[Asterisk-Users] Re: Auto Dial Out Madness

[Bruno Wolff III]

On Thu, May 18, 2006 at 10:38:14 -0600,
  Jon Scottorn <jscottorn at possibilityforge.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
>     I have been struggling with the auto dial out in asterisk.  I am
> trying to get a call to be auto dialed and play back a message once the
> line is answered.  So far I have been unsuccessful.  
> Currently what happens is I have my .call file.  I mv it
> into /var/spool/asterisk/outgoing.  The call is initiated and that all
> works, my problem is that it does not wait for the line to be answered
> before playing the message back.  It immediately after dialing the
> number begins playing the message and is done playing it before the
> person even answers the phone.
> Does anyone know what I can do to get this working.

You didn't provide information about your hardware or where you are located
(different telephone systems use different signalling).

I am having the same problem with a TDM400 and as best I can tell, I have
to wait for improved software to detect when the phone is answered. Digital
hardware should do what you want, and TDM400s may work in different
circumstances than mine.

Depending where you are you may see polarity reversal as a call progress
indicator. There are config settings for that in zapata.conf. There is
also a call progress setting that didn't work for me. Some people claim
that problems can be caused by the phone company not providing a signal
to you (sometimes called "forward disconnect") and that if you talk to them
they may be able to turn it on for you.

There is also an entry on voip-info.org where someone claims to have an
app named nv_linedetect that will do call progress based on inband audio.
The source hasn't been published and I haven't seen any recent references
for anyone using it.

It seems common for people to stick in a wait(2) to give people a chance to
answer the phone. That isn't a real solution, but might make things not
so bad.