ISDN Lines (128 Kb BRI)

[Guest beginner]

Hi,

I have 2 ISDN lines . each isdn line is 2 phone lines( I assume a digitals lines)

I assume that I can not connect to an dialogic modems.

What kind of hardware can I use?

can I use an isdn modems?

[SupportTeam]

v5.1 Beta2 can now work with CAPI cards.

 

please see:

 

http://www.katalinatech.com/vghelp/html/In...InstallCAPI.htm

[p13]

Hi,

 

I have tested 5.2 version with Fritz!ADSL card. Basically it works.

But, I did not manage VoiceGuide to recognise MSNs.

In fact ComISDN is configured to have 2 MSNs (each for one chanel), but VG ignores MSNs and answers on first available chanel.

 

Any hint?

Thanks.

[SupportTeam]

Right now VoiceGuide does not look at MSNs and answers all incoming calls on the ISDN line.

 

Do you want to be able to select what calls to answer/not answer, or what scripts to run depending on CallerID or number dialed?

[Guest Jukka]

Hi,

It would be a create feature, if you could choice which numbers to answer and which not. Many German ISDN systems have 6 MSN numbers.

Is there any date when this will / could be implemented?

Greetings from Munich Germany

[SupportTeam]

This is already implemented and will be available in v5.1 Beta 3.

 

You will be able to use a "Call Routing" file to define which scripts will run depending on what number was dialed by the caller.

 

This area is still under development so if you have any other suggestions please let us know now - it'll be easier to have them implemented while work in this area is continuing...

[SupportTeam]

Correction to:

Right now VoiceGuide does not look at MSNs and answers all incoming calls on the ISDN line.

 

From ComISDN developers:

 

ComISDN can automaticaly filters incoming calls and reports only those with the selected MSN (=CalledID). If no MSN is specified under the ComISDN configuration dialogs, all calls offering on the ISDN line will be reported by ComISDN ; if you specify one or more MSNs, then only calls to those MSN will be reported.

[Guest Jukka]

Hi,

I have been using AVM Fritz card a month and it has been working perfectly. very good audio quality.

But today it stoped working. When I go and configure ComISDN I get a error message license has expired (I have been using exactly 1month.).

Do I need a license for COMISDN?

Where do I get it or is this a bug.

 

I am using WINXP Prof. IVG (5.1b?) . I have written the COMISDN hotline, but no answer.

Can someone help?

 

Br Jukka Saarelainen

[SupportTeam]

Yes the ComISDN driver needs it's own license.

 

This has not yet been made very clear in Help files (support for Fritz!Card was only introduced in the current Beta release of VG5.1), but when viewing the configuration screen for ComISDN you can see the "Register" tab there which asks for the code.

 

Once VG 5.1 is released there will be a special "VoiceGuide for CAPI" section on registration www form - and those prices will include everything, but for now (the next month or so) the code needs to be purchased separately.

 

Price is 45 Euros per BRI (2B) (that’s the direct price from makers of ComISDN)

 

To order the license: we first need the ComISDN Unique ID.

 

Open Start -> Settings -> Control Panel then click Phone and Modem Options or Telephony, and then under Advanced or Telephony Drivers, select ComISDN Service Provider and click Configure.

 

On the licenses tab click Add, and the copy the Unique ID. It will look something like this:

 

H9G6K-040XO-WRYWC-29WS6-OMOA0

 

We can handle the orders for these licenses for now.

 

To order just fill out the VoiceGuide www order form, select "Other Upgrade" then in Comments write "ComISDN" and specify the ComISDN Unique ID. 45 Euros will be charged.

[Guest Jukka]

Hi,

Right now VoiceGuide does not look at MSNs and answers all incoming calls on the ISDN line.

 

Is there any plans to make this work in the near future? Or some beta version?

This would be a great help for me.

I am using VG for two different services. 2 MSN, 1 channel for each service. But now I have to do the check in the script with help of the CID.

It makes the working with VG hard.

[blueznl]

for evaluation purposes i downloaded some different versions of voiceguide (a 4.9 or so from way back that i never installed until yesterday, and 5.1.8 (?) just from your website)

 

i am using a avm fritz! card (currently a passive one, active ones will be coming in soon) and i stumbled over some issues, that just might be related to the issues mentioned above...

 

the questions:

 

1. capi support... did i read it right that capi support is ONLY available via comisdn? (in other words, it's actually tapi support :-)) so no direct capi without additional tapi drivers...

 

2. msn support... i will run the system on a line with multiple different msn's where each msn has to be treated in a different way, but each msn can arrive on any of the connected isdn channels / lines (max. 10 per isdn2), i need to run a script depending on the msn, am i correct to assume this is not (yet) possible?

 

3. tapi support... will the fritz! tapi drivers function as well? i am currently trying to get them to work, without much luck, there's something very funny (not) going on

 

here's the problem i ran into:

 

1. my setup:

- 1 siemens isdn dect pabx on the s0 bus

- 1 pc with a fritz! card on the same bus

 

2. both should react to a call to the same msn, my intention is to have all calls that 'overflow' (after a number of neglected rings) to be handled by voiceguide, a simple answering machine, yeah i know :-)

 

3. i know the fritz! tapi works fine with, for example, the dialer provided with windows, for outgoing and incoming calls, functions as expected

 

4. however, when i use voiceguide and have 'rings before answering inbound call' set to anything larger than '0' no calls are detected

 

5. also, voiceguide appears not always to be able to properly hangup, resulting in a 'hanging up (2)' kind of message

 

6. other devices on the s0 bus use messages to indicate to each other and to the telco what their status is... when i dial into the siemens dect and that line is busy on that dect, voiceguide should detect the call (being an overflow) yet voiceguide does not

 

7. however, if that line is availble, yet noone picks it up, voiceguide recognizes the call and takes it (with calls set to '0' that makes for a fine deadlock situation :-))

 

 

so, what now?

