Possible with Asterisk

Asterisk Asterisk General
1

Hi Everybody, sorry if this has already been discussed but any way I’ve been trying to search for an answer I’ve come up with nothing.

Is there a Module in existence that can control individual users minutes (so to speak)

For instance is it possible to configure asterisk in a way that would allow multiple users to have restricted talk time.

Basically
User 1 - has 5 minutes
User 2 - 10 minutes
User 3 - 0 minutes etc.

So user 1 picks up a handset dials in his PIN and then can call out for his allotted time? (With a warning when he’s down to 2 minutes or so?)

Minutes can be controlled by the Admin or something?

Just wondering if anyone out there has any experience/idea on anything like this currently? Any info would be great.

-Thanks

Kent

2

Hello,
I’m not aware of any application/function that implement what you need.
Asterisk can do this, with a little dialplan programming and with the help of a database:

  1. identify the user through a pin or the caller id;
  2. in the database search for the user to check the remaining minutes, put the value found in a dialplan variable, let’s call it MINSLEFT and multiply by 1000 to get the milliseconds;
  3. calculate when you need to warn the user about the expiring of the time left, store this value in a variable called MINSWARN and multiply by 1000 to get the milliseconds;
  4. use the Dial application to dial out and set its L parameter to set the maximum duration of the call and when to warn the user when the time left is expiring, L(${MINSLEFT}:${MINWARN}).

voip-info.org/wiki/view/Asterisk+cmd+Dial

Hope this helps you start.

Cheers.

Marco Bruni

3

Someone has suggested the idea of prepaid calling cards… with a little bit of research I’m seeing there are solutions out there for that type of setup. Has anyone had experience with any of those that veer slightly towards this approach?