[asterisk-users] Overlap dialing via SIP

[Gordon Henderson]

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008, Ben Thompson wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 11:41:45AM +0100, Gordon Henderson wrote:
>
>>> [0906]
>>> exten => _90906XXXXXXX,1,Macro(dialout-pstn)
>>
>> york.ac.uk and you're allowing 0906 numbers? Where do I sign up ;-)
>
> Err no, this is	not my actual dialplan - just an example.
>
>
>> Personally I think you're making life hard for yourself, although
>> potentially nice for the users, I guess.
>>
>> Or maybe you want to look at the ! match pattern, or just give-up on
>> overlap dialling. I like to be able to 'edit' numbers on my phone before
>
> OK, the ! match pattern sounds interesting. Does this allow
> overlap dialing though?

TBH, I've only just noticed it when writing that email - my "bible" is a 
beaten-up 1st edition of copy of the starfish book which doesn't mention 
it, but I checked the WiKi (which seems to have had a bit of a facelift 
since I looked last!) and it makes mention of the ! match character..

According to the WiKi:

   http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk+Dialplan+Patterns

   !          wildcard, matches zero or more characters immediately
               (only Asterisk 1.2 and later, see note)

   Note: The exclamation mark wildcard, which is available only in Asterisk
   1.2 and later, behaves specially it will match as soon as can without
   waiting for the dialling to complete, but it will not match until it is
   unambiguous, and the number being dialled cannot match any other extension
   in the context. It was designed for use as follows, so that as soon as the
   digits dialled don't match '001800...' the outgoing telephone line will
   be picked up and overlap dialling will be used (with full audio feedback from
   'earlyb3' etc.)

     Context "outgoing":
       Extension         Description
       _001800NXXXXXX    Calls to USA toll-free numbers made by VoIP
       _X!               Other calls via normal telco, with overlap dial.

It looks hopeful...

(If you believe in overlap dialling that is ;-)

Gordon