[Asterisk-Users] Dialling Hook Flash on Zaptel

[Christopher Lee]

> I had some similar problems with the X100P and our ATA-2.  I also couldn't
> ever get the Nortel to recognize the DTMF, or get Asterisk to recognize
> DTMF
> coming through the Nortel.  I wish I could say that I figured out a really
> cool way to make it work, but instead I moved on and interconnected via
> PRIs.

I did a little more testing here, I've found that from my Cisco 7940 dialing
out to my mobile, I can dial DTMF tones and hear them on the mobile. I'm not
sure if the Norstar is doing this, as no matter how long I press the button
down for I only get a short beep of the DTMF tone on the mobile.

Perhaps this means the Norstar can only pass along the tones but not
actually interpret them, or maybe the DTMF tone length is too short for the
Norstar.

Either way, I've changed the station filter for this particular extension to
allow a greater range of numbers to be dialled and will control it with the
dial plans in Asterisk.

I've also considered changing the interconnection method, unfortunately
(although this may be a good thing) my system is only a baby CICS with a
4-port analog trunk module and a 4-port BRI module. 

To connect via the analog trunk would be really neat with a 4-port FXS
digium card, but unfortunately this particular Nortel card is not a
supervised card, so can't be setup in the Norstar for auto-answer (which was
my main reason for installing the BRI card).

Then in terms of connecting via BRI, I think it would probably be more
effective in the long run to just replace the whole system with SIP handsets
since there's only 7 extensions in use (although the cost of Cisco 7940's
would quickly add up, but I wouldn't want to use anything less even though
they may be cheaper, as these are fantastic phones and really worth it
IMHO).

Also apart from the handset replacement cost, I think it'll be somewhat hard
to beat the near bullet-proof performance the current CICS system has given
us. The only outages its ever had was to install the BRI card and the odd
power outage that was long enough to fully drain the UPS batteries. 

Cheers,
Chris Lee