asterisk users - Apr 2007 - agents and music on hold with autoanswer..

My colleague left our company, then I have to manage all our phones  
lines and asterisk: please, apologize me because I'm 'absolute  
beginner' about voip/asterisk!!

Well... all seems work fine; we have some queues and some agents; the  
"music on hold" works fine when the agent press the hold button on  
the phone (thomson); the agents have the 'autoanwser' flag on.

BUT if the agent have to go elsewhere for some minutes (coffe break,  
go to piss, and so on..), usually he press the 'hold' button on the  
phone; if a new call arrive, asterisk send the call to the agent's  
phone, since it seems 'free'; but the phone is 'on hold'; and
the
caller don't hear 'anything' (no music, nothing at all) until the  
agent press (of course) again the button (but usually the caller hang  
up since he don't hear anything)

there is a way to send the 'music on hold' to the caller even with  
the asterisk send the call to the phone (autoanswer on) but the  
'hold' button is already pressed?

I have to search/manage the asterisk config or the phone one?

We are using asterisk 1.2.1 with Thomson ST2030.

this is the asterisk log:

(...)
    -- Executing Queue("CAPI/ISDN4/********-ce", "coda_azienda|t|
3600") in new stack
     -- Started music on hold, class 'music', on channel
'CAPI/ISDN4/
******-ce'
     -- agent_call, call to agent '1005' call on
'SIP/barbaran-621c'
     -- Playing 'beep' (language 'it')
     -- Called Agent/1005
     -- Agent/1005 answered CAPI/ISDN4/******-ce

[WARNING: in the truth the Agent is in hold mode now; there is the  
autoanswer on]

     -- Playing 'wsa_from_coda_w' (language 'it')
Apr 11 12:23:17 NOTICE[13534]: res_musiconhold.c:507 monmp3thread:  
Request to schedule in the past?!?!
     -- Stopped music on hold on CAPI/ISDN4/*****-ce

[AND NOW THE CALLER DON'T HEAR ANYTHING	until the agent will press  
the hold button again]

I'd like to send some music to the caller now... :(

thank you in advance for all!

bye bye

MAS!

MAS! wrote:
> 
> My colleague left our company, then I have to manage all our phones
> lines and asterisk: please, apologize me because I'm 'absolute
beginner'
> about voip/asterisk!!
> 
> Well... all seems work fine; we have some queues and some agents; the
> "music on hold" works fine when the agent press the hold button
on the
> phone (thomson); the agents have the 'autoanwser' flag on.
> 
> BUT if the agent have to go elsewhere for some minutes (coffe break, go
> to piss, and so on..), usually he press the 'hold' button on the
phone;
Oh my word.

Does the phone have a DND ("Do not disturb") button? Are all the
agents
trained to press hold when they need to go the bathroom?

If the answer to the last question is yes, you have more than a
technology problem on your hands. Perhaps this is why your colleague
left in the first place :)
> if a new call arrive, asterisk send the call to the agent's phone,
since
> it seems 'free'; but the phone is 'on hold'; and the caller
don't hear
> 'anything' (no music, nothing at all) until the agent press (of
course)
> again the button (but usually the caller hang up since he don't hear
> anything)
> 
> there is a way to send the 'music on hold' to the caller even with
the
> asterisk send the call to the phone (autoanswer on) but the 'hold'
> button is already pressed?
> 
> I have to search/manage the asterisk config or the phone one?
> 
> We are using asterisk 1.2.1 with Thomson ST2030.
The Thomson is the telephone set?
> this is the asterisk log:
> 
> (...)
>    -- Executing Queue("CAPI/ISDN4/********-ce",
"coda_azienda|t|3600")
> in new stack
>     -- Started music on hold, class 'music', on channel
> 'CAPI/ISDN4/******-ce'
>     -- agent_call, call to agent '1005' call on
'SIP/barbaran-621c'
>     -- Playing 'beep' (language 'it')
>     -- Called Agent/1005
>     -- Agent/1005 answered CAPI/ISDN4/******-ce
> 
> [WARNING: in the truth the Agent is in hold mode now; there is the
> autoanswer on]
(!)

Why?

(FYI: Auto answer is normally enabled in the telephone configuration and
not in Asterisk.)
>     -- Playing 'wsa_from_coda_w' (language 'it')
> Apr 11 12:23:17 NOTICE[13534]: res_musiconhold.c:507 monmp3thread:
> Request to schedule in the past?!?!
>     -- Stopped music on hold on CAPI/ISDN4/*****-ce
> 
> [AND NOW THE CALLER DON'T HEAR ANYTHING    until the agent will press
> the hold button again]
Well, that's to be expected. The phone has answered the call!

