DaveM wrote on Sep 10
th, 2007 at 4:43pm:
Could you make use of the WAP interface ???
Dave, I could to maybe save some bandwidth, but it's still scraping and gives more possibility for error.
irrelevant wrote on Sep 10
th, 2007 at 11:27pm:
What would be better is to use a DNS based API that is compatible with the likes of e164.org, or any of the other similar sites, that translate phone numbers, in their case mainly into VOIP addresses (to avoid the PSTN completly for known numbers). This means it's immediately available to multiple PBXs and soft phones, as they already cope with this method of lookups. I notice they also have a NGN translation facility...
I did look at e164.org as I already use that sometimes for a lookup, but I must have missed the NGN section ! I'd dismissed it anyway as the number verification would mean I could never get the PIN code issued on submission/testing.
irrelevant wrote on Sep 10
th, 2007 at 11:27pm:
Depending on your PABX, and with a bit of coding, you might be able to set up a voice anouncement on doing a translation "We are trying a geographic alternative to the number you dialed, press hash if this fails to work, and we'll redial the number you gave..." or something similar, but I think you'll still end up confusing people. Yes, it's a great idea if it works, but I can see it being a nightmare when it doesn't.
The PBX is usually Asterisk (or similar), so "coding" is as simple as
Code:exten => _08X.,1,Playback(ngn_lookup.gsm) ; Play our "we're looking for an alternative ..."
exten => _08X.,n,AGI(lookup_ngn.pl|${EXTEN}) ; Actually do the lookup, return ${EXTEN} if none found
exten => _08X.,n,Dial(${TRUNK}/${NEWEXTEN}|${TIMEOUT}|${DIALOPTIONS}) ; Dial with it !
exten => _08X.,n,Hangup() ; All done, hangup
as a quick and dirty example !
I know what you mean about users, that's why the confidence level being returned as part of the data would help ... a site with less-savvy users could require a higher confidence level to help limit the number of dead calls.
For example, I have an client that spends hours every day talking to tax offices using 08XX numbers. But geographic calls are almost free. The cost difference means hundreds every quarter. They'll happily pay a monthly licence fee to reduce that, I could do it (establish a db) myself but don't really want to re-invent the wheel.
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