SOLVED GV->PBX -- number of rings to pickup

matt91

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Code:
PBX in a Flash GREEN Status Program
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  ┌────────────────────────SYSTEM INFORMATION───────────────────────────┐
  │  Asterisk  = ONLINE  | Dahdi    = ONLINE  | MySQL    = ONLINE    │
  │  SSH        = ONLINE  | Apache    = ONLINE  | Iptables  = ONLINE    │
  │  Fail2ban  = ONLINE  | Internet  = ONLINE  | Ip6Tables = ONLINE    │
  │  Disk Free  = ADEQUATE| Mem Free  = ADEQUATE| NTPD      = ONLINE    │
  │  MailServer = OFFLINE | Samba    = OFFLINE | Webmin    = ONLINE    │
  │  Ethernet0  = ONLINE  | Ethernet1 = N/A    | Wlan0    = N/A      │
  │                                                                    │
  │  PIAF Installed Version  = 2.0.6.4 under *VIRTUALBOX*              │
  │  FreePBX Version          = 2.11.0.1                                │
  │  Running Asterisk Version = 11.3.0                                  │
  │  Asterisk Source Version  = 11.3.0                                  │
  │  Dahdi Source Version    = 2.6.2                                  │
  │  Libpri Source Version    = 1.4.12                                  │
  │  IP Address              = 192.168.1.5 on eth0                    │
  │  Operating System        = CentOS release 6.4 (Final)              │
  │  Kernel Version          = 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.i686 - 32 Bit        │
  │                                                                    │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

I have a fairly vanilla install of PIAF Green with two Google Voice trunks. This runs great as a home PBX - with one specific exception that I'd like to find a fix for.

For inbound calls, GV rings once or twice, then hands off the call to the PBX, which picks up and calls my ring group. For "normal" callers, they continue to hear the ringing sound, and are none the wiser that my PBX has already picked up the call. However, my kids' school robocalls us frequently with notices about conferences, early dismissal times, etc. These recorded announcements start playing as soon as they detect that a 'pickup' has occurred.

Unfortunately, this pickup occurs when GV hands off the call to the PBX. So the school announcement is playing the whole time that the ring group is ringing, and then while my VM greeting is playing. I might get a recording of the last few seconds of the announcement, or none at all. If I am home, I get to listen to most of the message, and can hit '1' to have it repeated so I hear the whole thing.

I see a couple of ways to address this (and there are likely more, of course):

1) Keep GV from handing off the call while my ring group is ringing. The handoff from GV to PBX would only occur at the time that I or the VM pickups the call. I'd still miss some of the announcement while my VM greeting is playing, but it'd be better than nothing. (I don't know how to implement this change, however.)

2) Since these robocalls come from a specific CID, perhaps I could/should setup a new inbound route specifically for it, and have it just go immediately to VM. I wouldn't be able to listen to the announcement if I'm home, but would get it as an email attachment, which is acceptable.

Any thoughts on how to address this issue, and how to implement a fix?

thanks,

Matt
 

Brian Simmons

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When you say that GV rings once or twice before handing off the call to the PBX system, how do you know this? Do you have GV ringing other phones other than the Chat option (in the GV settings)? If so, you need to ensure that GV is only being forwarded to the Chat and no other phones. If you want calls coming into GV to ring more phones than just your PBX system, then use the "follow me" functionality of the PIAF system to also ring cell phones, etc.

If this isn't the problem, I don't know what else to do to fix it. But I would implement your 2nd suggestion regarding the inbound call route. If your school system is like ours, those calls come from somewhere other than the local school number, so this shouldn't have a negative effect on getting normal calls from the school. You could still ring the house, or if you are normally away when these calls come in, then send them directly to VM. You could even create a special VM box with just a second of dead air recorded for the message. That way the system sends the call to VM and starts recording as soon as possible after getting the call.
 

stanjohn

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# 2 but I would let it ring till GV pick's up that would give you the option to pick it up, VM would be on google.
 

matt91

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When you say that GV rings once or twice before handing off the call to the PBX system, how do you know this?

When I call home from my office, I see that on my work phone, the call timer starts to tick away after the first (or second?) ring. This tells me that our work PBX also is seeing that a 'pickup' has occurred at that time.

Do you have GV ringing other phones other than the Chat option (in the GV settings)? If so, you need to ensure that GV is only being forwarded to the Chat and no other phones. If you want calls coming into GV to ring more phones than just your PBX system, then use the "follow me" functionality of the PIAF system to also ring cell phones, etc.

No, I don't have any other phones, etc, hooked up to these GV accounts. Just feeding the home PBX.
 

Cam__

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Google Voice always sends "fake" ringback tone to callers. It does this even before the call is connected through. Similarly, when you make an outbound call using Google Voice, you are getting a "fake" ringback tone generated by Asterisk, or whatever handles your outgoing calls to Google Voice, such as an Obihai device. That would explain the one or two rings.

I'm guessing you use the FreePBX Google Voice module, and my suspicion is that it automatically answers the incoming calls, so that Google Voice can't take them back after 20-25 seconds and send the calls to their voicemail. I don't use that module because some time back I installed "Yate in a Flash" and it has always been very reliable for me, so I've seen no reason to switch. But you might check in the settings to see if there is an option to disable the initial answer. It might be labeled something like "use Google Voice voicemail" or something to that effect. If you disable that then be aware that if you don't answer the phone it will go to Google's voicemail, unless you set the ring time before going to voicemail to rather small number of seconds, probably somewhere between 15 and 20, but you may need to experiment.

One way around using a short ring time for all callers including internal ones would be to create a ring group that only has the desired extension(s) to ring in the extension list, has a ring time of say 15 seconds, and set the destination if no answer as your extension's voicemail. Then send your inbound Google Voice route destination to that, rather than going directly to the extension. This would let you create a short ring time for Google Voice calls without affecting the ring time for other callers.

If you use your second idea regarding a separate inbound route for calls from the school, you could create two ring groups to receive the calls and give them separate treatments.

Or if you want all calls to still be answered EXCEPT the ones from the school, again use your second idea but for the "normal" Google Voice calls you could send them to an Announcement that is for example 1/100th second of silence, which can be generated using Audacity (must be 8000 kHz, 16 bits, monaural), or just use the attached file, and upload it using System Recordings. Make sure "Don't Answer Channel" is NOT checked in the Announcement options, and then make the destination your extension. But if you do that, be aware that Google Voice does not like to be answered too quickly - if you pick up too soon the caller will just hear ringing and it will go to Google Voice's Voicemail. So in any inbound route from Google Voice that you are sending to an announcement, set the "Pause Before Answer" setting to 1 or 2 - you may need to experiment. In this case you would not need to send the call to a ring group because by answering it you stop Google Voice by sending it to its voicemail.

If the Google Voice module does not give you the option to disable the initial answer or use Google Voice's voicemail, then things get a little bit trickier. It can still be done but you will probably need to insert dialplan into extensions_custom.conf or extensions_override_freepbx.conf.

NOTE: The forum software would not let me upload a file with a .wav extension so I changed it to have a .pdf extension. After downloading it just change the file extension back to .wav
 

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matt91

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Thanks for the thoughts and ideas. I just set up a new inbound route for that specific CID to route directly to a VM box with no outgoing greeting. I also turned off the vm-intro.gsm ("Please leave your message after the tone. When done hang up or press the pound key") system-wide, as it's not really valuable for me. I think this system should work swimgingly.

thanks
matt
 

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