Newbie Q: IVR and Asterix@Home

Hi everyone,

I hope this newbie post is not too much of an affront to the posters here. I tried to read the forums and faqs first so as not to waste everyones time.

Here goes, just jump in with any answers or thoughts. Thanks!

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) - From what I gather, this is the right term for the feature of the “Menu System” that encompasses “Press 1 for voicemail …” "Press 2 for prerecorded instructions … " “Press 0 for a representative”. Is that what you call the menuing system? IVR? This is the feature I’m most interested in and it will help my research to get the terminology right.

How effective of a solution is Asterix to use it as a filter for home phone calls via Asterix@Home? Simply setting up a call screening system that says “Press 1 if you are a human who is not a telemarketer” whenever someone calls. Is there a name for that kind of screening? Are there turtorials for setting up such a stripped-down implementation of Asterix?

Thanks again everyone! Asterix is going to be huge when common folk realize what is possible!! It will be like MythTV or Freevo for your phone!!

IVR = Short for interactive voice response. Yes this is the term good example on setup here

voip-info.org/tiki-index.php … s+IVR+menu

[quote=“rusty”]IVR = Short for interactive voice response. Yes this is the term good example on setup here

voip-info.org/tiki-index.php … s+IVR+menu[/quote]

Thanks! Very helpful…

I’m thinking of ways to blackbox Asterix into a single device that can be slipstreamed into a phone line to filter telemarketing. And basically run itself for Grandmas and those who don’t want to get into editing .conf files and such.

Good info. Thanks for humoring me…

[quote=“RentonSentinel”]Hi everyone,

I hope this newbie post is not too much of an affront to the posters here. I tried to read the forums and faqs first so as not to waste everyones time.

Here goes, just jump in with any answers or thoughts. Thanks!

IVR (Interactive Voice Response) - From what I gather, this is the right term for the feature of the “Menu System” that encompasses “Press 1 for voicemail …” "Press 2 for prerecorded instructions … " “Press 0 for a representative”. Is that what you call the menuing system? IVR? This is the feature I’m most interested in and it will help my research to get the terminology right.

How effective of a solution is Asterix to use it as a filter for home phone calls via Asterix@Home? Simply setting up a call screening system that says “Press 1 if you are a human who is not a telemarketer” whenever someone calls. Is there a name for that kind of screening? Are there turtorials for setting up such a stripped-down implementation of Asterix?

Thanks again everyone! Asterix is going to be huge when common folk realize what is possible!! It will be like MythTV or Freevo for your phone!![/quote]

Actually what you are referring to is most commonly known as an Automatic Attendant.

IVR Interactive Voice Response usually involves the connection of a database to the Voice Processing system in this case the asterisk pbx.

By using a voice menu and connecting an application that generates voice prompts on the asterisk pbx you can gather information on the asterisk pbx voice response side get matching information on a database and play it back ot the caller. An auto attendant does not do this.

Example , call your bank enter your account number and pin and you can hear your balance. This is an ivr application.

Call your bank and select option 1 for an agent or option 2 to call your local branch is an automatic attendant application.

So an ivr has several requirements, 1-Gather information, 2 look it up on a database, 3 play back corresponding information to a caller or act upon gathered data.

Luck