[Asterisk-Users] call to a particular 800 number never showsanswered on Zap channel

[Andy Goss]

> First, there is nothing "unfair" or "illegal" going on.  Large
toll-free
> users have enough clout that they can negotiate contracts, where they
> are not billed during the service selection phase of a call.  For
example,
> when you call American Airlines, billing doesn't start until an agent
> answers, or the caller selects "automated flight information" or a
similar
> IVR service.  Answer supervision is used to tell the carrier when to
start
> billing.  This system is quite common and used by hundreds of
companies.

This makes good sense, thanks for clearing it up.

> 
> With Asterisk, three things might go wrong:
> 
> You may have two-way communication with the IVR, but the call gets
> disconnected before answer supervision is received.   Find out if it's
> your carrier or Asterisk that is timing out.  If the latter, just put
> a longer timeout in your Dial statement; 180 seconds should be enough.

This is the situation I am in.  If I am really fast, I can navigate the
menu system in enough time to be transferred to a real person, or at
least the real-person queue and I get the answer supervision message.

Is there a way I can tell if it is asterisk or the carrier that is
timing out from the CLI?  I thought if the timeout was not specified in
the Dial statement it was unlimited, but perhaps I am looking in the
wrong place.

Also, is there a way to force the phone to start the call counter or
force the answer on the asterisk-side.  

Thanks,
Andy