HI All,
I am new to Asterisk.Is any one using Asterisk for automating outgoing calls.
For making out going calls with Asterisk do we need to have digium hardware?
Can we make outgoing calls with a simple telephone line with internet connection and an Asterisk Box.
I was also wondering if its possible to enable IVR in Asterisk with an outgoing call.
Say for example,
1.We do a Dial out using Asterisk.
2.The user picks the call.
3.The asterisk IVR is activated.
4.Then the user chooses the options from IVR.
5.The user hangs up.
[quote]HI All,
I am new to Asterisk.Is any one using Asterisk for automating outgoing calls.[/quote]
Yes
You only need hardware if your connection to the PSTN requires it. i.e. FXO Line. In addition there are other companies that make hardware compatible with asterisk so you have a choice as to what hardware to use.
You would need a card supported by Asterisk to connect the line into. The cheapest cards are the X100P, single port FXO/FXS.
You can make calls without any cards over the internet with the SIP or IAX protocols. You just need to get a service provider to connect to.
First- Asterisk does not support telemarketing. There was a patch to enable this functionality for the 1.0 codebase but it was dropped from 1.2 due to low demand. Thus, Asterisk will not be suitable for a telemarketing application.
If you want to have the IVR push a call out, make a .call file. The call file will contain the number to dial, as well as the context/exten/priority to put them in when they pick up. It’s important to use a real trunk (SIP/IAX/PRI) that provides answer supervision- if you do this over analog POTS it will start the IVR as soon as it’s done dialing. Then once the user picks up it will run the IVR as if they just dialed into it.