asterisk users - Jul 2009 - Using the PBX Directory from a Blackberry

Hi All,

A couple of customers called complaining that folks were dialing into
their PBX trying to use the Directory to locate users, from a
Blackberry, and getting frustrated due to the incompatibility of
dialing alpha characters on the the qwerty keyboard and not getting
through.

The issue of course is the Directory application only recognizes
numeric digit tones, not alpha characters (not sure is there is
actually tones generated when the alpha characters are pressed, it
just doesn't work).

Anyhow, on the Blackberry, when you hold down the Alt key and press
the alpha character, the device sends out the correct digit tone
associated with that character, like on a regular phone keypad.

That is how folks can use a Blackberry effectively with the PBX
Directory application.

Hope this helps.

JR
-- 
JR Richardson
Engineering for the Masses

On Thu, Jul 02, 2009 at 09:53:18AM -0500, JR Richardson
wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> A couple of customers called complaining that folks were dialing into
> their PBX trying to use the Directory to locate users, from a
> Blackberry, and getting frustrated due to the incompatibility of
> dialing alpha characters on the the qwerty keyboard and not getting
> through.
> 
> The issue of course is the Directory application only recognizes
> numeric digit tones, not alpha characters (not sure is there is
> actually tones generated when the alpha characters are pressed, it
> just doesn't work).
> 
> Anyhow, on the Blackberry, when you hold down the Alt key and press
> the alpha character, the device sends out the correct digit tone
> associated with that character, like on a regular phone keypad.
Is it a tone?

Or the letter itself in SIP / RTP signalling?

-- 
               Tzafrir Cohen
icq#16849755              jabber:tzafrir.cohen at xorcom.com
+972-50-7952406           mailto:tzafrir.cohen at xorcom.com
http://www.xorcom.com  iax:guest at local.xorcom.com/tzafrir

It is a problem with Windows mobile phones as well, there is *NO* way
to dial a number e.g. 800-CALL-ATT. On my Nokia S60 phone (E71) I can
dial the number but it is not possible to dial letters when the call
is connected.

This affects everyone. When I call American Express it asks me to
enter my mother's maiden name, which is not possible for me.

On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 10:53, JR Richardson<jmr.richardson at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> A couple of customers called complaining that folks were dialing into
> their PBX trying to use the Directory to locate users, from a
> Blackberry, and getting frustrated due to the incompatibility of
> dialing alpha characters on the the qwerty keyboard and not getting
> through.
>
> The issue of course is the Directory application only recognizes
> numeric digit tones, not alpha characters (not sure is there is
> actually tones generated when the alpha characters are pressed, it
> just doesn't work).
>
> Anyhow, on the Blackberry, when you hold down the Alt key and press
> the alpha character, the device sends out the correct digit tone
> associated with that character, like on a regular phone keypad.
>
> That is how folks can use a Blackberry effectively with the PBX
> Directory application.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> JR
> --
> JR Richardson
> Engineering for the Masses
>
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From: Tzafrir Cohen
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2009 11:47 PM

On Thu, Jul 02, 2009 at 09:02:05PM -0700, Trevor Hammonds wrote:
>> "Anyhow, on the Blackberry, when you hold down the Alt key and
press the
>> alpha character, the device sends out the correct digit tone associated
with
>> that character, like on a regular phone keypad."
>
>Any chance of answering the OR?
>
>There is no DTMF tone associated with digits (over D). So they must be
>using something else. Any idea what?
The BlackBerry sends the DTMF of the number normally associated with the
letter as on a standard touch tone keypad.  (e.g. 2 for A, B, and C; 3 for
D, E, and F; etc.).  For the special case of Q and Z (not originally
assigned by Bell), 7 is sent for Q and 9 for Z.


Sincerely,
Trevor Hammonds