[asterisk-users] Asterisk to Avaya

[Steve Davies]

2008/8/5 Steve Davies <davies147 at gmail.com>:
> Hi,
>
> Sorry this is so long, but I am reasonably desparate.
>
> I am having real fun with hooking an Avaya system to Asterisk using
> ISDN30. I have the ISDN signalling all sorted one way, and can pass
> calls from the "real world" (ie. the telco and asterisk) TO the avaya
> box, and it accepts that and sets up the call perfectly.
>
> The problem is that the Avaya box is signalling outbound calls using
> an "odd" method, which smacks of an analogue system with ISDN30 bolted
> on for a bit of a laugh.
>
[...]

Okay, I think I am progressing in terms of my understanding.

Firstly, I had missed out "overlapdial=yes" from the inbound PRI_NET
channel from the Avaya. I have not been able to check, but that should
allow Asterisk to collect the remaining digits until it finds a match
in the dialplan. This begs the following questions:

If an inbound overlapdial uniquely matches:
  exten => _XXXXX.,1,NoOp()

Then I assume it will match after any 6 digits have been received, and
drop into the dialplan. Given that this is a Zap channel, how do I
receive any subsequent digits if they are dialled? Are they converted
to inband DTMF??? I cannot find any useful documentation on what
overlapdial=yes really does - Pointers welcome.

Also, what if the overlap dialled number will never be unique, so I
need to trap both:
  exten => _XXXXX.,1,NoOp()
and
  exten => 01234567890,1,NoOp()

Will overlapdial ever start executing one of those 2 patterns if I
dial 01234567890 and nothing else? I appreciate that I could probably
do the following instead - perhaps I've answered my own question?
  exten => 01234567890,1,NoOp()
  exten => _!.,1,Goto(passthru,${EXTEN},1)

Then, importantly, how do I overlap dial outbound using Zaptel? The
Dial() command is designed to send a number and wait for a response.
There is no opportunity for further input AFAIK. Does enabling
overlapdial=yes mean that I can Dial() and it will not assume the
number is complete?

Perhaps Asterisk simply cannot do this? It is a pretty horrible requirement!

Regards,
Steve