Exit broadcast by phone autodialer when invoked from command line

Posted on October 8, 2007 | By Voicent News

Hi, I have a Perl script that logs into the dialer and runs the BroadcastByPhone. Once the application finishes, the script goes onto do other things. However it must see that the application has finished before it goes on. What I see happening is that the application successfully comes up (I’m connected through remote desktop into the dialer PC while running the script from a different box) and stays up. Once I manually close it, my script can go on.

My question is, is there any way to make the BroadcastbyPhone application automatically exit after it’s finished dialing through
all the numbers in the *.voc file?

If you have a release that is before version 5.3.4, the program will not terminate itself if invoked through command line.

Starting from release 5.3.4, the default is that the program will exit if all numbers in the voc file are called. If you want it otherwise, you can specify -noexit in the command line.

Posted in Auto Dialer, Developer |

Time required to finish a call using auto dialer

Posted on October 5, 2007 | By Voicent News

SOME CALLS TAKING 8-10 MINUTES TO COMPLETE. I THOUGHT THE PRODUCT COULD COMPLETE 60 CALLS AN HOUR IS THEIR SOME SETTING THAT I AM MISSING TO CUT THE TIME IN BETWEEN DOWN. THANKS

First you need to figure why it takes 8 – 10 minutes to complete the call. What you can do is connect a regular phone to modem PHONE jack, and listen to it after the call is connected. (Please make sure you hangup the phone when the modem disconnect the call. You have to free the line for the next phone call)

If the system plays a simple message, then the time it takes is:
1). Dial the number
2). Wait for phone to connect and pickup
3). If answering machine, wait till beep
4). Plays your message
5). Hangup
6). Wait few seconds for the phone line to free up itself
7). Go to next call

If your message also collects response, the call time will be longer; and if there is a replay option, in theory, the other end can keep replay your message and never free up the phone.

As you can see, the majority of time spent on a call cannot be shortened. When an auto dialer makes a phone call, it has to go through each step just as a human does. It can dial the number much faster than a human. Other than that, not much speed up can be achieved.

Posted in Auto Dialer |

Meaning of callstatusHandler.jsp return string

Posted on October 3, 2007 | By Voicent News

When I query for a call status using callstatusHandler.jsp sometimes I get as part of the returned string “Line Occupied. Try in 5 minutes”. Is this due to the gateway (modem) is busy or the call was attempted and a busy signal was received? Help me understand what is/has happened here. Also, is there a way to manage the retry time from 5 minutes to something else

“Line Occupied” means the modem cannot get a dial tone from the phone line. If you have a shared phone line, that could be someone else is using the phone line; or there is an incoming call (not necessarily connected) when the system tried to dial out.

Yes, you can change the retry time. It is set when you send the call request.

Posted in Developer |