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[frank at impactfax.com]

How can FS force a Minimum call duration for a FS caller (someone calling out of FS)?

We have a carrier that penalizes us with a surcharge for short duration calls (sound familiar?).

So when a FS caller (not a call center or predictive dialer) calls a cell phone and gets a ring tone or calls an answering machine, the FS caller hangs up because they do not want to leave a message. But they do this in less then a few seconds after the call is answered. This becomes a short duration call and bang the surcharge applies. It is actually cheaper to pay for a longer call time (6 seconds in this case) and avoid the short duration surcharge. But the FS caller does not know this.

So, how can FS hold the connection to the called party open for at least the minimum amount of time I need to avoid the short call charge… even though my FS caller has already hung up the phone on his end? I would like to do this in the xml dialplan if possible.

Thanks

-Frank

[gilbertandrew at me.com]

Don't want the tone to be wrong here, but this makes no sense. Carriers surcharge like this precisely to guard against call center, predictive and other mass outbound calling scenarios.

It just doesn't make since, math wise, that individuals hanging up on voice mail are going to significantly impact overall ACD stats, etc. So unless you have a very strange set of use cases or are pushing another category of traffic (ie call center) that skews you overall relationship with the carrier - I would go back and re-negotiate your arrangement.


Yes, FS is a b2bua and all is possible. But it is probably a better use of time to approach this as a business issue.


My 2 cents.



On Dec 9, 2008, at 8:38 AM, Frank @ Impact wrote:

[frank at impactfax.com]

On our last bill, the carrier said we had 27% short duration calls (maybe they are wrong but it was on the bill). It is definitely not call center. But these callers hangup as soon as they hear answer machine or most of the time a ring back tone from cell phone. This class of caller will call a cell phone, hear the ring back, hangup right away and then call back another 2 minutes later and repeat the cycle.

So, if I have to make it work the way I suggested (hold the connection open for at least the minimum time, how might you suggest I do it in the dial plan?

-----Original Message-----

Don't want the tone to be wrong here, but this makes no sense. Carriers surcharge like this precisely to guard against call center, predictive and other mass outbound calling scenarios.


It just doesn't make since, math wise, that individuals hanging up on voice mail are going to significantly impact overall ACD stats, etc. So unless you have a very strange set of use cases or are pushing another category of traffic (ie call center) that skews you overall relationship with the carrier - I would go back and re-negotiate your arrangement.



Yes, FS is a b2bua and all is possible. But it is probably a better use of time to approach this as a business issue.



My 2 cents.




On Dec 9, 2008, at 8:38 AM, Frank @ Impact wrote:

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How can FS force a Minimum call duration for a FS caller (someone calling out of FS)?



We have a carrier that penalizes us with a surcharge for short duration calls (sound familiar?).



So when a FS caller (not a call center or predictive dialer) calls a cell phone and gets a ring tone or calls an answering machine, the FS caller hangs up because they do not want to leave a message. But they do this in less then a few seconds after the call is answered. This becomes a short duration call and bang the surcharge applies. It is actually cheaper to pay for a longer call time (6 seconds in this case) and avoid the short duration surcharge. But the FS caller does not know this.



So, how can FS hold the connection to the called party open for at least the minimum amount of time I need to avoid the short call charge… even though my FS caller has already hung up the phone on his end? I would like to do this in the xml dialplanif possible.



Thanks



-Frank

[msc at freeswitch.org]

Can you paste your dialplan entry here? I have some thoughts but it
would be better if I knew what you were doing before I go any further.
-MC



On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 2:35 PM, Frank @ Impact <frank@impactfax.com> wrote:

[gilbertandrew at me.com]

What do your records say? Ie do they balance to what the carrier claims? You should at a minimum have macro level data to confirm against.


27% seems high, but even at that level if you assume your remaining population is "normal" you are still no where close to call center / predictive traffic in the overall sense. For example, 2 minutes ACD on the normal population is still almost 90 seconds overall. Compare this to outbound call centers that might have an overall ACD in the 10-30 second range and have well over 50%, probably much higher, short duration. I would tell your carrier to stop being silly, or find another one.


I am unsure you can do it just in the dialplan, but it is a somewhat trivial app. The issue is it is difficult to safely avoid scenarios where leg B might actually be a real person, talking to dead air. This is not good citizenship. It breaks implicit assumptions about network behavior and is unfair to end users. It is illegal if applied to a predictive scenario.



On Dec 9, 2008, at 5:35 PM, Frank @ Impact wrote:

[frank at impactfax.com]

Pretty simple...

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<document type="freeswitch/xml">
<section name="dialplan" description="Regex/XML Dialplan">
<context name="default">
<extension name="myextension">
<condition>
<action application="export"
data="effective_caller_id_name="/>
<action application="export"
data="effective_caller_id_number=5555551212"/>
<action application="enum" data="5555552121"/>
<action application="bridge" data="${enum_auto_route}"/>
<action application="hangup"/>
</condition>
</extension>
</context>
</section>
</document>

-----Original Message-----

Can you paste your dialplan entry here? I have some thoughts but it
would be better if I knew what you were doing before I go any further.
-MC



On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 2:35 PM, Frank @ Impact <frank@impactfax.com>
wrote:

[frank at impactfax.com]

This is a bit beyond me, but in the xml dialplan could we use the
execute_on_answer to transfer to an extension that sets up an intercept
of the bleg on hangup_after_bridge? Or use the api_hangup_hook to
transfer the bleg to another extension after the aleg hangs up?

I have been reading all the wiki information I can and these smell like
they might help. But it is not clear to me how they would be pieced
together exactly to achieve this end.

MC, any thoughts?

-----Original Message-----

Can you paste your dialplan entry here? I have some thoughts but it
would be better if I knew what you were doing before I go any further.
-MC



On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 2:35 PM, Frank @ Impact <frank@impactfax.com>
wrote:

[msc at freeswitch.org]

On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 6:46 AM, Frank @ Impact <frank@impactfax.com> wrote: