asterisk users - Jul 2004 - Dial out problems with Digium TDM400P card.

I recently purchased a Asterisk Developer's Kit (TDM) and now have it 
outfitted with 2 FXO modules and
2 FXS modules. I'm not using the X100P modem card that came with the kit.
I'm having problems with dialing out on my POTS line.
Successful dial out is intermittent. About 50% of the time the call goes 
through.
The other 50% it is dialing the wrong number. ( I can hear the error 
message from the phone company)
If I dial 98531212 asterisk reports it is dialing 8531212 but I think it 
is really dialing 531212, sometimes.
It is random with maybe 2 or 3 successful calls followed by 2 or 3 
unsuccessful calls.

Part of extensions.conf :
exten => _9NXXXXXX,1,Dial(Zap/1/${EXTEN:1})
exten => _9NXXXXXX,2,Congestion

 
 
Output of asterisk :    -- Starting simple switch on 'Zap/3-1'
   -- Executing Dial("Zap/3-1", "Zap/1/8531212") in new
stack
   -- Called 1/8531212
   -- Zap/1-1 answered Zap/3-1
   -- Attempting native bridge of Zap/3-1 and Zap/1-1
   -- Hungup 'Zap/1-1'
 == Spawn extension (default, 98531212, 1) exited non-zero on 'Zap/3-1'
   -- Hungup 'Zap/3-1'

This is on Redhat 9 with a new asterisk cvs as of today.

On Tue, Jul 27, 2004 at 03:27:40PM -0700, Malcolm Bader
wrote:
> I recently purchased a Asterisk Developer's Kit (TDM) and now have it 
> outfitted with 2 FXO modules and
> 2 FXS modules. I'm not using the X100P modem card that came with the
kit.
> I'm having problems with dialing out on my POTS line.
> Successful dial out is intermittent. About 50% of the time the call goes 
> through.
> The other 50% it is dialing the wrong number. ( I can hear the error 
> message from the phone company)
> If I dial 98531212 asterisk reports it is dialing 8531212 but I think it 
> is really dialing 531212, sometimes.
> It is random with maybe 2 or 3 successful calls followed by 2 or 3 
> unsuccessful calls.
> 
> Part of extensions.conf :
> exten => _9NXXXXXX,1,Dial(Zap/1/${EXTEN:1})
> exten => _9NXXXXXX,2,Congestion
> 
> 
I just finished resolving this exact issue with my setup. There appears to be a
timing issue with the TDM400 cards and the zaptel drivers such that the first
digit doesn't always go through properly.

The solution is to add a wait command in the dial string prior to dialing the
number. You will notice the w entry prior to the ${EXTEN).

exten => _9NXXXXXX,1,Dial(Zap/1/w${EXTEN:1})
exten => _9NXXXXXX,2,Congestion

This has worked 100% for us. Not a single call has been misdialed in the last
week since this was implemented.

Cheers
Scott Petersen
Xavier Solutions Inc.
scott (at) xaviersolutions.com