A few bits of advice to start:

1. Agents shouldn't be using "hold" for bathroom breaks. Most
phones
have a button specifically for this purpose called "Do not disturb".
Asterisk then treats the station as busy.

2. Queue phones shouldn't answer automatically. That's just inviting
disaster. What if somebody forgets to log out when they leave? Somebody
is going to get silence if they're unlucky enough to be connected to
that agent.

Fix both those things and you won't have to worry about Music On Hold
not playing for the caller :)

-Stephen-

If you want to be able to run accurate reporting, you should tell the
agents that they must log out whenever they are unavailable to answer
calls.  If accurate reporting is something you may be interested in
doing in the future, then make this the rule now.

Autoanswering queues is great for productivity.  There are ways to
implement an auto-logout due to inactivity if you want to continue using
this strategy.  I always thought if there were a reverse "answering
machine detection" type of application, where if there is silence on the
agent's leg of the call, the system would log them out, this would be
ideal.  I just never got around to making that happen.

What I have used is that if there is no activity on the workstation,
similar to a screensaver kicking in, the user is logged out of queue.

In the environments that I have worked in that dealt with queues and
agents, they are a sneaky bunch.  Strict rules must be defined and
enforced.  I have seen operations where no policing of agents resulted
in agents calling their friends all day and collecting a paycheck at the
end of the pay period.  I have also seen them use every possible
technique to be logged in but not have to receive calls.  If it is
possible, they will figure it out.  

Thanks,
Steve Totaro
http://www.asteriskhelpdesk.com
KB3OPB
 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-
> bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of MAS!
> Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 5:00 AM
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] agents and music on hold with
autoanswer..
> 
> >> BUT if the agent have to go elsewhere for some minutes (coffe
> >> break, go
> >> to piss, and so on..), usually he press the 'hold' button
on the
> >> phone;
> > Does the phone have a DND ("Do not disturb") button?
> 
> yes, the phone have this options; I have to check if that works
> 
> > Are all the agents trained to press hold when they need to go the
> > bathroom?
> 
> yes...
> 
> > If the answer to the last question is yes, you have more than a
> > technology problem on your hands. Perhaps this is why your colleague
> > left in the first place :)
> 
> may be you're right :)
> 
> >> We are using asterisk 1.2.1 with Thomson ST2030.
> > The Thomson is the telephone set?
> 
> yes.
> and I use the 'diva' modules for the phone card on asterisk
> 
> >> (...)
> >>    -- Executing Queue("CAPI/ISDN4/********-ce",
"coda_azienda|t|
> >> 3600")
> >> in new stack
> >>     -- Started music on hold, class 'music', on channel
> >> 'CAPI/ISDN4/******-ce'
> >>     -- agent_call, call to agent '1005' call on
'SIP/barbaran-621c'
> >>     -- Playing 'beep' (language 'it')
> >>     -- Called Agent/1005
> >>     -- Agent/1005 answered CAPI/ISDN4/******-ce
> >>
> >> [WARNING: in the truth the Agent is in hold mode now; there is the
> >> autoanswer on]
> > (!)
> > Why?
> > (FYI: Auto answer is normally enabled in the telephone
> > configuration and
> > not in Asterisk.)
> 
> we don't receive so many calls/minute; usually the agent keep the own
> phone with the speaker on, to have the hands free; when there is a
> new call on the queue, he can hear the voice ("a new call is
> incoming"), then he press the 'speaker off' button and the
handle the
> call normally...
> then the call is finished, he doesn't hangup the phone, but he puts
> again the phone with the speaker on
> 
> >> [AND NOW THE CALLER DON'T HEAR ANYTHING    until the agent
will
press
> >> the hold button again]
> > Well, that's to be expected. The phone has answered the call!
> 
> true :(
> 
> > A few bits of advice to start:
> > 1. Agents shouldn't be using "hold" for bathroom breaks.
Most phones
> > have a button specifically for this purpose called "Do not
disturb".
> > Asterisk then treats the station as busy.
> 
> I have to try that...
> 
> > 2. Queue phones shouldn't answer automatically. That's just
inviting
> > disaster. What if somebody forgets to log out when they leave?
> > Somebody
> > is going to get silence if they're unlucky enough to be connected
to
> > that agent.
> 
> you're right.. I have to investigate here too!
> 
> > Fix both those things and you won't have to worry about Music On
Hold
> > not playing for the caller :)
> 
> :) ok, thank you so much!
> bye bye
> marco
> 
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