[asterisk-users] HFC-S zap channels always busy

[Jaap Winius]

Quoting Tzafrir Cohen <tzafrir.cohen at xorcom.com>:

> What is the Dial command you use?
> Can you post the relevant part of your diaplan?

exten => _X.,1,Dial(Zap/g0/${EXTEN}@channels,,r)

> In addition: are you sure that there are channels set for group=0 ?
> Maybe try a channel directly: Zap/1 or Zap/2 instead of Zap/g0 .

Aha! So, that's what /g*/ refers to: the group number specified in  
zatapa.conf! I set this to g0 after blindly following your advice of  
27 December last year:

    "So basically dial to Zap/g0/NUMBER and it should dial it to
    and it should dial it to your provider."

The problem was that I had set "group=1" in the zatapa.conf. Now that  
I've changed the dial command to Zap/g1/, the situation is vastly  
improved:

    == Primary D-Channel on span 1 up

and

     -- Executing [0654314647 at phones:1] Dial("SIP/1000-081f68b0",
     "Zap/g1/0654314647 at channels||r") in new stack
     -- Requested transfer capability: 0x00 - SPEECH
     -- Called g1/0654314647 at channels
     -- Channel 0/1, span 1 got hangup request, cause 28
     -- Hungup 'Zap/1-1'

This is when I try to make a call, which looks much better now.

In conclusion, there was nothing wrong with the channels being  
described as "in use" in /proc/zaptel/*. However, the "Unable to  
create channel of type 'Zap' (cause 34 - Circuit/channel congestion)"  
error messages that I was getting as a result using the wrong group  
number in the command to dial out were misleading. If only Asterisk  
had been able to distinguish between congestion and a group that  
simply didn't exist.

Of course, I still have a few other problems, but they're different  
and seem minor in comparison, so I won't mention them in this thread.  
This particular problem, however, is hereby solved.

Many thanks, Tzafrir!

Cheers,

Jaap