Obitalk Setting to Hang up if the call answered too fast?

[Woodwards]

New to Obitalk and thanks to the very helpful forum topics and answers, I have figured out much on using the Obi. I am still a little fuzzy on inbound, outbound, default, and digit maps and the logic flow through all that, but I will get there!

My question is in followup to the ability to have obi ring two phone numbers (i.e. ph1, sp1:aaa-bbb-cccc) and have the second entry not ring until a delay of some odd seconds (forgot the suffix (S4? D4?)

I would like to have an inbound call ring my home phones, then after 15 seconds, ring my cell phone. However, I would like to configure the obi talk to hang up on the cell phone if it answers in under 3 seconds.

The reason for this is because on my Tracfone cell phone, I do not have a voice mail box set up and I leave it off most of the time. When a call comes to the cell phone with the phone off, Tracfone immediately plays a "no voice mail box set up" and hangs up.

So if Obi detects an answer on the cell phone really quick, I would like it to not bridge the call over and keep ringing the other configured bridge destinations.

The hope would be then that the obi keeps trying to ring until my VOIP provider's timer runs out and tosses the call to voice mail.

Make sense? Possible?

Now, if only I can find a cell provider that does not charge for inbound calls....that would make Auto Attendent awesome!

[giqcass]

I definitely understand this issue as I have experienced it personally when a cell phone was offline due to being out of service range or off because of a dead battery.  I would love to see a solution to this problem.  I'm trying to come up with something but If there is a pure obi solution I suspect one of our dial plan experts will beat me to it.

[QBZappy]

@Woodwards

Welcome to the forum,

It is possible to make this imitation call hunting a little more sophisticated. Consider an InboundCallRoute such as:

Voice Services > SP1 Service > X_InboundCallRoute:
{ph,sp2(12222222222;d=5),sp2(13333333333;d=15)}

A call coming in to sp1 will ring the phone connected to the OBi. Five seconds later the call will be forked to 12222222222. Fifteen seconds later the call will be forked to 13333333333. All three endpoints will now be ringing, the first to answer takes the call. If a second call comes in while the first call is in progress, then the two free endpoints will receive ringing (after any applicable delays) and either may take the second call.

To use the Oleg Method with this example:

Voice Services > SP1 Service > X_InboundCallRoute:
{>1234567:ph,sp2(12222222222;d=5),sp2(13333333333;d=15)}

Where 1234567 = Voice Services > SP1 Service > SIP Credentials > AuthUserName

Here is ianobis' "imitation call hunting" scheme. If I understand you correctly, could you not put the cell phone last on the inbound call route? Figure out the d=? (delay) to avoid the cell picking up. The call forking order and timing is everything in this use case.The first phone to pick up ends the call forking. If you time it properly the voice mail may be the last leg of the call.

Make sense? Possible?

[Woodwards]

QBZappy:

Yes, that was the post I actually read that got me thinking about call hunting using the Obi!

However, this inboundcallroute: {ph,sp2(12222222222;d=5),sp2(13333333333;d=15)}

Is calling PH, then adding another destination after a delay of d=x.

What I am asking is it is possible to have the obi (in the above example) ring 12222222222 and if it answers in less than 3 seconds, DROP the call to 12222222222 and NOT BRIDGE? Instead of D=x a "FAKE_ANSWER=x"?

From Obi's perspective, my carrier immediately answering and saying "voice mail is not set up" would appear as if the call was answered and bridge the inbound call, correct? But in reality, no human would normally be able to answer a phone that quickly. Certainly not in less than a couple seconds spent to pull the phone out of their pocket, see who is calling, and then swipe/flip the phone open.

If I can get the obi to not bridge a call to "the first answered extension" if the answer is less than x=milliseconds or x=seconds would provide a lot of flexibility in the final determination on where to bridge the call.

Out of curiosity, if (using the example above) 1222222222 number is a bad number and the telco plays the disconnect tone sequence and chatters about the number being bad, does the obi detect this and NOT BRIDGE the call? Or will obi simply see "off hook" and transfer the inbound call to 12222222222 even though it is a recording?

