for dial-tone and/or listening for noises while making a call) from this point to eliminate any problems that may be caused by the wiring or a malfunctioning device inside the house.

If the problem has cleared up when checked from this point, then the cause may be the wiring inside the house or possibly a malfunctioning phone or device connected to the phone lines such as an alarm system.

demarc setup
demarc setup
demarc setup
demarc setup

Troubleshoot Inside Wiring

Here are some simple steps that you can use to determine if the phone wiring inside your house, or possibly a malfunctioning phone or device such as an alarm system or answering machine is causing your phone problems:

 

  1. Unplug all phones and devices from the phone jacks in the house including alarm systems and answering machines.
  2. Using a regular corded phone, check for clear dial-tone at the demarc to make sure the line is good and that this one phone is functional.
  3. Once good dial-tone has been checked at the demarc, plug the wiring for the house back into the module at the demarc.
  4. Take that same known good corded phone around to every jack in the house to check for dial-tone, one jack at a time (do not plug anything back in to any of the phone jacks inside the house yet).
  5. If you do not have clear dial-tone at any jack in the house with all the phones and devices unplugged, then there is most likely a short in the wiring somewhere inside the house (in the attic or crawl space under the house, a phone cable running along the outside of the house, or maybe an actual phone jack is shorted out), and you will need to contact a qualified wiring technician to repair the problem.
  6. If all the jacks in the house have good dial-tone, then plug each extra phone/device back in to their phone jack, one at a time, and check for dial-tone each time a new phone/device is plugged back in.
  7. If the dial-tone becomes unclear or is gone after plugging in one phone or device, then most likely that phone or device is the cause of the problem.
  8. Unplug the last phone/device that was plugged in, and check for dial-tone again to verify that the phone/device that was just unplugged is the problem.
  1. Find the demarc box on the outside of your house (usually in the back yard or on the side of the house), and using a flat tip screwdriver open the cover by loosening the screw on the side of the cover.
  2. With the cover open, you should be able to see the module that connects to the inside wiring from the house.
  3. You can disconnect the inside wiring by unplugging the short phone line from the side of the module. This is also how you “reset” the phone lines (by leaving unplugged for 5 minutes or more).
  4. Connect a standard corded telephone to the phone jack on the module and test the line (by checking for dial-tone and/or listening for noises while making a call) from this point to eliminate any problems that may be caused by the wiring or a malfunctioning device inside the house.

If the problem has cleared up when checked from this point, then the cause may be the wiring inside the house or possibly a malfunctioning phone or device connected to the phone lines such as an alarm system.

FAQ/Appendix

24 / 7

All of our PRI, Ethernet, T1, and Bonded DSL connections are monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If your connection goes down or has intermittent problems, an alarm notification is automatically sent to our entire technical staff, so that they are aware of the problem the moment it happens. This allows our technicians to be ready to troubleshoot and dispatch out quickly to resolve the issue and maximize your connection’s uptime.

AUTOMATIC PRI FAILOVER

In the event of an ISDN PRI service outage or if all the channels of the PRI are being used, our Automatic PRI Failover option will automatically route incoming calls to a backup phone number (i.e. – an analog phone line or cell phone) or to a backup voicemail box during the outage period. This gives you the ability to correspond with your customers during an outage instead of being completely cut off until service is restored. Once the PRI channels become available again or service is restored, incoming calls are automatically routed back to the PRI.

NETWORK PROTOCOL OVERHEAD

Every network has some degree of normal network overhead, which guarantees that you will never be able to use all of the bandwidth of any connection for data. Take as an example 10 Mbit/s Ethernet. Sure, the line may be able to transmit 10,000,000 bits every second, but not all of those bits are data! Some are used to package and address the data – data can’t just be thrown onto the network in raw form. Also, many of those bits are used for general overhead activities, dealing with collisions on transmissions, and so on. There are natural inefficiencies in any networking technology.

Even beyond this, there are other overhead issues. Any network transaction involves a number of different hardware and software layers, and overhead exists at each of them, from the application and operating system down to the hardware. These overheads mean that you generally lose at least 15% of the “rated” connection speed off the top, and sometimes even more. For example, 8 Mbits/s user data throughput on a regular 10 Mbit/s Ethernet network is actually very good. This reduced speed is what is commonly referred to as “Goodput”.

VOIP QUALITY OF SERVICE

Voice over IP (VoIP) is a real-time protocol which means that if information is lost or delayed it will result in a noticeable drop in call quality or a complete loss of it. Symptoms of network congestion include garbled audio, dropped calls, and echo. With VoIP over the public Internet your voice traffic and regular internet traffic in your office are sharing the same internet connection. No prioritization of voice traffic over regular traffic is being performed and thus there is the high potential that voice quality could be degraded if there is insufficient bandwidth for both voice and regular traffic. Your router could be configured for Quality of Service (QoS) to distinguish between voice traffic and regular internet traffic and give the voice traffic a higher priority, but this only affects the upload traffic. If other users on your network are downloading data this will cause a noticeable drop in call quality, and a QoS enabled router cannot control this.

Our Hosted service is only delivered over our local network, so it never transverses the public Internet. Using a method called Class of Service (CoS) we can prioritize the voice traffic in both upload and download directions to ensure the highest Quality of Service for your phone calls regardless of your Internet usage.

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