asterisk users - Feb 2005 - Advanced FollowMe or Forwarding Application Suggestions

Our company is at the point now where we're almost ready to switch over to
an Asterisk server for a number of telephony applications.

There is one final application I've been trying hard to find to replace
something we already use with another provider. It's kind of an advanced
"FollowMe" application. (freedomvoice.com)

It works as follows:

1. An outside caller calls into an 800/DID#, gets an auto-attendant
requesting an extension number.
2. Caller dials extension, gets put on hold ("please wait while I try that
extension")
3. PBX dials first number from a list for that extension
4. If answered, PBX announces caller and callerid, asks for a DTMF response
5. response can be to connect with caller, go to voice mail, go to next
number in list
5a. if called party requests connection, caller and called party are
connected.
6. if no answer from #3, goes to next number on list, if no more #'s in
list, then to voice mail


What I was wondering is if there is already something like this available,
or if it would be possible to create/simulate something like that using
existing applications and/or extensions.

I know there is a "press # to connect" option for ZAP channels for the
Dial command, but this would not work as we are using IP phones.

I've been playing with MeetMe, call parking, the
var/spool/asterisk/outgoing outdial function, etc. but am having a hard
time figuring out how to get the above application to work.

I'm happy to embark on writing an application or script that does that,
but if there is an existing solution, or some way to do it without writing
a custom application, I'd rather find out sooner than later.

Any suggestions from the experts would be greatly appreciated.


Kevin LaFata
HighOrbit Corporation
www.highorbit.com

Kevin,

My company, Integrics Ltd, does Asterisk consultancy. We can develop, 
install, and support such an application if you like.

For the lists of extensions for each DID, this can be in the Asterisk 
extensions.conf, or an external database. The valid responses from the 
called party could also be configurable per user. A popular option for 
this sort of application is to ask the caller to record their name, 
which is played to the called party along with their callerid. We can do 
this as well. We're also open to adding whatever other features you like.

If you're interested, contact me off list, and we can discuss 
requirements and costs.

Alistair Cunningham,
Integrics Ltd,
Telephony, Database, Unix consulting worldwide
+44 (0)7870 699 479
http://integrics.com/


Kevin LaFata wrote:
> Our company is at the point now where we're almost ready to switch over
to
> an Asterisk server for a number of telephony applications.
> 
> There is one final application I've been trying hard to find to replace
> something we already use with another provider. It's kind of an
advanced
> "FollowMe" application. (freedomvoice.com)
> 
> It works as follows:
> 
> 1. An outside caller calls into an 800/DID#, gets an auto-attendant
> requesting an extension number.
> 2. Caller dials extension, gets put on hold ("please wait while I try
that
> extension")
> 3. PBX dials first number from a list for that extension
> 4. If answered, PBX announces caller and callerid, asks for a DTMF response
> 5. response can be to connect with caller, go to voice mail, go to next
> number in list
> 5a. if called party requests connection, caller and called party are
> connected.
> 6. if no answer from #3, goes to next number on list, if no more #'s in
> list, then to voice mail
> 
> 
> What I was wondering is if there is already something like this available,
> or if it would be possible to create/simulate something like that using
> existing applications and/or extensions.
> 
> I know there is a "press # to connect" option for ZAP channels
for the
> Dial command, but this would not work as we are using IP phones.
> 
> I've been playing with MeetMe, call parking, the
> var/spool/asterisk/outgoing outdial function, etc. but am having a hard
> time figuring out how to get the above application to work.
> 
> I'm happy to embark on writing an application or script that does that,
> but if there is an existing solution, or some way to do it without writing
> a custom application, I'd rather find out sooner than later.
> 
> Any suggestions from the experts would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> 
> Kevin LaFata
> HighOrbit Corporation
> www.highorbit.com
> 
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> 
>

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 15:23:13 -0600 (CST), Kevin LaFata
<klafata@highorbit.com> wrote:
> There is one final application I've been trying hard to find to replace
> something we already use with another provider. It's kind of an
advanced
> "FollowMe" application. (freedomvoice.com)
> 
> What I was wondering is if there is already something like this available,
> or if it would be possible to create/simulate something like that using
> existing applications and/or extensions.
> 
Kevin,

Well, yes this is already implemented. Only problem is that it's in
the CVS Head version right now and not in stable. I don't know if/when
it will make it to stable.

So you have a couple options... 

A. Run CVS Head (In a production system this is a little risky)
B. Patch stable for the dial arguments. (This is assuming there aren't
many dependencies).
Ba. if you patch stable for this, I would advise talking to anthm
about it. He would probably take some consulting fees for making sure
you are safe to do this.
C. Wait for it to come out in the stable version
D. Hack some kind of funky meetme/call file/AGI/etc to make this work.

If you are interested in what's in HEAD, check out this bug where
anthm put it in.
http://bugs.digium.com/bug_view_page.php?bug_id=0002905

-Chuji