[Asterisk-Users] incoming DTMF on iConnectHere?

[John Todd]

At 2:13 PM -0700 on 6/10/04, Paul Crick wrote:
>Replying to your post before mine hit the list..
>
>>  "Please be advised that we do not support PBX system for
>>  receiving DTMF sounds. We understand that it was working
>>  for you in the past, but it is not a function that our
>>  network is set up to support."
>So what about my analog answering machine that's connected to my ATA that's
>connected to your service? Seems I can't retrieve my messages remotely any
>more. I'm not a happy customer. ;-)
>
>Seriously.. I'll give 'em a shout.. and if they tell me the same thing, I'll
>probably cancel my account and go with a different provider. Passing DTMF
>through the network is a basic thing - have they made a business decision
>not to support it, or has some engineer forgotten to flip a switch?


   While of course I can't say for certain, I strongly suspect this is 
a business decision.  Those incoming calls are "free" to you, right? 
Well, they aren't "free" to iConnectHere.  They want to discourage 
any "unusual" usage of their service which isn't covered by their 
per-minute charges, so turning off DTMF eliminates anyone doing 
clever things with Asterisk (and any other IVR) that might consume 
inbound minutes.

   I'm now in a battle with iConnectHere, as they have refused to 
answer my email (actually, they have no email interface, and insist 
that I go through a 'web customer care portal', which bothers me 
greatly for reasons I won't go into here) and they have no visible 
phone or email support mechanism.  They've been constantly 
overcharging me every month since I purchased their system, despite 
my being a large advocate of their platform when they first offered 
retail service, and have not once responded to my requests for 
refunds or billing adjustment.  Service, billing, and now technical 
delivery of product have all suffered greatly, and I do not suggest 
anyone uses or pays for their product line at this point in 
conjunction with Asterisk or any other residential/SOHO platform.

   I will be removing their configuration hints from my sample files 
and will not be referencing them any longer in any of the talks I 
provide.

JT