pythonpoole

If you want to count how many calls IVM answered, it's fairly easy to use the logging feature in the OGM properties window of the Answer OGM to make note of each time a call is answered. You can also create a plug-in that will store the number of calls in a more user friendly way and with the possibility of statistical analysis (e.g. calls per hour, day, week, year, on Monday, on Wednesday etc.) On the other hand if you want to record every call that rings IVM (including those not answered), then that's an entirely different story and I'm not sure how you would go about doing that.

It sound's like IVM is the perfect solution for your needs. It's main purpose is to act as an IVR system where people call in and select various menu options for information, bookings, order taking, voice mails, or to be transferred to a live person. In terms of equipment, there are 3 different ways of connecting IVM up to a phone line: A) Voice Modem Advantages: Quite cheap (around $35) Disadvantages: Audio quality varies and is generally ok, but not fantastic. Cannot transfer call to a live person on an internal extension. Other: Uses existing phone line from your normal Telecom (e.g. at&t, bell, bt, telstra etc.) Info: All you require is a TAPI compliant voice modem and you're ready to start taking calls. Simply install the modem on the computer running IVM, and connect it to an existing phone line. IVM should then be able to answer calls and detect user input for menus. Telephony Board Advantages: The more professional option, higher audio quality, can handle more than one phone line simultaneously, can transfer to live agent extensions Disadvantages: High cost (upwards of $200) Other: Uses existing phone line from your normal Telecom (e.g. at&t, bell, bt, telstra, etc.) Info: Much like the Voice Modem option, once the board is installed and connected to a phone line it's ready for use with IVM. C) VoIP Advantages: Quite cheap (some services even offer free private incoming phone numbers and you don't pay a dime to use the service), Can handle several simultaneous calls at a time (depending on provider), Does not require purchase of additional equipment, or the purchase of phone lines from your existing Telecom Disadvantages: Requires a high-speed Internet connection, and is not recommended for Satellite connections (like a satellite phone, there may be delays in transmission. If the line is solely being used for an automated menu IVR system, this delay may be acceptable and go by unnoticed). Audio quality can vary significantly based on conditions of the network/Internet connection or even your geographic location in relation to the provider. Other: Generally works well for most users and organizations who have a high-speed connection and a basic understanding of computer networking Info: Unlike the other methods, this one requires no purchase of additional hardware or equipment. IVM can connect directly to a VoIP service to answer phone calls. Many VoIP services offer very cheap rates in comparison to the major Telecoms and some even offer free incoming phone numbers. Note that although Vonage is technically a VoIP service, it is atypical in comparison to others. Vonage locks their hardware so it can't be used with other equipment or software like IVM. In essence, Vonage can be treated as a normal analog line similar to the one you may have from your current Telecom provider. Thus in order to connect a Vonage line to IVM you would have to use either method A or B. P.S. Vonage is also one of the more expensive VoIP services (it is also the most well known).

All the problems you talk about are highly indicative of a port forwarding issue. For instructions on port forwarding for your router, please see http://portforward.com/english/routers/por...T624/X-Lite.htm Also remember you must also forward/allow the same ports on any software based firewall you have running on the PC (e.g. Windows Firewall, Norton, ZoneAlarm, etc.).

TCP Ports 5060-5061 UDP Ports 5060-5061, 8000-16000 That should do the trick. Note that I was pretty sure you needed TCP 5060 but Etalk only tries to open UDP 5060 in the firewall, so I'm not sure, thus I recommend doing both.

