[Asterisk-Users] Answer confirmation on non-Zap channels?

[Tim Robinson]

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?
>