[Asterisk-Users] Re: International callback strategies

[Rich Adamson]

> On Apr 10, 2005 2:21 PM, snacktime <snacktime at gmail.com> wrote:
> > My wife is from Russia, and we have a lot of friends here in the US
> > that have families back in Russia.  While calling Russia is fairly
> > inexpensive, for someone in Russia to be able to call the US is a
> > different matter.   So I'm looking at the best ways to setup a
> > callback system.   Here is what I have so far.
> > 
> > 1.  Call from Russia to US * box using pstn.   Caller enters phone
> > number to call back, hangs up.  This works, but it still results in a
> > charge to the caller, and due to how long distance works for most in
> > Russia it's a pain to place a long distance call.  You have to call
> > the operator and be put into a queue to place the call.
> > 
> > 2.  Web interface to enter the callback number.   Would work, but most
> > families in Russia won't have net access.
> > 
> > 3.  Trigger callback via sms.  Works if they have a cell phone, but
> > again most of them don't.
> > 
> > Right now I'm thinking having both 1 & 2 is the best option.
> > 
> > What I would really like is a completely toll free call for the
> > callers in Russia, but I havent' been able to find DID's anywhere.
> > 
> > Chris
> > 
> 
> I forgot to mention,  at least from the regions of Russia I am dealing
> with, caller id just shows up as blocked, so the dial/hangup before
> answer method won't work.

Have them send an email to a specific address, run a script against
the contents of the email, and send a voice message (via a call) to 
whoever they want to talk to. Then that person can initiate the call.