[QBZappy]

To clarrify the process, note the behaviour of call forking:

... All three endpoints will now be ringing, the first to answer takes the call...

What I am asking is it is possible to have the obi (in the above example) ring 12222222222 and if it answers in less than 3 seconds, DROP the call to 12222222222 and NOT BRIDGE?

The first phone/cell to answer will "DROP" all the other forked calls. Your objective if I understand you is to avoid the cell from answering before you have a chance to pick up using the the OBi attached phone or letting it go to voice mail on your voip service provider.

BTW, the reference to the two "sp2" in your inbound route implies that the sp2 provider offers two voice channels. In your example I am expecting that sp2(13333333333;d=15 would be forking to your cell after a 15 second delay. At this point if sp2(12222222222;d=5 has not picked up to voice mail and is still ringing, I expect that your cell will deliver a completed call to the OBi. Note you need to play with the timing before it goes to voice mail.

However, this inboundcallroute: {ph,sp2(12222222222;d=5),sp2(13333333333;d=15)}

From Obi's perspective, my carrier immediately answering and saying "voice mail is not set up" would appear as if the call was answered and bridge the inbound call, correct?

After the cell carrier picks up the call the bridging is terminated. The OBi assumes that the call has completed. That is why the order of the forking is an important element in this call strategy.

Is calling PH, then adding another destination after a delay of d=x.

Each time a call is forked a second, third, up to a maximum of 4 calls can be forked. All the phones will ring at the same time. If the cell is last on that list you have a window of 3 seconds for the voice mail to pick up.

[giqcass]

I just don't see a way for this to be done.  At least not yet. 

Out of curiosity, if (using the example above) 1222222222 number is a bad number and the telco plays the disconnect tone sequence and chatters about the number being bad, does the obi detect this and NOT BRIDGE the call? Or will obi simply see "off hook" and transfer the inbound call to 12222222222 even though it is a recording?

That question is actually kind of interesting.  To the best of my knowledge it depends on the VOIP provider you use.  Some VOIP providers have a little hiccup when it comes to certain disconnected numbers and they continue to ring when you call a disconnected number.  If you used a provider that has that issue all phones would continue to ring.  Otherwise the caller would hear the recording and the other phone would stop ringing.

[Woodwards]

What I am asking is it is possible to have the obi (in the above example) ring 12222222222 and if it answers in less than 3 seconds, DROP the call to 12222222222 and NOT BRIDGE?

The first phone/cell to answer will "DROP" all the other forked calls. Your objective if I understand you is to avoid the cell from answering before you have a chance to pick up using the the OBi attached phone or letting it go to voice mail on your voip service provider.

Not quite, QBZappy. My objective is to make sure the cell phone is answered in no less than three seconds before bridging the incoming call (terminating it) to the Cell phone. If the cell phone answers in under 3 seconds, do not terminate the call to the cell phone. Keep ringing other configured extensions until either the caller hangs up or voicemail kicks in.

It appears my "wish" is not possible yet! It seems like a viable feature addition, however. Put a timer on the call setup and if it goes off hook less than x milliseconds/seconds, drop it.

[CLTGreg]

Is this a month to month plan or prepay minutes plan? I know it isn't your solution but I'm curious. Straighttalk allows call forwarding on no answer and I use Google Voice as my voice mail. If the cell phone is off it will forward back to GV even though the call forward originated from GV. Somehow GV manages this so it's pretty much set and forget for me.

I assume that's not part of your deal but I'm still curious as to what kind of cell plan you are on.

[Woodwards]

Is this a month to month plan or prepay minutes plan? I know it isn't your solution but I'm curious. Straighttalk allows call forwarding on no answer and I use Google Voice as my voice mail. If the cell phone is off it will forward back to GV even though the call forward originated from GV. Somehow GV manages this so it's pretty much set and forget for me.

I assume that's not part of your deal but I'm still curious as to what kind of cell plan you are on.

I use a Tracfone. It is a pay-as-you-go plan. You buy the fill-up cards at a local store and redeem them for minutes, good for 90 days.

The phone offers no services other than a dial tone. I can also text and web from the phone, but I do not do that. There is no control panel at tracphone's website to configure voice mail, call forwarding or anything. Only add minutes.

It fits my bill: I use less than 120 minutes over three month's time.

[drgeoff]

Now, if only I can find a cell provider that does not charge for inbound calls....that would make Auto Attendent awesome!

Come and live in the UK (or other parts of Europe). 

System in the UK is that the caller pays the "mobile extra".  Mobile numbers are in a different range (eg start 07... in the UK) so caller knows he will pay a higher rate for the call compared to a landline (01... or 02... numbers)

[giqcass]

This is a truly hit or miss thing.  This works for some tracphones that are powered by AT&T.

Dial *004*1xxxxxxxxxx# and send; where xxxxxxxxxx is your Google Voice number. Not all phones will accept anything other than a valid phone number. You get a 'check call restrictions' message.
If the code is accepted you will get confirmation on the phone from At&t.
to deactivate conditional call forwarding for At&t you enter ##004# and send on the phone.

If your phone accepts the change we may need to make some changes on your Google Voice account as well but let me know if your phone takes the code first because it is a longshot anyways.

[jimates]

This is a truly hit or miss thing.  This works for some tracphones that are powered by AT&T.

Dial *004*1xxxxxxxxxx# and send; where xxxxxxxxxx is your Google Voice number. Not all phones will accept anything other than a valid phone number. You get a 'check call restrictions' message.
If the code is accepted you will get confirmation on the phone from At&t.
to deactivate conditional call forwarding for At&t you enter ##004# and send on the phone.

If your phone accepts the change we may need to make some changes on your Google Voice account as well but let me know if your phone takes the code first because it is a longshot anyways.

The great thing about Tracfone/Net10 handsets (non smartphone only) is that the handset keeps up with your minute usage, not the system.

With other cell plans the system sees the incoming call as active until the forwarded call is terminated. So you pay for the call on your cellular plan whether you use the handset or not for the call.

With Trac/Net10 the call can be forwarded and you will not use your minutes because the minutes are not deducted from your bank because the handset is not active during the call. As noted, not all handsets will accept the input to activate the conditional call forwarding.

With my google voice settings I have my Tracfone set to ring my other phones before going to voicemail. This allows me to not answer the Tracfone and wait until my home phone rings and answer the call. I use my google voice exclusively so I really only get calls direct to my cell phone from family members.


As far as terminating a call if it is answered too fast:
Even if you could come up with a dial plan, the fact that calls are never delivered with the same amount of accuracy would interfere. If you realize how long it takes your cell to ring from the time the call is initiated you will see what I mean. Sometimes a cell may ring quite fast, other times the call can be in progress from several seconds before the cell phone ever comes into play. (limitations of the system I guess).

[giqcass]

My general thought was that if the forwarding worked it could be used to ring a number long enough to let one of the other phones pick up or Google Voice Voicemail to pick up.  One solution I was toying with was to set up a Callcentric or Ipkall number for the cell phone to forward to and set that number to maximum ring time.  This extension would ring but no phone would ring.  Then Google Voice would have the impression that the tracphone was ringing even when it was off.

[jimates]

My general thought was that if the forwarding worked it could be used to ring a number long enough to let one of the other phones pick up or Google Voice Voicemail to pick up.  One solution I was toying with was to set up a Callcentric or Ipkall number for the cell phone to forward to and set that number to maximum ring time.  This extension would ring but no phone would ring.  Then Google Voice would have the impression that the tracphone was ringing even when it was off.

But wouldn't the call be considered as answered from googles point, one it was forwarded by the cell carrier?

[giqcass]

I don't believe so because it's a forward and not a bridge.  It would really need to be tested because there are so many inconsistencies between carriers.