[Asterisk-Users] Zaptel answering the Line

[Rich Adamson]

Thomas Kenyon wrote:
> I have a TDM400 card with 3x FXO and 1x FXS ports on it.
> 
> At the moment I'd prefer (till I can get it working more reliable with
> iaxmodem), for a faxmodem to answer one of the lines instead of the
> linecard.
> 
> I've tried changing the context of that line so that the exten => s does
> nothing, but that stops the line from being able to receive calls (get a
> recorded This number is not accepting calls at the moment).
> 
> So my 2 questions are...
> 
> How do I set one of the channels in zaptel.conf (or elsewhere) so that
> it is only available for making calls (and not receiving them).
> 
> Does Zaptel automatically switch echo cancellation off if it detects a
> fax call?

I'm assuming you have a fax machine bridged on the pstn line that also 
connects to asterisk via an fxo port. If that's the case, you have two 
ways to accomplish the goal.

One, as others have mentioned, is to specify a context in the 
appropriate channel portion of zapata.conf that goes no where. E.g., it 
doesn't exist in extensions.conf.

Second, specify a context in the appropriate channel portion of 
zapata.conf that goes to "inbound-fax" or something like that, and then 
in extensions.conf, do something like this:
[inbound-fax]
exten => s,1,Dial(SIP/3034)

Notice there is no "answer" function and there is no timeout value 
associated with this. The example will ring x3034, however if no one 
picks up that sip phone, the call remains unanswered from an incoming 
pstn call perspective. (I've used the same for both a bridged fax 
machine and for a bridged older answering machine.) You may need to add 
faxdetect=no in the appropriate channel section of zapata.conf as well.