is it possible to use the Voicent software with Antivirus software installed on the PC? At times our employees will use these terminals and the system will catch a virus. This could be avoided if we had A/V software installed. If this is possible we would love to know, or if it can only run with certain antivirus software’s

Yes you should be able to, antivirus software and Voicent software will not interfere. However, antivirus software normally comes with a firewall program, which may block Voicent software. If that is the case, all you need to do is add program exceptions to your firewall program to allow Voicent program to have full access.

If you are using Windows 7 and also use Windows firewall, Voicent software can automatically add firewall exceptions. To do so, open Voicent Gateway, select Setup > Options > Control tab, and select “Add gateway exceptions to windows firewall”.

For other firewall product, since each firewall program is different, we do not have specific instructions on how to add these exceptions to a particular firewall program. In general, the following processes are part of the Voicent Gateway and need to be added as exceptions.

vxengine.exe: telephony engine of the gateway
spengine.exe: speech engine of the gateway
javaw.exe: VoiceXML interpreter
javaw.exe: Voicent applications server

The main Voicent gateway application port number is 8155 and 8165. For other ports, please see open firewall ports for Voicent gateway

If you are not sure whether Voicent Gateway is blocked by your firewall or antivirus program, you can disable or uninstall it first. You can enable and reinstall it later. To disable Windows XP firewall, please click the Start button, then select Control Panel, then click Windows Firewall. From the firewall window, select the Off checkbox.

I don’t hear it dialing and I don’t hear the answering machine when one picks up. Is this normal? How would I know to hang up the phone if I can’t hear the machine? It sometimes takes two minutes until the display tells me it’s an answering machine.

Voicent Agent Dialer has to dialing mode: predictive and semi-automatic. In predictive mode, you will be connected on there is a live answer; while in semi-auto mode, you will be connected as soon as the system dials.

So, in predictive mode, you do not hear the dialing, and you do not hear people say “hello”, you will hear a short beep when your headset is connected to the phone audio. In semi-auto mode, you will hear everything.

Normally, you will use more lines than agents in predictive mode. This setting ensures that agents spend less or no time in waiting for a connected call. The software can automatically leave a message on answering machines or voice mails. If you do not need to leave a message, you can quickly skip answering machines by selecting “disconnect as soon as answering machine is detected” in the gateway > Setup > Options > Advanced tab.

Also, the box that pops up when someone answers, pops up behind the AgentDialer display, not in front of it. Shouldn’t the box pop up in front of the AgentDialer display, so I can click on “End Call”?

Looks like you are using the default RemoteAgent software that is installed with the gateway. If you are going to use predictive dialing, you can turn the default one off and install the RemoteAgent software (included in the installation package. choose client program in the first window to install). This will give you more control over the display and audio. To turn off the default one, select “do not show pop up screen on this computer” in gateway > > Setup > Options > Call Transfer tab.

Do I need to have a few lines with CallCentric to use predictive dialing, or just one line (as the dialer would be dialing more than one number at a time)?
Also, about how many calls can I make in an hour if I dial just one number at a time?

If the dialing is to make simultaneous calls, you need multiple lines for Voicent software. For Agent Dialer, each line requires one VOIP/SIP channel. If you use Callcentric, you can enable simultaneous calls in your account, that will enable a few channels for your account. You need to contact their support to see how many channels you have. If you need to make a lot of simultaneous calls, you can try to use Skype Connect service, which supports up to 300 channels per account.

Also, Voicent software can be setup to use multiple VOIP service providers, or multiple VOIP accounts with the same provider.

For predictive dialing, it is hard to tell how many calls it can make since it depends on how many answering machines you will reach, how long you will stay on the phone to talk to your customers. The overhead for each call includes dialing, waiting for someone to pickup the phone, and detecting live answer or answering machine. If you need to leave a message, then it has to wait for the end of answering machine prompt, and then play your audio message.