[Asterisk-Users] transfer & other features

[Paul Hewlett]

On Sunday 04 June 2006 11:46, Ronald Wiplinger wrote:
> *CLI> show features
> Builtin Feature           Default Current
> ---------------           ------- -------
> Pickup                    *8      *8
> Blind Transfer            #       ##
> Attended Transfer                 *2
> One Touch Monitor                 *1
> Disconnect Call           *       *0
>
>
> Dial option is   tTwWr
>
> I tried to call from 601 to 615
> 601   keys in   *0    nothing happens
>
> 603   keys  *8      I get the phone call
>
> # 621   nothing happens
>
> What do I miss ???

We have recently tested call transfer on our system and there are a no. of 
gotchas with the default setup that everybody (in my experience ) trips up 
on.

The first gotcha is that the * and the 8(or 0 or 1 or 2) keys have to be 
pressed pretty quickly before asterisk recognises them. If you watch the 
asterisk console whilst trying to do this it will display a msg 

   'attempting to bridge call...'

everytime a key is pressed. Unfortunately the * and 0,1,2 keys are at opposite 
ends of the keypad requiring a 'thumb and finger' action that is unnatural.

The second gotcha is that one must *wait* for Alison to say "Transfer" before 
dialling the number to transfer to. You *cannot* simply dial (from usage 
above)  ##632 in one go. The customer has to be trained to do this.

The third gotcha is that some phones use the # and * keys for their own 
nefarious purposes.

The transfer functionality design could be improved.

We redefine the keys as

            Pickup    88
            Blind       33
            attended 22
            monitor   11
            disconnect 00

This usually does not not interfere with the dialplan, the customer is easily 
able to press a single key twice rapidly enough and it does not use a key 
that the phone itself uses for other purposes. You still have to wait for 
Alison to say 'Transfer' though...

Paul Hewlett