 

- it is possible that the siemens dect kit sends out wrong messages, but it's interesting that other applications have no problems with it, so i suspect something with voiceguide's interpretation of tapi messages might be causing the problem, or...

 

- there's a specific difference between comisdn's tapi and avm's tapi implementation that could cause these problems... i will try it with comsidn next, but i'm wondering...

 

suggestions and help would be highly appreciated, voiceguide looked promising, but i cannot use it due to the issues above...

[SupportTeam]

Please let us know what results you had when using ComISDN.

 

AVM supplied TAPI drivers do not work well for Voice applications - that is why to use VoiceGuide with the Fritz! card the ComISDN CAPI<->TAPI app is specified.

 

MSN discrimination has not yet been implemented in VoiceGuide - but it may be implemented in ComISDN - I'd recommend looking into the ComISDN config screens - you may be able to select for it to react to only certain MSNs.

[Guest Guest]

interim results"

 

fritz card + comisdn + disabling the msn in the dect pabx + rings set to 0 made it work

 

(which in a way makes sense, the number of rings should be replaced in this case with a delay in the script, on isdn the msn is immediately available)

 

please note that tapi works well with the microsoft supplied 'phone dialer', with the msn disabled as well as enabled in the dect pabx, i assume the replies from / information given by the tapi drivers differ depending on the configuration of devices on the isdn s0 bus, you might wanna have a quick peek into that

 

(re. using tapi / capi / isdn: isdn2's are now getting the default standard in the netherlands for small business applications, up to 8 isdn2's are quite common, isnd2's are highly preferable above voice modems due to lower interference, higher speeds, lack of delays, availability of multiple msn's on one line, and lower number of physical connections (read: cabling), i suspect this is or will be the same in the rest of europe)

 

is there any chance of having NATIVE capi support in the future? that would seriously improve your application for small busines purposes in europe

 

i'm now going to text with fritz + fritz tapi to see if that works, and try a different a/b adapter sharing the same msn as opposed to the dect box, i'll post my results here

[SupportTeam]

ComISDN was the tested solution for BRI ISDN hardware, and it sounds like it works OK for you as well.

 

What shortcomings do you see with using ComISDN?

[Guest Guest_blueznl]

comisdn: it costs money :-) just kiddin'...

 

1. it's an extra layer, preferable would be voiceguide -> capi with no tapi in between (speed, reliability, less components that could cause incompatibilities)

 

2. the documentation of comisdn is fairly much non-existent, it's somewhat of a gamble what each option does unless you're deep into isdn terminology

 

3. all lines per device get the same msn (i'm in europe, and i prefer to handle multiple msn's for different purposes)

 

4. you can't order via credit card

 

re multiple msn's on isdn with tapi: there is a work around: insert two isdn cards and assign a different msn to each card... but that might force one to buying larger licenses (not a very practical thing for a small outfit)... a propos, how does voiceguide handle that? is the nr. of lines the number of calls handled simultanously, or is it the nr. of lines connected?

 

the 'nr of rings before answering option' set to anything but 0 will not let voiceguide pick up the phone with an isdn card (another package i'm evaluating is ivm, which does detect, or at least delay, on incoming rings)

 

try to set up the following: a smart answering machine, with the following logic:

1. wait for call

2. don't pick up but check the caller's msn

3. if telemarketeer pickup and drop

4. if unwanted customer move immediately to the voice response system

5. if anybody else let it ring for a while

6. if not picked up after a while then pick up and handle it via the voice response system

 

i haven't been able to make that work using voiceguide, which was a bit of a surprise... i might have been overlooking something though, so it could be a shortcoming on my side instead of limitations within voiceguide... :-/

[SupportTeam]

nr. of lines the number of calls handled simultanously, or is it the nr. of lines connected?

It's the number of lines connected.

 

5. if anybody else let it ring for a while

6. if not picked up after a while then pick up and handle it via the voice response system

Keep the "nr of rings before answering" set to 0, and in the script properties (Edit -> Script Properties menu) check the "Start script without answering the call" option.

Please see the "Call Start" section of VG Help file.

(online link: http://voiceguide.com/vghelp/html/Call%20Start.htm)

 

To pickup and drop call you will need to use a play module which plays a very short sound file (eg: half a second of silence).

 

 

Thanks for yor comments on ComISDN. I have passed them on.

[Guest Guest_blueznl]

delved a bit more into the problems with rings, and it is not an exclusive problem of voiceguide, but other packages do it as well

 

the logic of answering on 'the number of rings' is simply wrong, there are no 'set' ring patterns on isdn, so a better option would be not to look for rings, but countdown 'n' seconds, this is wat most capi software does (i.e. software that does not use tapi as an inbetween)

 

i got very mixed results on ring detection, everything is fine, except using a number of rings, different configs, different software, the only two common components were the hardware (standard pc + avm card) and comisdn

 

i don't need it for the application i am considering to built, but it's a bit weird nevertheless

[SupportTeam]

It is quite easy implement a "Wait X Seconds Before Answering" with VoiceGuide.

 

Please read the "Call Start" section of VG Help file.

 

You can select "Start script without answering call" in script's properties, then to delay answering a call use a "Run VB Script" module with a WScript.Sleep command. eg:

 

WScript.Sleep 5000

 

will result in VB Script just 'sleeping' for 5 seconds. Then you can branch to a "Play" etc. modules and VG will then pick up the call...