pythonpoole

Good to hear you got it sorted out. I actually made a few plug-ins in php for IVM a long time ago, but it's been a while and I couldn't remember how I manged to do it last time.

Yeah, I'm still inclined to think the IP address they gave you (10.88.108.107) is not right. Usually VoIP services will provide you with a host name (e.g. sip.roadrunner.com) rather than an IP address, in fact it would be highly unusual for them to give out an IP address. (mostly due to the fact that if the IP ever needed changing, using a host name wouldn't require any change on the user-end, but using an IP would require every single user of their service to manually change the server address (not to mention an IP is a lot more difficult to manage and remember than a host name)). On top of everything, the fact you can't ping that IP just adds to the likelihood of it being incorrect. So yeah, I would double check with the provider for the server address.

First of all, when I sent a ping request to 10.88.108.107, there was no response. Usually this indicates the IP address/host name of the server is wrong (so I would double check with Road Runner).. however it is possible Road Runner is simply blocking ping requests). 'Server Did Not Respond To Register' would also indicate the IP address / hostname of the server is wrong. Secondly I recommend running the Network Set-up Wizard built-into IVM. (Under Settings -> Telephony -> [select a line] -> Properties -> Networking [tab]). This should help solve problems with being unable to detect the public IP address.

I would have thought that should work. The only thing is on the IVM SDK page they use 'print' instead of echo, but I didn't think there was much of a difference between the two commands. Let me know if you're still having trouble.

This is a strange problem. Are you sure IVM is properly recognizing your input each time (i.e. IVM should log what input it received and stored before going to the next OGM). If it logs the numbers properly but does not read them out, that would be very abnormal behaviour especially if it only happens some of the time. Usually things don't just happen some of the time for no reason though, I'm inclined to think there must be something different about the times it works and the times it doesn't work. Try entering the same number over and over again and see if it reads it out each time. If so, then it is probably something to do with the format of the number that was entered (e.g. perhaps it was prefixed by a * accidentally). If it still 'randomly' decides not to read out the number even when it's the same number each time, I would have to investigate further to see why that might be happening.

IVM can already go up to and past a million (there is a million prompt).. '2000','3000','4000',etc. are not necessary... IVM will automatically combine 2 or more prompts to read out a number. E.g. "five"+"thousand"+"thirty"+"six"+"dollars"+"sixty"+"eight"+"cents" to read out "5036.86" The only case where this wouldn't work properly is if your IVR was in a non-English language that has a different format/structure for reading out numbers. In this case you could use Text To Speech as an alternative using a TTS Voice speaking your language.

In a typical set-up, each OGM would have it's own prompt. You can set the prompt audio in the OGM's properties window (either an audio file, text to speech script, or a recording). The built-in prompts are only there to handle built-in IVRs (e.g. for the voice-mail system) and mix-and-match recordings (e.g. digits, currency)

Using STUN servers does not reduce the security level of your network. The only real purpose it serves is to identify ports that are already open and can be used for signalling and and audio transmission. STUN servers are also used to collect information about your connection such as your public IP address. So basically to sum things up, VoIP apps look for holes in the network that are already there but don't try to create ones. By default all routers and firewalls will already have ports open to allow for such communication (e.g. for VoIP, Games, Instant Messenging, PeerToPeer, etc.) and STUN servers simply aid in finding these holes. If you block all the ports on your router/firewall except for port 80 (http web browsing), VoIP and other Internet based applications will either not work, or will have severely reduced performance (e.g. delayed audio, poor quality sound, etc.) You can disable stun servers in Express Talk and manually enter the network details if you prefer, although this will not work well if you have a dynamic IP address.

Axon does not restrict the number of concurrent calls. If your VoIP provider allows for 4 simultaneous outbound calls, then Axon should automatically allow for this as well without any additional configuration necessary.

1) If you have 10 different SIP Lines/Accounts you'll have to use the Enterprise version since the next lincense down only supports 3 lines. If you have 1 SIP account that supports 10 concurrent calls/lines, you should only need a Small Interactive System license 2) On the sales page, it will tell you if there are currently any discounts/sale prices being offered. The discounts are a limited time offer only.

You can adjust the codec/bandwidth used in the VoIP client (e.g. Express Talk can be set to 'low bandwidth' mode). Axon just manages/routes the calls. Unless you have set it to do otherwise, the actual call should be connected directly between the External Line and Extension using the/a codec permitted by the client and VoIP provider.