Yes, you will need to purchase Axon. It used to be free, however there is now a license cost, although I should probably double check to see if a free version is still available. As for Express Talk, same thing. There used to be a free version, but I'm not sure if there still is. In any case, I doubt if the free version allows/ed the use of the intercom function. Remember that you can always test out NCH software before buying (no limitations) to make sure it works exactly as expected. Also note that bulk license discounts are available. -Sent from my iPhone

Yes, Axon is designed to function for both internal and external calls (or either or if you prefer). Also note that Expess Talk was built to work with Axon and it has a built-in intercom function that works between other compatible extensions. -Sent from my iPhone

VRS does not support G.729, in fact none of NCH's software does. This is because the codec is proprietary (i.e. you need to pay a license to use it), and NCH has decided to only use free/open codecs in its software. If you wish to conserve bandwidth, consider using the GSM codec. It uses hardly any bandwidth (i.e. less than G.729), is compatible with VRS and provides suitable quality for most scenarios. Another codec to consider is G.726 (although I'm not 100% sure VRS supports it, you can give it a try). Like G.729 I believe it provides good audio quality using a reasonable amount of bandwidth.

IVM uses the G.711 codec by default, but it also supports GSM and I think (but not sure), G.726.

This sounds like there could be an issue with the modem hardware/driver for the modem. Note that not all modems support caller ID, and some others say they support it but encounter difficulties passing it on to the software using TAPI. I would double check with the modem's manufacturer to ensure you have the latest version of the driver and that the driver is fully compatible with Windows Vista. Is there any error to indicate why the call was disconnected?

The G.729 codec cannot be used with IVM, nor any other NCH software. The reason being, it is a proprietary codec meaning that there is a license fee to use it and NCH has decide to only use free/open codecs for the software. You don't need G.729 to fix your quality issues though, the only reason your VoIP provider recommended it is because it provides very good quality and requires relatively low bandwidth. First you must try and define what you mean by poor audio quality. With VoIP there are 2 types of poor audio connections and they have completely different solutions, so it is important to figure out what the cause of the problem is. Quality Type 1: Audio clarity. This is where the audio does not break up, stutter, or scramble, it is simply difficult to understand what the other person is saying and sounds like a they are holding a towel over the mouth piece. -> Solution: Change to a higher bandwidth codec (or select the option in IVM to use 'higher bandwidth'). Higher bandwidth codecs typically offer much better audio clarity for clear, crisp sound however they do take up more bandwidth on your Internet connection and if that bandwidth is not available, you might have problem 2 (below). Quality Type 2: Connection issues. This is where the audio randomly starts breaking up, skipping/missing words, stutters, or scrambles up. This is the result of using a codec that needs too much bandwidth, more bandwidth than is available on your connection. As a result, the audio packets can become lost, discarded, ignored (leaving blank/silent stutter spots in speech or missed words) or the audio packets can arrive at the receiving end in a mixed up order, resulting in scrambled speech. -> Solution: Change to a lower bandwidth codec (or select the option in IVM to use 'lower bandwidth'). Lower bandwidth codecs, as the name suggest use much less bandwidth (e.g. 10kbps vs 80kbps) and are more suitable for slower connections, partially blocked connections, or congested (i.e. heavily used) connections. Note that you can also solve many audio quality issues by doing the following: 1) Set-up port forwarding on your router and forward UDP ports 8,000 through 16,000 and TCP port 5060 through 5061 to your IVM computer. 2) If your router has the feature, enable QoS. QoS (or Quality of Service) can be used to give VoIP packets priority when they travel through your network. This ensures the audio packets are sent out to the Internet first and in the right order rather than having the router treat them like everything else which can lead to them being sent in the wrong order, or having random pauses while some web data is sent and the VoIP packets are put in queue to be sent later. 3) Run the built-in network set-up wizard in IVM

@nchcc, If I remember correctly... Express Talk doesn't actually have built-in support for USB phones and instead ET requires that a driver for the phone device be downloaded separately. In such a case, it's possible that the download mechanism does not honour the proxy settings set-up with windows and assumes a direct a connection is present. Thus it fails to connect and download the file from NCH. Note that although the USB phone hardware (i.e. the mic and speaker) are 'plug and play', the phone actually has a separate driver from Yealink which provides additional functionality to Express Talk (e.g. for ringing, speaker phone, accepting keypad digit input, displaying information on the phone's screen, etc.) Also do not confuse Plug and Play with UPnP ("Universal Plug and Play" - devices which connect directly to a network). The USB phones are not UPnP devices, they are only plug and play in the sense that you can connect them to a computer and they will be recognized as a generic audio device with a mic and speakers. They do not connect directly to the network in any way, they simply interact with software such as Express Talk, Skype and X-lite to provide phone-like functions to the software.

