We have just added a C# class based on Voicent Gateway simple HTTP interface. It serves as sample code to use the interface and it is release under the open source license.
Details can be found at:
Cannot detect human pickup
Detect answering machine and live human pickup is based on statistical data. No telephony system today is able to make it 100% accurate. This probably will never be possible. Even humans make mistakes in noisy environment like airport. But for most situations, the detection should work well.
Most call detection problems are related to phone line noise. This is the first place to check. The line noise problem might be caused by both ends of the phone call. For example, if the receiving end is a cell phone and the cell signal is not that strong, the noisy line tends to mislead the human voice detection process. On the modem end, it could be caused by simple things like a really long phone line between the phone jack and the modem.
More information can be found on the Modem and dialing FAQ.
One good tool to help you to hear what the modem “hears” is to use the “Record Initial Dialing” feature of the gateway. You can turn it on by selecting “Help > Record Initial Dialing” from Voicent Gateway’s main menu. After it is turned on, the gateway should record the audio to a .wav file. The gateway records the audio starting from the time it dials till it detects a live person or an answering machine. The rest of the phone call is not recorded.
These wave files can be found under:
C:\Program Files\Voicent\Gateway
They should be named pickup_*.wav. You can click on the file and hear the audio stream. If you hear a lot of background noise, then your detection is not going to be accurate. You should use a phone line with better quality.
Posted in Appointment Reminder, Auto Dialer, Gateway, Installation, Voice Modem
Multiple Phone Cards for Autodialer
The previous post contains general information about setting up a calling card with Voicent software. If you have multiple calling cards, you cannot use the gateway option to set the dialing prefix. You then need to add the calling card prefix to each of the phone numbers in your call list. That can be time consuming if you have a long list and a few calling cards for different numbers.
For example, if you have a call list using 3 calling cards:
312567112,,1,,2345,,,12345678
312568867,,2,,2345,,,23456789
436454566,,2,,1234,,,987987878
The problem is that if you copy paste this list to BroadcastByPhone, the numbers will be separated into different columns. This is because the comma has a special meaning in spreadsheet like programs. The comma is usually used to separate columns.
The solution is to use double quotes around the phone numbers and then import the list file. Here are the steps:
1. Create a call list file like the following:
Name, Phone Number
, “312567112,,1,,2345,,,12345678″
, “312568867,,2,,2345,,,23456789″
, “436454566,,2,,1234,,,987987878″
It should be easier if you have Microsoft Excel program. You can enter/import your call list without the double quotes. All you need to do is to save it as CSV file.
2. Select File > Import from BroadcastByPhone main menu.
Posted in Appointment Reminder, Auto Dialer, Gateway