Obi/GV to call Toll-Free (888)?
AndyJ:
Quote from: MichiganTelephone on June 11, 2011, 08:49:38 pm
Next, under Physical Interfaces, Phone Port change the OutboundCallRoute and ADD the following string to the existing rules, probably right after the existing {(<#:>|911):Mpli}, string:
{(1800xxxxxxx|1888xxxxxxx|1877xxxxxxx|1866xxxxxxx|1855xxxxxxx|1844xxxxxxx):vg1},
Make sure that once the string is pasted in there is a single comma separator at the start and end of the above rule. The vg1 near the end points to Voice Gateway 1; change it if you used a different Voice Gateway.
You can define the digit map in the DigitMap field of the voice gateway itself, which seems a little "cleaner" to me. It can also be shortened to:
(18(00|88|77|66|55|44)xxxxxxx)
The leading 1 could be made optional if desided:
(18(00|88|77|66|55|44)xxxxxxx|<1>8(00|88|77|66|55|44)xxxxxxx)
Then, in the OutboundCallRoute, reference the digit map:
{(Mvg1):vg1}
I routinely use tollfreetollfree.com for my toll free calls, and it's been pretty reliable.
jclark5093:
@SteveInWA thanks, so *hopefully* it clears up soon...
As far as setting up the rest of this, I'm trying to set up my PBXes account which has multiple lines on it, not sure if that will use up SP2 or not (hopefully not, because I would like for my kids to be able to dial 911 from these phones via callcentric or something like that)
Thanks for all the tips
@MichiganTelephone Thank you for the information - you have helped me along this learning process quite a bit! (Your blog has been quite useful - I love learning about new things :-) )
MichiganTelephone:
AndyJ,
Thanks for that suggestion - it makes a lot more sense. So to recap, here's how you'd fill in the Voice Gateway fields:
Name: Optional - whatever you want it to say
AccessNumber: sp2(tf.callwithus.com) — assumes sp2 set up with a SIP account. You can substitute a different provider.
DigitMap: (18(00|88|77|66|55|44)xxxxxxx|<1>8(00|88|77|66|55|44)xxxxxxx)
AuthUserID: Optional - a 10 digit number (no spaces or punctuation) that you'd like to send as Caller ID. Won't work with all providers.
(Leave AuthPassword set to the Default setting)
Then, as AndyJ suggested, in the OutboundCallRoute, reference the digit map (insert it early enough in the map that some other rule doesn't pick off your toll-free calls, and make sure there's a comma separator on both sides of the rule):
{(Mvg1):vg1}
Note that if your dial plan allows seven digit dialing of local calls then you won't be able to do ten digit dialing of toll-free calls unless you are a VERY quick dialer, because the first seven digits will be treated as a local number after a delay of a second or so.
SteveInWA:
Since GV does appear to be sending the correct calling party number (I tested this with both the MCI test number and with another read-back service), perhaps its service provider or call-routing software is doing something else to mess up the call to certain numbers (ADT being only one example I've encountered).
Many businesses using TFNs make use of ANI for various legitimate functions (e.g., geographic/regional call center routing or load balancing, or to do a data base lookup and display account info about you to the person answering the call, or as one piece of authentication in some multi-factor authentication scheme).
Trying to use one of the 1-8nn toll free calling gateway providers might work with some numbers and not others, for some of the ANI-handling reasons discussed above. IMO, it just introduces more complexity and confusion when troubleshooting, and is probably not worth the hassle, given the variety of new issues it may introduce. The issue of whether the ANI is sent or not sent, and if sent, is it your number, some invalid characters, null, or some number belonging to the 8nn middleman, can make things worse, unless you are willing to spend a lot of time experimenting.
As for ADT, actually, I use their 1-888-238-7374 number, which works fine with GV. IF no luck with a TFN, given free or next-to-free long distance calling, It's probably easier to find out the non toll-free number for the party you are calling, and use that instead.
Extra-credit reading: one example of valid ANI being put to good use is by my local electric/gas utility. When there is an outage, they get swamped with calls asking the same questions (did you know my power is out, when will it be restored, etc). So, their interactive phone system uses the 1-800 ANI to look up the caller's phone number and thus, their address in their records, (and asks if this is, indeed, you), then looks up any known outages, and only if no outages have been reported (yet), routes the caller to an agent. Otherwise, if the outage is known, the automated system tells the caller what's known about it, including estimated time to restore, and offers to call back the caller with updates.
kevin889:
Can you tell us what kind of problems you are facing while dialling these numbers?
________________
Custom Toll Free
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page