asterisk users - Jun 2017 - Autodialer - call simultaneously to both ends

Hello List,
I'm working on an autodialer project.
At the moment I use the Originate application then I "throw" it to an
extension where I Dial() the other party and then both legs are bridged. The
problem is that the Dial() will only run after the Originate finish its bit and
I have lots of wasted time or even worse, the remote party hanging the call
because instead of a human speaking to him the call setup to the 2nd leg only
starts when remote answers.
Is there a way to start calling both parties at the same time and bridge them
when one answers (which will then hear the ringback tone until 2nd party
answers)?
Thank you
Harel

Hello,

You can certainly do this with the ARI interface but you will have to 
write some code.

You could for example originate two channels, send them to the same 
Stasis application, create a bridge and place both channels in it.

Best regards

Jean Aunis


Le 26/06/2017 ? 14:06, Harel a ?crit :
> Hello List,
> I'm working on an autodialer project.
> At the moment I use the Originate application then I "throw" it
to an extension where I Dial() the other party and then both legs are bridged.
The problem is that the Dial() will only run after the Originate finish its bit
and I have lots of wasted time or even worse, the remote party hanging the call
because instead of a human speaking to him the call setup to the 2nd leg only
starts when remote answers.
> Is there a way to start calling both parties at the same time and bridge
them when one answers (which will then hear the ringback tone until 2nd party
answers)?
> Thank you
> Harel
>
>

On Monday 26 June 2017 at 14:06:10, Harel wrote:
> Hello List,
> I'm working on an autodialer project.
> At the moment I use the Originate application then I "throw" it
to an
> extension where I Dial() the other party and then both legs are bridged.
>
> The problem is that the Dial() will only run after the Originate finish
> its bit and I have lots of wasted time or even worse, the remote party
> hanging the call because instead of a human speaking to him the call setup
> to the 2nd leg only starts when remote answers.
Sounds like you're dialling the legs the wrong way round.
> Is there a way to start calling both parties at the same time and bridge
> them when one answers (which will then hear the ringback tone until 2nd
> party answers)?
You should dial the extension of the person who wants the autodial function 
first (ie: the person who knows about this system).

They answer their phone (which should be quick, because they're expecting it
to ring after they've initiated the autodial), and they then wait for the 
remote party (who doesn't know there's an autodialler involved) to
answer.

Dialling both numbers simultaneously always runs the risk that the remote 
party (who doesn't know about the autodialler) will answer the call first,
so
unless you have some recorded announcement "please wait while we connect
your
call" (which if I heard it would make me hang up immediately, because
I'd know
it was some automated dialler, probably a cold-calling sales organisation), 
they answer the phone, hear ringing, think "what the hell?" or even
"oh, one
of them again" and hang up.

Always start from the "local" end - ie: the person who knows about the
auto-
dialler.



Antony.

-- 
Atheism is a non-prophet-making organisation.

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On Monday 26 Jun 2017, Harel wrote:
> Hello List,
> I'm working on an autodialer project.
> At the moment I use the Originate application then I "throw" it
to an
> extension where I Dial() the other party and then both legs are bridged.
> The problem is that the Dial() will only run after the Originate finish
> its bit and I have lots of wasted time or even worse, the remote party
> hanging the call because instead of a human speaking to him the call setup
> to the 2nd leg only starts when remote answers. Is there a way to start
> calling both parties at the same time and bridge them when one answers
> (which will then hear the ringback tone until 2nd party answers)? Thank
> you
Our auto-dialler works as follows;

* Agent clicks number on screen in their web browser
* Agent's phone rings
* Agent picks up phone
* Far end party's phone rings
* Far end party answers
* Agent and far end party are bridged.

and is implemented using the truly ancient technology of callfiles.


All you need then is a Perl or PHP script, which accepts the destination 
number as a query parameter.  Your script then needs to identify the 
workstation by means of its IP address and determine the number of the nearest 
phone  (this does require proper configuration of DHCP server, but is worth 
it),  then write out a callfile.


Note:  There exists a race condition in Asterisk  (at least, when using the 
common Linux file systems, which update a folder's directory as soon as the 
*first* block of a file is written)  which means that if a callfile exceeds one 
block, Asterisk could end up reading only the first block and ignoring the 
rest.  If there is any danger that a callfile could exceed one block on your 
filesystem, you must write the callfile to a different folder, and then use the 
`mv` command to move it to /var/spool/asterisk/outgoing/ .  This sidesteps the 
race condition due to the behaviour of the mv command.  When moving *within* a 
filesystem, the whole file was already on the disk anyway when the directory is 
updated; when moving from one filesystem to another, it does not update the 
directory of the destination folder until the *last* block is written.

-- 
JM or AJS

Note:  Originating address only accepts e-mail from list!  If replying off-
list, change address to asterisk1list at earthshod dot co dot uk .

On Monday 26 June 2017 at 18:01:22, J Montoya or A J Stiles wrote:
> On Monday 26 Jun 2017, Harel wrote:
> > Hello List,
> > I'm working on an autodialer project.
> > At the moment I use the Originate application then I "throw"
it to an
> > extension where I Dial() the other party and then both legs are
bridged.
> > The problem is that the Dial() will only run after the Originate
finish
> > its bit and I have lots of wasted time or even worse, the remote party
> > hanging the call because instead of a human speaking to him the call
> > setup to the 2nd leg only starts when remote answers. Is there a way
to
> > start calling both parties at the same time and bridge them when one
> > answers (which will then hear the ringback tone until 2nd party
> > answers)? Thank you
> 
> Our auto-dialler works as follows;
> 
> * Agent clicks number on screen in their web browser
> * Agent's phone rings
> * Agent picks up phone
> * Far end party's phone rings
> * Far end party answers
> * Agent and far end party are bridged.
> 
> and is implemented using the truly ancient technology of callfiles.
These work well and are implementable using any language capable of producing 
a text file.

It's also extremely simple (so long as you can write a network client 
application) to achieve the same thing using an AMI Originate request.
> All you need then is a Perl or PHP script, which accepts the destination
> number as a query parameter.  Your script then needs to identify the
> workstation by means of its IP address and determine the number of the
> nearest phone  (this does require proper configuration of DHCP server, but
> is worth it),  then write out a callfile.
> 
> 
> Note:  There exists a race condition in Asterisk  (at least, when using the
> common Linux file systems, which update a folder's directory as soon as
the
> *first* block of a file is written)  which means that if a callfile exceeds
> one block, Asterisk could end up reading only the first block and ignoring
> the rest.  If there is any danger that a callfile could exceed one block
> on your filesystem, you must write the callfile to a different folder, and
> then use the `mv` command to move it to /var/spool/asterisk/outgoing/ . 
> This sidesteps the race condition due to the behaviour of the mv command. 
> When moving *within* a filesystem, the whole file was already on the disk
> anyway when the directory is updated; when moving from one filesystem to
> another, it does not update the directory of the destination folder until
> the *last* block is written.
Yes, that is a very important point.  Always use mv with callfiles :)


However, to get back to the original poster's question, I believe it's
the
logic of which way round the calls are being made that's the problem (I
agree
toally with your 6-step summary above), rather than the mechanism for being 
able to make calls.


Antony.

-- 
BASIC is to computer languages what Roman numerals are to arithmetic.

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