[Asterisk-Users] TDM-400 and dialplan -- how to ring a SIP ex tension *before* answering the PSTN line?

[Stephen Bosch]

Colin Anderson wrote:
> the caller is out his money anyway when you call any phone and voicemail
> kicks in, although i think on a payphone they give you a 2 or 3 second
> window to hang up. 

That assumes that you are routing to voicemail. That doesn't always apply.

Also -- the payphone behaviour varies quite a lot by service provider. I
can tell you that in southern Alberta, there is no 2 or 3 second window.
When the called line goes off hook, your coins are gone. This is Telus,
remember. We're lucky they give us payphones at all.

> Suggest you implement i'm here / i'm away dialplan logic or set the do not
> disturb button that way when someone calls and the guy is away it hits
> voicemail right away and the caller can hear this and still have the 2 or 3
> second window to hang up  and get his $$ back. This emulates PSTN behavior
> as close as possible but you have to train your users to hit the DnD button
> when they walk away from the phonw. 

Asterisk is so flexible I find it hard to believe there is no way to
tell the Zap interface to answer when the corresponding SIP extension is
picked up.

-Stephen-