I have managed to do this before by setting Axon to ring with 'chimes' and then changing the chimes (replacing) the chimes music file with another one of the same file name that has the announcement.

It's probably just hang-ups. Lots of people get to the 'leave a message after the tone' prompt and just before (or during) the tone they hang-up. As a result, the only thing recorded is the phone hanging up, and IVM discards this as a non-important message. If you think something else is going on, you can try testing your self. Phone up the number/extension leave a message a couple of times, then phone up and hang-up / leave a very short message and see if you get the error.

You can try sip:<your Axon extension or group here>@<your ip address here> Example: sip:700@100.55.55.12 If that doesn't work, your firewall may be blocking the connection to Axon.

You actually don't need a VoIP service to make this work, although it would probably make it easier. IVM can connect directly to traditional analogue phone lines with either a Voice Modem or Telephony Board. Axon however is primarily VoIP based and to use analogue lines with it, you'll need an FXO adapter or a Telephony Board in combination with FXO converter software like NCH Carousel.

The best way is to use IVM in combination with Axon. Axon allows you to have full control over call routing for your phone system, you can easily set-up ring groups that can phone multiple extensions for incoming calls. The basic idea is IVM answers the call, asks the caller if he/she wants to hold or leave a message. If the former, IVM forwards to Axon which is set-up with all the softphone extensions. If the latter it goes straight to the IVM mailbox. By the way, as for your question about taking calls with your headset, you will need softphone software such as NCH's Express Talk or another SIP compatible softphone.

I don't actually have IVM up and running right now, but I believe you can change the settings in the mailbox's properties. The default if I remember correctly is 3 second minimum, the assumption being there isn't really much anybody can say or do in 3 seconds except for hanging up.

Be sure to firstly run the built-in network set-up wizard in both Express Talk and IVM. If the problem persists, it may be related to a firewall issue where necessary ports are being blocked.

By default all IVM extensions will point to the same OGM (the OGM set as the default OGM in the main window). You can however specify a different OGM for each line in the Line Properties (in IVM's Settings) and this will allow you to run a Voice Mail, Call Attendant and whatever else at the same time. P.S. There shouldn't be any difference between the two downloads, the secondary server is a mirror. In the event that the file is not available on NCH's primary server (e.g. removed, moved, or too much demand), the installation file can be alternatively downloaded from the secondary server.

I'm not able to run IVM right now, but essentially it comes down to this. In the OGM Properties window, there are options to direct the call to another OGM (or to do a certain action like access a mailbox) based on the value of variables such as the Caller ID. You can set the OGM to send calls that match the guest Caller ID to go to a certain OGM, while sending all other calls to another OGM.

In order to connect Axon to a normal PSTN analogue phone line, you will need either an: 1) FXO adapter OR 2) A compatible professional telephony board in combination with NCH's Carousel (virtual FXO) software. An FXO adapter converts analogue phone lines to digital VoIP lines so they can use with VoIP based PBX systems like Axon.

The professional telephony boards definitely provide better quality than a normal voice modem. The reason by telephony hardware pauses like that before dialing is because it is waiting to make sure there is a dial-tone before it makes the call. Most modems are set to wait a second or two to confirm that there is a working dial-tone and the call is ready to be placed. Some modems/boards let you change the time or remove the dial-tone check altogether with the driver's settings, for other devices it's a locked in feature that can't be disabled. Depending on the modem hardware, the modem may also dial the numbers slowly while other modems dial quickly with hardly any pause between numbers. The pauses are actually there as a safety feature to try and improve the success rate of calls (i.e. checking for dial tone before placing a call, pausing between numbers so the other end has time to interpret them, dialing long tones so there is no doubt the other end would have received them, etc. etc.)

