[asterisk-users] Dial script

[Erik de Wild: Tripple-o]

Thomas,

Yes you can do this. I actually have done this and run it as a   
service under the name Meetmecall.  I use MSN as the user interface to  
record the message, create phone lists of the numbers that has to be  
called and to actually schedule and perform  the delivery. It is  
possible to use it for spam but the customers I have use it to notify,  
remember, offer or let the callee know about something relevant, but  
always as part of an already existing relation. With some extra  
parameters used, you can start a groupcall and use all the other  
Asterisk magic available like doing a questionarry using a smart IVR  
etc. etc.  I can think about a long list of useful use of this service.

I have no idea about the rules and legislation in other countries but  
in Holland you will end up with serious trouble and extreme high  
penalties to pay if you actually use it for spamming.

I will not send you a copy of the solution but it is based on the use  
of call files pointing to local channels/extensions where the Asterisk  
magic is combined in a working (and I think clever) way. The CDR isn't  
perfect but disable and enable CDR at the proper points in the dial  
plan and clever use of the USERFIELD variable will result in useable  
data for billing the users. The CDR shows that most callees, listen to  
the message until it ends and yes, sometime there are complaints about  
the use but that is very rare.

About the scheduling of the calls to make. It is not Asterisk that  
limits you. Far before reaching the limits of Asterisk it will be the  
bandwidth available and the SIP trunk provider that normally doesn't  
allow an endless number of concurrent calls. When I started this I was  
working for a Norwegian company offering the dial tone on the internet  
and I had a server almost directly connected to the backbone of  
internet with more or less endless bandwidth.  I did some stress  
testing of a call center solution  and 80 concurrent calls wasn't a  
problem and my guess is that you can far beyond 80 calls. It is wise  
to move the call files one after the other or one batch after the  
other. Moving large numbers  of call files into /var/spool/asterisk/ 
outgoing might sometimes result in unexpected and not intended  
results. There are other scenarios but this was my choice.

10.000 calls will take some time but with a 30 seconds message, 20  
concurrent calls and 10 seconds average to dial after around 5,5 hours  
the last phone call will be dialed. If the message is just 15 seconds  
it will take around 3,5 hours. If you want to deliver in short time,  
like 10 minutes, you really have to scale up to 420 concurrent calls  
which doesn't sound doable unless you have real serious budgets. If  
you put everything in place at your side you will probably run into  
constraints of the SIP provider and the interconnection to the pstn.

btw:
Asterisk has the potential to build lots of evil features and lots of  
standard features can be used in an evil way. Personally I think it is  
kind of strange that, if a question is asked, one has to explain why  
the answer is not mend for evil use. We don't have to help someone out  
and we can refuse because of lots of reasons: no time, not an   
interesting question, not a single sign of any effort by the one  
asking the question, not willing to give something away that costs  
lots of time and energy, the feeling that it will be used in an evil  
way etc. etc. I think the tone and the content of this discussion  
harms the Asterisk community as a whole.

with friendly regards,


Erik de Wild
Tripple-o: your asterisk migration partner
the Netherlands







On 6 feb 2010, at 03:54, Thomas Perron wrote:

> Does anyone have a Dial script or a hint on how I can dial 10000
> numbers in sequence?
> When the calls are answered, I play a .gsm or .wav.
> Then, if user presses a defined digit, the call gets bridged to me.
>
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