Confirm the start connection time

smart187 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:44 am

Everything is working fine so far.

I was asked to push * to continue talking within 5 seconds. How can I able that and set it to 5 seconds?

This is necessary because too many calls to mobile north africa start the time connection while the end user is not talking :evil:

stavros · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:30 pm

smart187 wrote:

I was asked to push * to continue talking within 5 seconds. How can I able that and set it to 5 seconds?

That's not an easy thing to accomplish with Asterisk.

Quote:

This is necessary because too many calls to mobile north africa start the time connection while the end user is not talking

False answer is very common with cheaper carriers; the correct response is to stop lining the pockets of imbeciles, and choose a technically competent carrier.
If this really isn't a possibility, a lot of folks here work around similar issues with the use of the 'min_duration_2bill' directive in a2billing.conf, with a value of around 30 seconds.

smart187 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 2:58 pm

stavros wrote:

smart187 wrote:

I was asked to push * to continue talking within 5 seconds. How can I able that and set it to 5 seconds?

That's not an easy thing to accomplish with Asterisk.

Quote:

This is necessary because too many calls to mobile north africa start the time connection while the end user is not talking

False answer is very common with cheaper carriers; the correct response is to stop lining the pockets of imbeciles, and choose a techinically competent carrier.
If this really isn't a possibility, a lot of folks here work around similar issues with the use of the 'min_duration_2bill' directive in a2billing.conf, with a value of around 30 seconds.

Quote:

I use premium route of voicetrading.

Every days 15% when the end users dial number to Morocco mobile, Senegal mobile, Cuba are false but charged in A2Billing and in Voicetrading (Betamax Gmbh)

The end user when dial number frequently start connection time but he only hear the simulate ring from other voip server and the call can't to be stopped from my A2Billing

My callshops have a billing software local that charge the call to the caller when he push ( * ) for talking.

With this solution we lose less money.

stavros · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:34 pm

smart187 wrote:

Every days 15% when the end users dial number to Morocco mobile, Senegal mobile, Cuba are false but charged in A2Billing and in Voicetrading (Betamax Gmbh)

The problem with false answer will persist as long as folks are willing to be defrauded.

Quote:

My callshops have a billing software local that charge the call to the caller when he push ( * ) for talking. With this solution we lose less money.

If your users are very honest I'd agree you'd lose less money, but here in the real world I would say your exposure is much greater given this 'solution'.

In any case, I can't see a way to implement what you need without requiring changes to the code of both Asterisk and A2Billing. Perhaps if you were to post a bounty on this feature someone might take a look at it one day but, unless I'm missing some clever shortcut, it's really quite a difficult thing to do because of the way Asterisk works.

smart187 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:07 pm

stavros wrote:

smart187 wrote:

Every days 15% when the end users dial number to Morocco mobile, Senegal mobile, Cuba are false but charged in A2Billing and in Voicetrading (Betamax Gmbh)

The problem with false answer will persist as long as folks are willing to be defrauded.

Quote:

My callshops have a billing software local that charge the call to the caller when he push ( * ) for talking. With this solution we lose less money.

If your users are very honest I'd agree you'd lose less money, but here in the real world I would say your exposure is much greater given this 'solution'.

In any case, I can't see a way to implement what you need without requiring changes to the code of both Asterisk and A2Billing. Perhaps if you were to post a bounty on this feature someone might take a look at it one day but, unless I'm missing some clever shortcut, it's really quite a difficult thing to do because of the way Asterisk works.

Quote:

This is an example of call false to CUBA

Quote:

stavros · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:35 pm

Thanks for that, but what was its purpose? If you think about it for a moment you'll see a call with early answer is indistinguishable from a call that worked flawlessly.

I've already explained there's no simple solution to your problem.

smart187 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:53 pm

stavros wrote:

Thanks for that, but what was its purpose? If you think about it for a moment you'll see a call with early answer is indistinguishable from a call that worked flawlessly.

I've already explained there's no simple solution to your problem.

Quote:

I can offer money to those who can solve this problem. contact email noc (at) divafone.com

jroper · **Joined:** Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:56 pm **Posts:** 4065

Voice trading use a variety of carriers - hence the name -anyone can offer routes to any destinations, and if the price is right and the quality good, then customers wil use these routes.

Personally, I would complain loud and long to voicetrading, that you are being overcharged, and hopefully someone will do something about it.

If they will not, then find another carrier.

The issue is as follows:-

You make a call, and the call is supposed to be billed from the moment that the called party picks up the phone.

If there is a switch in the way that picks up the phone first, then Asterisk at your end is going to commence billing, because as far as it is concerned, the phone has been answered.

It is not possible to distinguish in software whether the phone has been answered by an intermediate switch, or by the person the call was intended for, as the signal is the same coming back to Asterisk (or any other switch for that matter).

Stavros's answer of min time to bill is the way of ensuring that your customer does not get fraudulently billed. So on if the call is longer than say 30 seconds does the entire call get billed from start to finish. If the call is shorter then the customer does not get billed - but you will by Voice Trading.

So a pragmatic solutions to this problem are:-

1. Complain
2. Change Carrier
3. Set mininimum time to bill
4. Use stepped billing and set the initial price to 0 for the first 15 seconds or so for the destinations where this is a problem - combine with 3 if you want.

Joe Roper

provided by Star2Billing S.L.

Confirm the start connection time

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