asterisk users - Sep 2004 - Answer confirmation on non-Zap channels?

I was looking at the sample "follow me" config
(http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+Tips+follow+me
<http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+Tips+follow+me> ) which uses a
dial modifier 'c' to enable Answer confirmation - "If the letter c
follows, then "Answer Confirmation" is requested, in which the call is
not considered answered until the called user presses #. "
(http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+ZAP+channels
<http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+ZAP+channels> ).  I would like
to get this feature working on non-Zap channels such as IAX2 or SIP.  My
need is exactly as the "follow me" example describes: Ring my desk, if
no answer ring my cell and if no answer revert back to * for VM...Answer
confirmation seems to achieve my goal of not letting calls end up in my
cell phone VM by requiring a '#' keypress from the called user (me on my
cell) to consider the call answered....My other thought is to time how
long it takes for an unanswered call to end up in my cell VM and limit *
to dialing the cell for n-3 seconds or something similar to avoid ever
hitting the cell VM...problem is, if I'm out of coverage or if the phone
is turned off, the cell will answer the call immediately...
 
If this is not implemented in other channels, can anyone recommend
either an alternative solution or a starting point for implementing it
in the code of other channels?
 
 
 
 
Thanks,
 
 
Marty Mastera
M3 Resources
marty@m3resources.com
Phone: 303.680.1283 x200
FAX:    303.680.1283
IAXTel: 700.206.7507
FWD:   484162
 
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Hi Marty

I think this is a valuable add-on to my feature request to play audio 
until # is pressed - see 
http://bugs.digium.com/bug_view_page.php?bug_id=0002356

At the moment just hearing silence is not very helpful to users.  
Perhaps we can extend this feature to

a) provide this support on multiple channels.  I think this may mean 
moving it out of chan_zap.c and putting it into app_dial.c to make it 
more generic.
b) Provide the ability to playback multiple files or messages to the 
called party whilst waiting for answer.  e.g.
Background(you have a call from)
SayDigits(${CALLERIDNUM}}
Background(press # to accept, * to deflect to voicemail, or hang up to 
ignore...}

and only send answerback to the called party when the call is finally 
accepted by pressing the # key.

Anyone else got any suggestions - or inclination to code this?!

Thanks
Tim

Marty Mastera wrote:
> I was looking at the sample "follow me" config 
> (http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+Tips+follow+me) which uses a 
> dial modifier 'c' to enable Answer confirmation - "If the
letter /c/
> follows, then "Answer Confirmation" is requested, in which the
call is
> not considered answered until the /called/ user presses *#*. " 
> (http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+ZAP+channels).  I would like 
> to get this feature working on non-Zap channels such as IAX2 or SIP.  
> My need is exactly as the "follow me" example describes: Ring my 
> desk, if no answer ring my cell and if no answer revert back to * for 
> VM...Answer confirmation seems to achieve my goal of not letting calls 
> end up in my cell phone VM by requiring a '#' keypress from the
called
> user (me on my cell) to consider the call answered....My other thought 
> is to time how long it takes for an unanswered call to end up in my 
> cell VM and limit * to dialing the cell for n-3 seconds or something 
> similar to avoid ever hitting the cell VM...problem is, if I'm out of 
> coverage or if the phone is turned off, the cell will answer the call 
> immediately...
>  
> If this is not implemented in other channels, can anyone recommend 
> either an alternative solution or a starting point for implementing it 
> in the code of other channels?
>

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com 
> [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of 
> Tim Robinson
> Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 1:39 AM
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Answer confirmation on non-Zap channels?
> 
> Hi Marty
> 
> I think this is a valuable add-on to my feature request to 
> play audio until # is pressed - see
> http://bugs.digium.com/bug_view_page.php?bug_id=0002356
> 
> At the moment just hearing silence is not very helpful to users.  
> Perhaps we can extend this feature to
> 
> a) provide this support on multiple channels.  I think this 
> may mean moving it out of chan_zap.c and putting it into 
> app_dial.c to make it more generic.
> b) Provide the ability to playback multiple files or messages 
> to the called party whilst waiting for answer.  e.g.
> Background(you have a call from)
> SayDigits(${CALLERIDNUM}}
> Background(press # to accept, * to deflect to voicemail, or 
> hang up to ignore...}
> 
> and only send answerback to the called party when the call is 
> finally accepted by pressing the # key.
> 
> Anyone else got any suggestions - or inclination to code this?!
> 
> Thanks
> Tim

Hey Tim,

I wholeheartedly endorse the idea of making this more generic and not
channel specific...as to your ideas, I would be happy with having to
press '#' to indicate "acceptance" of the call, even if there
is only
silence on the other end.  On the other hand, I like your ideas of
announcing the call, verbalizing the callerid digits and presenting a
menu to answer or deflect, etc...that would be icing and very cool...

I'm happy to contribute on this topic where possible...I'm not a coder
but I'm willing to take the effort to learn whatever will make me useful
towards this goal...

Marty