[asterisk-dev] Enhancing/Tweaking AMD

[Steve Totaro]

On Sat, May 10, 2008 at 10:25 AM, Chris <asterisk at ontimetelecom.com> wrote:
> Out of curiosity, has anyone made enhancements or modifications to the
> AMD portion of their Asterisk setup?  We currently run a service that
> places calls for businesses and are running into issues where when their
> users answer the phone, they may have to wait 8, 10, 20 seconds before
> the message begins playing.  It obviously varies from phone to phone and
> we realize there's no way to get it 100% for everyone.  Perhaps the best
> way to handle it is to have a rapid detect version and a more accurate
> detect version and give each business the choice.  We were wondering
> what the best settings for such a setup would be.  Currently, we run AMD
> with the following: 3500|1500|300|5000|120|50|5|256 followed by a
> waitforsilence with the following: 2000|1.  We are open to any
> suggestions or advice on this one as we've tried tweaking the values and
> all that seems to accomplish is an improvement on one phone and a
> backstep on another.  Thanks!!
>

Not a solution, but a piece of valuable advice depending on your
business model..

Autodialers must connect the two parties within two seconds (USA).

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/telemarketing/bus27.shtm

"Call Abandonment (and Safe Harbor)

The Rule expressly prohibits telemarketers from abandoning any
outbound telephone call, but has an alternative that allows some
flexibility while enabling you to avoid liability under this
provision. The call abandonment provision and safe harbor take effect
October 1, 2003.

Abandoned calls often result from the telemarketers' use of predictive
dialers to call consumers. Predictive dialers promote telemarketers'
efficiency by simultaneously calling multiple consumers for every
available sales representative. This maximizes the amount of time
telemarketing sales representatives spend talking to consumers and
minimizes representatives' "downtime." But it also means some calls
are abandoned: consumers are either hung up on or kept waiting for
long periods until a representative is available.

Under the Rule's definition, an outbound telephone call is "abandoned"
if a person answers it and the telemarketer does not connect the call
to a sales representative within two seconds of the person's completed
greeting. The use of prerecorded message telemarketing, where a sales
pitch begins with or is made entirely by a prerecorded message,
violates the TSR because the telemarketer is not connecting the call
to a sales representative within two seconds of the person's completed
greeting.
What about situations where a consumer agrees to receive pre-recorded
message telemarketing calls? FTC staff do not anticipate enforcing
this provision against sellers and telemarketers who have the prior
consent of a called consumer. For example, a dry cleaner in Kansas
City, doing business in both Missouri and Kansas, gets permission from
its customers to call them with prerecorded messages about the
schedule for pick-up and delivery. The dry cleaner does not risk a law
enforcement action from the FTC for violating the call abandonment
prohibition, because a pre-recorded message call, made with the prior
permission of the called party, is not an abandoned call.

The abandoned call safe harbor provides that a telemarketer will not
face enforcement action for violating the call abandonment prohibition
if the telemarketer:

    * uses technology that ensures abandonment of no more than three
percent of all calls answered by a live person, measured per day per
calling campaign.
    * allows the telephone to ring for 15 seconds or four rings before
disconnecting an unanswered call.
    * plays a recorded message stating the name and telephone number
of the seller on whose behalf the call was placed whenever a live
sales representative is unavailable within two seconds of a live
person answering the call.
    * maintains records documenting adherence to the three requirements above.

To take advantage of the safe harbor, a telemarketer must first ensure
that a live representative takes the call in at least 97 percent of
the calls answered by consumers. Calls answered by machine, calls that
are not answered at all, and calls to non-working numbers do not count
in this calculation.
The "per day, per calling campaign" measure
A telemarketer running simultaneous campaigns (on behalf of the same
or different sellers) cannot average the abandonment rates for all
campaigns, offsetting for example, a six percent abandonment rate for
one campaign with a zero percent abandonment rate for another. Each
separate campaign is subject to a maximum abandonment rate of three
percent per day.

A telemarketer also must eliminate "early hangups" by allowing an
unanswered call to ring either four times or for 15 seconds before
disconnecting the call. This element of the safe harbor ensures that
consumers have reasonable time to answer a call and are not subjected
to "dead air" after one, two, or three rings.

In addition, in the small permissible percentage of calls in which a
live representative may not be available within two seconds of the
consumer's completed greeting, the telemarketer must play a recorded
message. The message must state the name and telephone number of the
seller responsible for the call, enabling the consumer to know who was
calling and, should the consumer wish, to return the call. The Rule
expressly states that sellers and telemarketers still must comply with
relevant state and federal laws, including, but not limited to, the
Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 U.S.C. § 227) and FCC
regulations at 47 C.F.R. Part 64.1200. The FCC regulations prohibit
such recorded messages from containing a sales pitch, but, like the
TSR provision discussed here, require that the message state "only the
name and telephone number of the business, entity, or individual on
whose behalf the call was placed and that the call was for
'telemarketing purposes.'" The recorded message must not contain a
sales pitch. The number on the recorded message must be one to which a
consumer can call to place an entity specific Do Not Call request.

Finally, a telemarketer wishing to avail itself of the safe harbor for
abandoned calls must keep records that document its compliance with
the first three safe harbor components in accordance with the
recordkeeping provision of the Rule (Section 310.5). The records must
establish that the abandonment rate has not exceeded three percent and
that the ring time and recorded message requirements have been
fulfilled."

Thanks,
Steve Totaro