Express Talk (as with most VoIP clients) will periodically connect to STUN servers such as the ones you posted to collect information on NAT/Network Routing to help calls go through even behind network routing devices and/or firewalls.

Yes. Assuming you have returned the value to IVM correctly (as per guidelines on the plug-in development page), it should now be stored as a variable. You can then either use the 'Read out number after OGM' option in the [OGM Properties Window -> Advanced tab] to read out the variable (in either 'Digits', 'Number', 'Dollars & Cents' or 'Dollars' mode). OR You can go to a new OGM which has a script containing the variable (e.g. Your balance is %balvar%) and then enable the 'Use Text To Speech Voice Synthesis of Script' option also on the Advanced tab.

You will need either a Voice Modem OR a telephony board. Voice Modem: Relatively cheap (about $35 USD). Acceptable audio quality, although not the best. Great for home installations, test set-ups & home-offices. Not highly recommended for large businesses. Perfect for set-ups where you want IVM to answer the call (either with an IVR or Voice Mail after a certain number of rings) without doing much else. Telephony Card: Quite expensive ($200 USD and up). Very high audio quality. Typically supports more than one line (voice modem usually only does 1). Great for business or home-office set-ups. Can be used in conjunction with NCH's free Carousel software to convert the lines to VoIP. You can then set-up your own internal VoIP network and have several extensions which can call each-other or make outbound calls. You can also have complete control over call routing so that for example when someone phones in you could set it to ring extension x for 4 seconds and then ring extension x, y and z for 15 seconds (just as an example). There is an endless limit of possibilities if you choose to set-up a VoIP network, if you have any other questions please do ask. You do not need a good Internet connection for an internal VoIP system, just a standard LAN. 1) Here is a page on NCH's website with very detailed information on Voice Modems including a compatibility list for IVM You can also buy Telephony Cards direct from NCH here. 2) Not sure where you're located, but here are some places to try: USA: Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack CANADA: TigerDirect, Future Shop/Best Buy, The Source AUSTRALIA: MSY Technology, Dick Smith's Electronics

If you are not using VoIP, an Internet connection is not required although IVM is set to periodically check with a preset STUN server every once in a while (this can be disabled). Also you may need an Internet connection to activate the software (no speed requirements). For VoIP you don't need much bandwidth/speed if you choose the low bandwidth option it only requires about 15 kbps, however satellite connections have a big latency (delay) that can approach 2 seconds for VoIP. This makes it somewhat unsuitable (or at least no better than other satellite phones/video uplinks).

What happens is when Express Talk puts a call on hold, it signals to the VoIP provider that the call is on hold (rather than just muting the call and playing the 'music'). Most VoIP providers will ignore this on-hold command and then Express talk can continue to pass whatever audio it wants (this is what happens in most cases, and thus callers hear the Express Talk 'music') In other cases, the VoIP provider will receive the on-hold command and decide to put the call into its own holding queue (what appears to be the case here). In some cases this just leaves the caller with silence, and in other cases the VoIP provider plays its own music. This issue has come up several times, and I think it's time NCH add a "disable on-hold signalling" option. I think the reason ET does signal is due to the fact that it was built to connect with Axon which uses the signalling to play the music/audio stream set-up on the PBX side of things, independent of the local settings.

Under the OGM properties window in the Data Entry options you can enable the 'Limit acceptable values' option which allows you to specify what extensions are allowed. You can either choose to provide a comma delimited list of allowed extensions (e.g. '101,102,103,104') or choose to limit the range (e.g. between 101 and 104). If the caller inputs an invalid number, the system will tell them their entry was invalid and ask them to enter the extension number again. You can change the 'invalid number' audio under IVM's settings -> Prompts tab.

I don't think IVM limits the number of simultaneous calls (beyond the number you set in the line settings) regardless of the license, but I could be wrong. I think the license only restricts the number of lines (i.e. SIP accounts or physical lines) you can use with IVM. Things to note: 1) Each additional concurrent call is going to require more and more CPU power to handle and could cause the system to crash if it gets overloaded 2) Your VoIP provider may choose to limit the number of concurrent calls you can receive 3) Your Internet connection must be able to support very heavy bandwidth use (up to 180kbps per call) A standard call using the default G.711 codec uses 87.2 kbps of total Ethernet bandwidth and this is just for one side of the call. So multiply that by two and each call is using about 174.4 kbps of bandwidth. Now let's multiply that by 150 calls... that would require 26,160 kbps of ethernet bandwidth. In other words your Internet connection bandwidth would have to be almost 26 mbps to support that load! What I'm trying to point out is that even if IVM could support that many calls without crashing, there are many other factors which would likely prevent you from being able to handle that many calls at a time. It is of course a very different story if you use a low-bandwidth codec like GSM which would permit dozens of more calls using the same amount of bandwidth.

