Hi, I was just wondering if anyone knows how predictive dialers detect voicemail and answering machines, and if they could explain to me how that works. Thanks! Brian.
Golly, are you thinking about building a predictive dialer with Asterisk? Detecting voicemail and answering machines over 50% of the time is pretty darn tough, and the way that several commercial churn-dialing systems do it is to detect silence or other typical audio patterns (like clicks or quite static) by analyzeing tiny samples(recordings) of the first couple seconds of the phone call(this is one of the reasons we usually hear a couple-second-long quiet pause before a telemarketer comes on the line). This kind of signal processing is very processor intensive for a predictive dialer system and usually occurs through a dedicated DSP on the board(like on a Dialog board) like the kind that us Asterisk users don't have to work with. This makes TRUE predictive dialing on a large scale(more than 6 agents per server) very difficult on an Asterisk system(many say GOOD to this). There are a couple dialer projects going on right now with Asterisk that have released code: - Shady-dial (http://shadydial.sourceforge.net/) Lead by some nice Europeans, they have a beta of it up and running supposedly handling up to 10 agents per server, although I'm not sure of exactly what level of 'Predictive' the dialer is(whether it detects voicemail/answering machines and such). This dialer alters the code of Asterisk and is dependant upon PostgreSQL as a database backend. There is some documentation on installation and usage and it is released mostly under the GPL. This dialer does not restrict what kind of phones you can use with it(I'd love to hear more from them or people using this system on the specifics of their project) - VICIDIAL (http://astguiclient.sf.net/) Lead by my company, we are currently developing our 6th production release of a one-call-at-a-time dialer(this is NOT predictive). We have placed over one million calls through this system in the last 12 months mostly to the UK and Australia. It has complete installation instructions, full web-based administration as well as a cross-platform GUI client. It is mostly written in perl, runs on top of an unaltered Asterisk codebase, is dependant on a MySQL as it's backend database and is released under the GPL. If you use this you are limited to SIP clients and Zaptel channels. There are currently 6 companies that are using this system in production envoronments that I know about.(I'd love to hear from other companies using this system too.) MATT--- -----Original Message----- From: Brian Jones [mailto:bjlist@websonix.ca] Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 2:29 PM To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers Hi, I was just wondering if anyone knows how predictive dialers detect voicemail and answering machines, and if they could explain to me how that works. Thanks! Brian. _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Hello, Thanks for the long description, Sorry about the European guess, my last contact involving shady-dial was with someone in France using it with about 10 agents who seemed to know a heck of a lot about it. :) As for VICIDIAL being turnkey, the VICIDIAL portion of the astguiclient suite is still at version 0.5(working on 0.6 as we speak), but it is production quality, and is actually pretty close to where a non-Asterisk person could realisticly be expected to run it day-to-day. The one small thing that it is missing is a GUI lead loading module. we had a simple web-based one included in an early version but one of our clients managed to load one list in the wrong formats several times, and it took us half the day to straighten it out, so we just removed the feature and take the 5 minutes a week to load the leads for him(he's a really small operation so it doesn't take long, other than that, we are hands off on that system). We will eventually make the lead-loader a separate GUI app that will be very stupid-proof. The major things we are working on right now for VICIDIAL are adding yet more stats to the administration website and changing the way the leads are organized and distributed to the agents to speed the system up and allow for more features in future versions. We are also tinkering with some limited predictive-dialing(allowing an auto-dialer to call more than one line per agent and then allocating the calls that aren't busy, disconnected or telco-voicemail[UK-only] to the first available agent) but that is still in the testing phases and we aren't sure of the agent capacity with that feature enabled. Speaking of capacity, we have had up to 36 agents dialing on a single system(with a total of 70 agents dialing on a single campaign across 3 Asterisk servers using a single MySQL server for the database) using the currently released VICIDIAL code, and in our internal offices we are averaging about 200,000+ calls placed per month. VICIDIAL is limited to SIP client phones with Zaptel as the outgoing channels, while we do not plan on offering any other protocols, it may be possible to alter the code to fit other protocols if you have the time. VICIDIAL is also completely dependant upon the GUI client written in perl/TK to function. The GUI client runs on Win32 and Xwindows UNIX and is used to control calls, display lead information, start and stop recording, park and retrieve calls, do thrid party conference or transfers and launch custom web pages. If you or anyone else has any more questions, let me know. Thanks, MATT--- -----Original Message----- From: C. Maj [mailto:cmaj-SPAM@freedomcorpse.com] Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 7:23 PM To: 'asterisk-users@lists.digium.com' Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers On Fri, 9 Jul 2004, mattf waxed:> - Shady-dial (http://shadydial.sourceforge.net/) > Lead by some nice Europeans, they have a beta of it up and running > supposedly handling up to 10 agents per server, although I'm not sure of > exactly what level of 'Predictive' the dialer is(whether it detects > voicemail/answering machines and such). This dialer alters the code of > Asterisk and is dependant upon PostgreSQL as a database backend. There is > some documentation on installation and usage and it is released mostlyunder> the GPL. This dialer does not restrict what kind of phones you can usewith> it(I'd love to hear more from them or people using this system on the > specifics of their project)Damn, I wish I was European some days ! Stupid Bush. But alas, I am an imperialist American, whose lowly shady dial is really the bare bones of predictive dialers. I have been customizing the system for a client, however, and can't decide yet how much should go back into the project CVS. Of course, any changes to the * code base will always be there; specifically these are changes to allow phone key results to PostgreSQL. I think the rest have been incorporated thru the bug tracker by now as they were generic enough to be useful by others. The changes