Datasets:
Squidnutz
/
extractedtest

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
 Community
1
text
stringlengths
0
152
Note that you do not have to play the greeting again, only the main menu prompt.
Selection 0
As stated before, and whether you like it or not, this is the choice that many (possibly
the majority) of your callers will select. If you really don’t want to have somebody
handle these calls, you can send this extension to a mailbox, but we don’t recommend
it. If you are a business, many of your callers will be your customers. You want to
make it easy for them to get in touch with you. Trust us.
Designing Your AA
|
251
Timeout
Many people will call a number and not pay too much attention to what is happening.
They know that if they just wait on the line, they will eventually be transferred to the
operator. Or perhaps they are in their cars, and really shouldn’t be pressing buttons
on their phones. Either way, oblige them. If they don’t make any selection, don’t har‐
ass them and force them to do so. Connect them to the operator.
Invalid
People make mistakes. That’s OK. The invalid handler will let them know that what‐
ever they have chosen is not a valid option and will return them to the menu prompt
so that they can try again. Note that you should not play the greeting again, only the
main menu prompt.
Dial by Extension
If somebody calls your system and knows the extension she wants to reach, your
automated attendant should have code in place to handle this.
Although Asterisk can handle an overlap between menu choices
and extension numbers (e.g., you can have a menu choice 1 and
extensions from 100 to 199), it is generally best to avoid this over‐
lap. Otherwise, the dialplan will always have to wait for the interdi‐
git timeout whenever somebody presses 1, because it won’t know if
they are planning to dial extension 123. The interdigit timeout is
the delay the system will allow between digits before it assumes the
entire number has been input. This timer ensures callers have
enough time to dial a multidigit extension, but it also causes a delay
in the processing of single-digit inputs.
Building Your AA
After you have designed your AA, there are three things you need to do to make it
work properly:
• Record prompts.
• Build the dialplan for the menu.
• Direct the incoming channels to the AA context.
We will start by talking about recordings.
252
|
Chapter 14: The Automated Attendant
Recording Prompts
Recording prompts for a telephone system is a critical task. This is what your callers
will hear when they interact with your system, and the quality and professionalism of
these prompts will reflect on your organization.
Asterisk is very flexible in this regard and can work with many different audio for‐
mats. We have found that, in general, the most useful format to use is WAV. Files
saved in this format can be of many different kinds, but only one type of WAV file
will work with Asterisk: files must be encoded in 16-bit, 8,000 Hz, mono format.
Recommended Prompt File Format
The WAV file format we have recommended is useful for system prompts because it
can easily be converted to any other format that your phones might use, without loss
or distortion, and almost any computer can play it without any special software. Thus,
not only can Asterisk handle the file easily, but it is also easy to work with it on a PC
(which can be useful). Asterisk can handle other file formats as well, and in some
cases these may be more suitable for your needs, but in general we find 16-bit 8 kHz
WAV files to be the easiest to work with and, most of the time, the best possible
quality.
There are essentially two ways to get prompts into a system. One is to record sound
files in a studio or on a PC, and then move those files into the system. A second way
is to record the prompts directly onto the system using a telephone set. We prefer the
second method.
Our advice is this: don’t get hung up on the complexities of recording audio through a
PC or in a studio.5 It is generally not necessary. A telephone set will produce
excellent-quality recordings, and the reasons are simple: the microphone and elec‐
tronics in a telephone are carefully designed to capture the human voice in a format
that is ideal for transmission on telephone networks, and therefore a phone set is also
ideal for doing prompts. The set will capture the audio in the correct format, and will
filter out background noise and normalize the decibel level.
Yes, a properly produced studio prompt will be superior to a
prompt recorded over a telephone, but if you don’t have the equip‐
ment or experience, take our advice and use a telephone to do your
recordings, because a poorly produced studio prompt will be much