[Asterisk-Users] Accurate Billing

[Matteo Brancaleoni]

Hi.

First of all : please disable html. Not everyone is able
to read html email. Also mailing lists netiquette expects
that a members writes only in plain text.

Second one:
cdr -provides- accurate info on a call. every call, estabilished
or not, is logged, the is up to you to get what u need.
The 'billable' time is logged as cdr->billsec and is the
real duration of the call between the answer and hungup.
If you call a sip phone, for example, let it rings for
5 secs , then answer ad speak for 10 secs, you'll have:
cdr->duration : 15 secs
cdr->billsec  : 10 secs
so 5 secs is ringing time, call setup and so on...

That's valid on all digital interfaces (even i4l or capi),
since the answer/hangup/ringing and so on are signalled
with proper messages digitally.

Unfortunately, when using analog interfaces, that's not
true, since there's no easy way to decide that a call
has been answered, since our channel is 'answered' as soon as
we connect to the analog line. This is for fxo (phone lines),
for fxs (phones) we should have a 100% accurate signalling,
since on fxs we know when the user switched to off hook.

Mark has written a call progress detector for analog lines
(callprogress=yes in zapata.conf), but is entirely dsp-based,
experimental and US only ;)

Also dsp detection isn't 100% reliable.

So, if you're using digital lines (e1,t1,bri) you're set.
the cdr provides everything you need for billing.

If you're using analog lines, you're in trouble ;)
but a real provider that wants to 'provide' phone
services , should go in the digital world ;)

just my 2 cents

Matteo.

Scrive surajee at infotechs.lk:

> hi,
> r u saying that, if i use E100P or E400P interface, and if i make a call, can
> i differenciate between a answered and non answered call, and can i bill only
> to the answered call?
> Surajee
> On Sun, 2003-07-06 at 23:17, Kim C. Callis wrote:
> > Steve,
> > 
> > What exactly would be classified as a digital ZAP device?
> 
> T1/E1 interfaces, so T100P, E100P, T400P, E400P
> 
> If you need to see examples, I could probably dig up CDR records where
> busy is indicated, and where no answer is indicated and there is a
> definate difference between call duration and stop-start duration. 
> 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-
> > > admin at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Steven Critchfield
> > > Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2003 8:58 PM
> > > To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> > > Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Accurate Billing
> > > 
> > > On Sun, 2003-07-06 at 22:07, surajee at infotechs.lk wrote:
> > > > hi everyone,
> > > >
> > > > I know this issue has been raised many times before, i think still
> > the
> > > > problem remains. When a call is made through a Zap channel, whether
> > it
> > > > is actually made or not (irrespective of whether, engaged, busy, or
> > > > actually answered), asterisk logs it in CDRs as a call made. This
> > > > makes it impossible to do an accurate billing. Has anybody found a
> > way
> > > > to overcome this problem, if yes, please let me/us know.
> > > 
> > > If you are on a digital Zap interface, then it is known. If you are on
> > > an analog interface, then there is no way to know the other answered
> > or
> > > not.
> > > 
> > > --
> > > Steven Critchfield <critch at basesys.com>
> &!
> gt; > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> 
> > > Asterisk-Users mailing list
> > > Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
> > > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Asterisk-Users mailing list
> > Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
> > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> -- 
> Steven Critchfield <critch at basesys.com>
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Asterisk-Users mailing list
> Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/li!
> stinfo/asterisk-users
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------This mail sent through OmniBIS.com--------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Asterisk-Users mailing list
> Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> 


-- 

Matteo Brancaleoni
Espia System Administrator
http://www.espia.it

-------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/