outside CVS are many, including reporting, book management, and utilizing 2 line LCD displays for name and address information. The code is all still written in Tcl. But while the core dialing routines will be updated in CVS, it's very much customized for this client's particular needs in other areas, so I'm not sure all of that code will make it back in. However, I am planning to fork off my *-Tcl manager interface in the very near future, since it's functional enough to be useful in other projects of mine. That will probably be released under a BSDish license soon. There is no capacity yet for answering machine detection, and frankly, none is planned. The predictive nature is simply counting the agents, counting the calls (busy, no answer, timeout, etc.), timing the calls, and making sure the abandon rate doesn't get too high. Currently, the only known system that I'm aware of has been running 12 hours a day for the past few months with 6 agents. I am rolling out another one next month of the same size for the same client. Connections between the dialer(s) and the main switch is over IAX, but the agents use analog phones so those are Zaptel channels. You could probably use any connection you want, tho. It's pretty much hands off at this point, except when someone gets upset by my music on hold selection. (I personally think that Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass rule.) For something similar to shady dial, take a look at this: http://www.predictivedialers.com/products/index.html> - VICIDIAL (http://astguiclient.sf.net/) > Lead by my company, we are currently developing our 6th production > release of a one-call-at-a-time dialer(this is NOT predictive). We have > placed over one million calls through this system in the last 12 months > mostly to the UK and Australia. It has complete installation instructions, > full web-based administration as well as a cross-platform GUI client. Itis> mostly written in perl, runs on top of an unaltered Asterisk codebase, is > dependant on a MySQL as it's backend database and is released under theGPL.> If you use this you are limited to SIP clients and Zaptel channels. There > are currently 6 companies that are using this system in production > envoronments that I know about.(I'd love to hear from other companiesusing Matt-- Is VICIDIAL a turn key system ? Shady dial is getting closer, but still not there yet. I mean, I can't ship somebody a big brown box with instructions and have that be it. --Chris -- Chris Maj, Rochester cmaj_at_freedomcorpse_dot_com Pronunciation Guide: Maj == May _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Guys. Anybody know of any predictive dialers for Asterisk and Windows?
What exactly are you looking for? There are basically 3 commercial solutions: Aheeva, DACX and Sinedialer and there are 2 open-source solutions: ShadyDial and VICIDIAL What features do you need that are not addressed by one of these? MATT--- -----Original Message----- From: Anton Krall [mailto:akrall-lists@intruder.com.mx] Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 1:09 PM To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers I took a look but was wondering if there are any other options out there? |-----Original Message----- |From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com |[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of |Nuno Viegas |Sent: Mi?rcoles, 11 de Mayo de 2005 04:27 a.m. |To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' |Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers | |Hi Anton, | |Start by having a look at this: | | http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Predictive+dialer | |N | |-----Original Message----- |From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com |[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of |Anton Krall |Sent: 11 May 2005 10:19 |To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' |Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers | |Guys. | |Anybody know of any predictive dialers for Asterisk and Windows? | |_______________________________________________ |Asterisk-Users mailing list |Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com |http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: | http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users | |_______________________________________________ |Asterisk-Users mailing list |Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com |http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: | http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users | | _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Francois Lambert COO Atelka Inc. Tel.?: 514-448-4905 #2200 Cel.?: 514-570-4797 -----Original Message----- From: Francois Lambert [mailto:francois.lambert@atelka.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 3:32 PM To: 'asterisk-users@lists.digium.com' Cc: 'akrall-lists@intruder.com.mx' Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers Hi Anton, We have developed a complete CTI suite for Asterisk that includes a predictive Dialer. We are supporting 4 modes of dialing, Predictive, Progressive, Preview and Broadcast as well as full digital recording Have a look at our web site (www.aheeva.com) or send me an email to get more information Francois Lambert COO Atelka Inc. Tel.?: 514-448-4905 #2200 Cel.?: 514-570-4797
Could you let us know what you would consider a 'friendlier user interface'? MATT--- -----Original Message----- From: Anton Krall [mailto:akrall-lists@intruder.com.mx] Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 4:26 PM To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers I like vicidial's features but Im looking for a friendlier user interface.. |-----Original Message----- |From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com |[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of mattf |Sent: Mi?rcoles, 11 de Mayo de 2005 01:22 p.m. |To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' |Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers | |What exactly are you looking for? | |There are basically 3 commercial solutions: Aheeva, DACX and |Sinedialer and there are 2 open-source solutions: ShadyDial |and VICIDIAL | |What features do you need that are not addressed by one of these? | |MATT--- | | |-----Original Message----- |From: Anton Krall [mailto:akrall-lists@intruder.com.mx] |Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 1:09 PM |To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' |Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers | | |I took a look but was wondering if there are any other options |out there? | ||-----Original Message----- ||From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com ||[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Nuno ||Viegas ||Sent: Mi?rcoles, 11 de Mayo de 2005 04:27 a.m. ||To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' ||Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers || ||Hi Anton, || ||Start by having a look at this: || || http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Predictive+dialer || ||N || ||-----Original Message----- ||From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com ||[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Anton ||Krall ||Sent: 11 May 2005 10:19 ||To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' ||Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers || ||Guys. || ||Anybody know of any predictive dialers for Asterisk and Windows? || ||_______________________________________________ ||Asterisk-Users mailing list ||Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com ||http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users ||To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: || http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users || ||_______________________________________________ ||Asterisk-Users mailing list ||Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com ||http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users ||To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: || http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users || || | |_______________________________________________ |Asterisk-Users mailing list |Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com |http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: | http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |_______________________________________________ |Asterisk-Users mailing list |Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com |http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: | http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users | | _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Thanks for the suggestion, we are planning a complete overhaul of the user interface later this summer. We definitely want to add more color and buttons and make it look less like a depressing grey utility box. MATT--- -----Original Message----- From: Anton Krall [mailto:akrall-lists@intruder.com.mx] Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 10:27 PM To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers For example, vicidial has great features but the screenshoots for windows show too much info on the screen for end users to learn to like.. The screen is more admin oriented. End users would want more buttons, etc.. For example, take a look at Altigen.com interfaces.. Very end user oriented.. But Im looking for something open source or more accesible. |-----Original Message----- |From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com |[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of mattf |Sent: Mi?rcoles, 11 de Mayo de 2005 03:53 p.m. |To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' |Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers | |Could you let us know what you would consider a 'friendlier |user interface'? | |MATT--- | |-----Original Message----- |From: Anton Krall [mailto:akrall-lists@intruder.com.mx] |Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 4:26 PM |To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' |Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers | | |I like vicidial's features but Im looking for a friendlier |user interface.. | ||-----Original Message----- ||From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com ||[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of mattf ||Sent: Mi?rcoles, 11 de Mayo de 2005 01:22 p.m. ||To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' ||Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers || ||What exactly are you looking for? || ||There are basically 3 commercial solutions: Aheeva, DACX and |Sinedialer ||and there are 2 open-source solutions: ShadyDial and VICIDIAL || ||What features do you need that are not addressed by one of these? || ||MATT--- || || ||-----Original Message----- ||From: Anton Krall [mailto:akrall-lists@intruder.com.mx] ||Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 1:09 PM ||To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' ||Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers || || ||I took a look but was wondering if there are any other options out ||there? || |||-----Original Message----- |||From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com |||[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Nuno |||Viegas |||Sent: Mi?rcoles, 11 de Mayo de 2005 04:27 a.m. |||To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' |||Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers ||| |||Hi Anton, ||| |||Start by having a look at this: ||| ||| http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Predictive+dialer ||| |||N ||| |||-----Original Message----- |||From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com |||[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Anton |||Krall |||Sent: 11 May 2005 10:19 |||To: 'Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion' |||Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Predictive Dialers ||| |||Guys. ||| |||Anybody know of any predictive dialers for Asterisk and Windows? ||| |||_______________________________________________ |||Asterisk-Users mailing list |||Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com |||http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |||To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: ||| http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users ||| |||_______________________________________________ |||Asterisk-Users mailing list |||Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com |||http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |||To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: ||| http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users ||| ||| || ||_______________________________________________ ||Asterisk-Users mailing list ||Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com ||http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users ||To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: || http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users ||_______________________________________________ ||Asterisk-Users mailing list ||Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com ||http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users ||To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: || http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users || || | |_______________________________________________ |Asterisk-Users mailing list |Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com |http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: | http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |_______________________________________________ |Asterisk-Users mailing list |Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com |http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users |To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: | http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users | | _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users