Detection problem when using Skype

For general discussions of call progress detection, please see the KB article: Autodialer detection of answering machine and human pickup.

When Skype is used and on some computers, the detection may not work that well.

The technical explanation of this problem is that the initial audio is not forwarded from Skype instance to Voicent program. When Voicent gateway starts a call through Skype, it invokes a skype instance to do so. Once the call is connected, Voicent program informs the skype instance to forward the phone audio. On most computers, the audio seems to be forwarded immediately, but on others, the audio is forwarded only after some delay. You can normally tell this delay when you can hear the callee’s saying “hellp” over the computer speaker or headset. The audio is played by Skype instead of forwarded to Voicent program. Without the initial audio, Voicent program does not know the callee has said “hello”. Since Voicent program is voice activated, the lack of the initial audio will cause a long initial delay before your message is played.

There seems to be no settings or configurations we can set to change the behavior of the skype software.

Try a different computer

This problem seems to be machine dependent. So try a different computer may solve the problem. Or

Use other VOIP service

This problem can be eliminated if you use other VOIP/SIP services instead of Skype. The reason is that unlike using Skype, the phone call is made within the Voicent program and the program has full control of the phone audio. There will be no lose of initial audio.