In the line's settings, you can change the "Number of simultaneous calls allowed" to a number of your choosing. The number of calls the system can handle will also depend on things like hardware, the audio codec that is being used, and most importantly, the amount of bandwidth available. [This is assuming you are using VoIP. For analog telephony, IVM should support as many lines as the board/card allows (typically between 1-4 per card).]

As far as I know, there is no easy way to tell. I suggest adding lines and/or OGMs one by one until the software prevents you from adding more. Then compare how many lines/OGMs you are able to add with the license chart on the NCH website.

This is in response to your PM. I have tried everything I can think of to come up with a solution which doesn't require a plug-in. Luckily, I think I've managed to do just that except there is one set-back. This method requires that callers enter their student number twice. I personally suggest that you cover this up by saying "Please confirm your student ID by entering it again" the second time so the request seems purposeful. Here are the steps (keep in mind this is just a concept, I haven't actually tested this model): 1) Create an OGM that will answer the incoming calls. 2) In this OGM set the key response to data entry 3) Set it to use a pre-made Inclusive list of all valid student numbers to 'limit acceptable values' 4) Create a new OGM (don't forget to set the first OGM to go to the second OGM after the input is accepted) 5) Set the key response to data entry like the first OGM 6) Create a new blank text file in a folder of your choosing 7) Set the OGM to use the blank file you just made as an exclusive limit list 8) In the same (second) OGM, go to the Advanced tab and check 'Add Entry to Special Log' This will allow you to append student numbers on to the exclusive list 9) In the 'log' field, put the path to the exclusive file and in the 'log line' field enter %variable%, where %variable% is the variable name for the student number. Be sure to include the comma after %variable% Note: if IVM is writing to the log file before checking the exclusive list, a new OGM may be required to write the log file afterwords otherwise the number will be added to the exclusive list before the student accessed their details. 10) If all goes well, students will be asked to enter their student ID, IVM then checks to make sure it is valid. Then students are asked to confirm their student ID at which point IVM checks it against an exclusive 'already used list'.. if everything checks out, the ID is written to the exclusive list so it can't be used again and then you can send the student to the OGM that will send the e-mail report. The other method would be to use a plug-in that would check an external data file (exclusive list) and append the student ID to the file after it has been used. In the end you'll probably end up having to use a plug-in anyway though in order to send the e-mails.

For the most part, I haven't really had trouble getting SMTP emails to work as expected. Not sure exactly what could be causing the problem. Does the IVM status/log window or your mailserver (assuming you have access to) indicate any problems? If and when IVM says it is sending e-mails, does your mailserver log any activity to suggest that it is at least receiving requests from IVM? If you still aren't having any luck, you can try one of the alternative options (i.e. using MAPI or setting IVM up as its own SMTP server)

Consider having two CSV files. One with a list of valid student numbers, and a second with a list of student numbers already used. If you're using a CSV plug-in with IVM which can read & write CSV files, you can have the OGM first check that the student number appears in the first CSV file and then check to make sure it doesn't appear in the second file (if it does hang-up/tell user code already used). Then if it checks out ok, go to an OGM that will append the student number to the second CSV file. The reason I suggest two files is because there isn't any existing interface or plug-in (to my knowledge) that will make it easy for you to dynamically find and remove/edit specific content of a CSV file. Using the two files, you need only use the basic read and write functions and you can also distinguish between an invalid student number and a valid student number that has already been used.

If it says unauthorized I would have to assume the password you used for authenticating is not the same password set in Axon for that extension. What does Axon report in the logging window? If the username or password was wrong, it should make some sort of indication that an unsuccessful attempt was made to register extension X from IP Y. Also if by 'IMS' you are referring to your P-CSCF app, I suggest you distinguish this in the future because NCH has it's own software called IMS built to work with Axon that has an entirely differently purpose (on-hold music), so it is quite confusing when not distinguished.

What happens when you make an inbound call? Did you set the external line in Axon to ring the Express Talk extension (or a ring group that has the Express Talk extension listed)?