News:

On Tuesday September 6th the forum will be down for maintenance from 9:30 PM to 11:59 PM PDT

Main Menu

What is the Auto Attendant?

Started by amrutsevak, September 10, 2011, 07:02:02 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

amrutsevak

Obi doesn't come with manual. And there's no information explaining the features of Obi online either.

I'm trying to figure out what the Auto Attendant is for and if I can benefit from it. I picked up a little here and there but still not a full explanation.

Can anyone explain what it is and how to use it?

QBZappy

You can find the Admin guide here. It details everything about the OBi.

http://www.obihai.com/docs-downloads.html

The Auto Attendant is intended to be a voice menu offering yourself or others who are permitted to make calls (Circle of Trust) using the services of the OBi. You can make speed dial calls, direct dial calls, choose the Service Provider SP1/2 you want the call.

The AA picks up only if the CID is recognized in one of the inbound call routes. This is the concept OBi calls circle of trust.
Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

RonR

amrutsevak,

The Auto Attendant allows some or all callers to be greeted with 3 options:

Press 1 to continue the call  (rings the PHONE Port)

Press 2 to make a new call (allows the caller to originate a new call through one of the OBi's trunks)

Press 3 to enter a callback number (causes the Auto Attendant to hang up and call a number back)

The Auto Attendant only answers if there is a matched rule in an InboundCallRoute.  The rule can be unconditional (aa), meaning the Auto Attendant would always answer, or it might be conditional on CallerID {12125551212:aa}.

amrutsevak

#3
Ok so it seems like I can use auto attendant to make an international call from my cell phone if I call my own number which goes to Obi then use google voice's great rates. However, I'm not sure how to go about that.

Of course, I would only want that for my own mobile number and not others. I should add my mobile number to trusted callers to restrict others from auto attendant, right?

Also, I would I get the AA instead of the phone ringing when I call my number? Ideally, I would want the AA after 6 rings meaning no one picks up after 6 rings.

RonR

#4
Assuming you want to call into SP1 from your cell phone:

Voice Services -> SP1 Service -> X_InboundCallRoute : {12341234567:aa,ph},{ph}

Voice Services -> Auto Attendant -> AnswerDelay : 20000

where 12341234567 is your cell phone number and 20000 milliseconds (20 seconds) is the delay for the AA to answer.

This should simultaneously ring the Auto Attendent and the PHONE Port when you call in from your cell phone.  All other callers should ring the PHONE Port only.

Don't use Trusted Callers on the OBiTALK Web Portal.  The OBiTALK Web Portal can't produce configurations such as this.

If you make these changes directly to your OBi, you must disable Auto Provisioning.

Note: The Auto Attendant delay is set to 20 seconds because if neither the PHONE Port nor the Auto Attendant answers within 25 seconds, Google Voice voicemail will take the call.

Should the simultaneous ringing of the PHONE Port and Auto Attendant not be convenient, you can always have your cell phone unconditionally go to the Auto Attendant and you can reach the PHONE Port from there by pressing option 1 (continue the call).  Since the Auto Attendant will have answered, Google Voice voicemail won't be an issue.  For this approach:

Voice Services -> SP1 Service -> X_InboundCallRoute : {12341234567:aa},{ph}

Voice Services -> Auto Attendant -> AnswerDelay : 4000 (Default checked)

where 12341234567 is your cell phone number.