1) IVM can make outbound calls to a list of numbers automatically and present the callee with a message or list of options (e.g. for press 1 campaigns) 2) No this is not a Scam. IVM is designed to manage inbound and outbound business calls and can be used as an outbound dialer to deliver Telemarketing messages. 3) Yes it is for real. How do you think other Telemarketing messages are delivered to so many people every day without software that can take care of it automatically? 4) IVM can be downloaded (free trial) from http://www.nch.com.au/ivm/index.html A License costs between $50 and $700 depending on what license you need and what discounts are available. For outbound telemarketing message calls, the recommended license is either "Small Interactive System" or "Professional", both are under $300 and can be significantly less depending on the discount promotion 5) It is up to you to get the phone numbers. Be sure to adhere to all legal regulations when making calls. Some countries have national do not call lists which makes it illegal to call anyone on the list. Other countries have legal restrictions that prevent you from making telemarketing calls to 'random people' who have not shown direct interest in your products or services, or the products or services of a partner company. Furthermore some countries even go as far as to require that all telemarketing calls are proceeded by a call that says something to the effect of "The next phone call you will receive is a telemarketing call. If you wish not to receive this phone call please press 1, otherwise hang-up now. There are some online communities out there where telemarketers exchange numbers to call with other telemarketers. 6) IVM works with either VoIP, a professional telephony board (connects to your normal phone line, provides professional quality audio), or a standard TAPI compliant Voice Modem (somewhat poorer quality). 7) We do not provide legal advice here. You should consult with a professional to determine what the laws are in your area, or the area you plan on telemarketing to. As I said earlier, there are several countries now with national Do Not Call lists which may make it illegal for you to call them if their number appears on the list. Additionally there may be legal regulations which require you to set your caller ID to a number that the callee can phone back to and add their number to the local (your own) do not call list. IVM can also handle this and create a list of numbers not to call if you want, but this will require a custom set-up. 8) There is no cost to you per month except for call charges from your telephone company. Note that the agreement between you and your telephone provider may legally forbid you from making outbound telemarketing calls using their phone lines, especially if they are considered 'residential' lines. The best/recommended method for telemarketing calls is to use VoIP. VoIP providers are usually more relaxed about usage than your normal telephone companies and some of the services out there specialize in providing high-demand VoIP services to call centers and telemarketers. VoIP typically costs nothing compared to your traditional phone line. If you look up 'wholesale termination voip' on Google, you will find VoIP services that will offer calling to anywhere in the U.S.A or Canada for as low as 1 to 3 cents a minute, compared to the 8 to 12 cents a minute your phone company is likely charging. In addition, many wholesale termination providers will not charge you additional monthly fees, so you are only paying for what you use at extremely low rates. Other advantages of VoIP include the ability to make several concurrent calls at the same time using the same VoIP line. There is also the added benefit of not having to purchase any additional equipment.

Good question. I don't think Axon supports this feature yet. One way around this might be to install a softphone as an Axon extension that is set to auto-forward calls to another number. Then you would set-up a group in Axon for incoming calls that would call both your normal extension and the softphone extension that forwards to your cell. I'm not certain, but I think NCH's Carousel software might work. I believe it can register with Axon as an extension, take incoming calls and then forward them to another number.. although I'm not sure about this at all and that's certainly not what Carousel was built for, I'm just trying to think of workarounds at this point. Edit: You can also configure an extension to forward to another number after a certain amount of time, so extension rings for 10 seconds and cell rings for next 10 seconds after that as an example. Not the same, but easier to set-up.

I forgot to mention the most important thing. Make sure you complete the 'Network Setup Wizard' in both Axon and Express Talk. This will usually solve audio and registration problems by finding the computer's public IP address, open network ports and various other information. Also as I said in my previous post you should definitely have a range of UDP ports forwarded. Some VoIP devices require a range of almost 10,000 ports (e.g. 10000 to 20000). NCH software begins at 8000 by default, but I do not know the upper limit. For best results I would open 5-10 thousand ports in that range (>=8000).