IVR for account verification

Posted on March 23, 2011 | By Voicent

I have started trialing your service to see if it is what we need for our web sites auto dialout. Our requirement is to have new users on our site verified at their landline number. The process is:
1) They sign up via our web form
2) We dial their specified number and have a message played with a unique code in. Ideally they press 1 to confirm they have written down the code or 2 to hear it again.
3) They enter the code into our web form and they are verified as owning that number.

Yes, this is one common use of the IVR technology and the web, mainly for user signup verification and credit card phone number verification. Several major web companies use this kind IVR applications. It should be relatively easy to use Voicent gateway and IVR Studio to create such apps.

Today I setup the gateway and a Call Centric account. I used the Python API (v.callText(’0061410538190′, ‘This is a test message, see what it sounds like’, “1″)) to make a call via the Call Centric SIP. The call was made Ok. Here are my questions:

1) The call quality had a lot of background noise. Is that a Call Centric problem? I went through your audio troubleshooting guide. I used speedtest to check my bandwidth. I have .5mb upload speed and 2mb download so I think my bandwidth is OK. I changed to basic codec pcmu. It was possibly a little better but still loads of background noise. Can you give me a clue as to where to look.

When using VOIP service like Callcentric, the audio quality is determined by:

a) Original audio file quality. The best will be audio created by professional recording studio. If you are using text-to-speech, then this should not be a problem. For more info, please see Audio FAQ

b) Internet connection speed. 128Kbps per line for both upload and download speed

c) network connection speed and quality. Usually this is not a problem, but if you are using a wireless connection, then this maybe an issue. Try to use physical connection.

d) Voice Codec used. Try to use only PCMU. Go to the gateway SIP setup page and remove all other codecs except PCMU on the selected list.

e) VOIP service quality. This is usually not an issue. But some connections, especially to rural area, may have audio quality issue. To verify, you can switch to a different VOIP provider (such as using SkypeConnect

f) Other factors. a-e are the major factors, there are not many other factors affecting the audio quality. If you call to a cell phone, maybe your cell phone reception is not good. You could use a really slow computer to text to speech.

2) The voice saying about licensing was speeding up and slowing down in places to the point where I could not hear it. What causes that?

It is related to the above question.

3) I put a message into my callText. I am not sure if it was played or not. It said something about not having a license for text to speech. Does that mean I can not test it? I need to know what it sounds like before I pay your license fee.

You should be able to test it before getting your license key. After the message about the TTS license, it should say your text

4) When our website gets busy and we have many signups to verify, does that mean we need multiple line licenses from you? If so how do we know when to upgrade, is there a queue we can see anywhere to know we are not getting through the verification calls quickly enough?

Yes, you have to add more lines to have more simultaneous calls. All the call requests are listed under C:\Program Files\Voicent\Gateway\outcall\reqs.

5) If we remove interactivity from the call so they have to write down the code or else we call themn again with a new one, does that mean the calls get queued at call centric thus alleviating the need for multiple line licenses?

Callcentric will not queue or reschedule your call. The scheduler is a function of Voicent Gateway.

5) How do I make it interactive? The Python interface doesn’t seem to provide that feature. I hope you can answer these questions for me so we can make a purchasing decision. All the best

The Simple Call Interface (Python interface) is used to deliver an audio file or a simple text-to-speech message. It does not offer interactivity. To add interactive feature, you can either manually create VoiceXML file to use with Voicent Gateway, or use Voicent IVR Studio to create the interactive application. If you are new to both, we recommend you start with IVR Studio, create a simple interactive app to see how it works. You can start with the IVR Studio Tutorial (Program Help menu > Product Walkthrough). If you want to learn more about the lower level VoiceXML technology, you can take a look at Voicent Gateway tutorial and Outbound call tutorial.

Posted in IVR Developer, IVR Usage |

Setup Audio Guide using IVR

Posted on March 21, 2011 | By Voicent

I have some questions about you product

1.- I live in norway, can i use this product in a normal telephone line here? what requirements are for using you software?

2.- Can i use this software also in mobile phones?

3.- I need this software for one reason… I have an artistic project, people will go to an exhibition, and they can call to a telephone number… when they call, they get a wellcome message, and they can aftewards select from 01 to 20 audios to hear different audios related to the exhibition,,, the point is, they will come to the exhibition, but they can follow the exhibition by hearing the 20 audios related to each photo of the exhibition… at the end of each audio they go back to the main menu, and can continue hearing the other audios… Can your software do something like this?

4- in order to do this, and if your software can do this, what plan should i buy?

5- what extra requirements do you think i need to do this? thanks,

Based on what you described, you are likely to have many people to call at the same time. We recommend you setup the Voicent system with a VOIP service provider in Norway. If you project that you may need 48 simultaneous calls at peak time, then you need get a VOIP account with at least 48 channels. Each channel can handle one call at a time. Most VOIP service offers monly plan or pay per call plan, so you can discontinue the service once the exhibition is over.

For Voicent software , just get Voicent IVR Studio. It should allow you to set up your audio guide easily by using the graphical user interface. There are samples and tutorials come with the product.

Regarding question 1 and 2, yes, anyone can call your VOIP service phone number using there regular phone or mobile phone. Regarding question 4, you need to get a service plan from a VOIP service company. Voicent only offers software that enables you to set up what you specified and utilize the VOIP service for the phone calls.

You can download the software and give it a try.

Posted in IVR Usage, VOIP |

Automated call to make sure drivers are awake

Posted on March 7, 2011 | By Voicent

I am interested in a having a software program call drivers at different times and numbers in the AM to make sure they are awake. If they do not answer then I need it to call or text me. Do you have something like this ? PLease email your response since I do not answer my phone often. Thank you

First, you can use either Voicent Auto Reminder or BroadcastByphone to call drivers. For scheduling calls, AutoReminder is probably easier to use.

The normal operation is wait for someone to press a key, and if you do not receive a key response, the system will just hang up. However, you can use Voicent IVR Studio to change the default behavior. To achieve what you want to do, use IVR Studio to design an application for AutoReminder. In the design,

1. Create a choice element to play an audio message, and at the end ask drivers to press 1 to confirm they are awake
2. Create a child element, play any audio message you want, specify touch tone key 1 as the transition key
3. Create another child element (transfer element) for call transfer, specify “all others” as the transition, and your phone number as the transfer number

Save the design and give it a name. When you specify calls in AutoReminder, select this message as your call message. That’s it.

Posted in IVR Usage |