Standalone Cisco 7941/7961 without a local PBX

June 13, 2015, 11:02 am

This subject would not be worthy of its own page for most phones, but there are enough caveats and workarounds for these UAs that others may benefit from shared experience. Note that US part numbers are used throughout this write up.

Most of these caveats also apply to the 7945/7965 (the newer models with backlit color LCDs). See also: Standalone Cisco 7945/7965.

An additional set of configs etc have been posted here: Standalone Cisco 7941/7961 without a local PBX - Another

As Cisco has not yet documented the XML configuration file format for 79x1 phones, the best source of documentation is on the Asterisk phone cisco 79x1 xml configuration files for SIP page. This write up is a supplement, rather than a replacement. Some other good sources of information:

2005-September-09 Press Release
Documentation for Cisco Unified IP Phone 7961G/7961G-GE and 7941G/7941G-GE
Firmware download for Cisco IP Phone FW 7900 Series (CCO login required)

Motivation

Familiar office phone interface at home
Officially brighter future and higher resolution display than 79x0
Has a dynamic jitter buffer for SIP, something Asterisk (currently) has only for IAX
Potential integration with CallManager extranet (untested)
Compatible with widely available headsets
Support standard 803.af "Power Over Ethernet" (POE), whereas 79x0 only support a proprietary pre-standard POE variant

Planning

Model

The 7941G has two line buttons, the 7961G has six. Line buttons are configurable as outgoing SIP channels ("SIP lines") or as configurable speed dial buttons. Both models appear to support three simultaneous SIP streams/channels/calls

Finding the correct part

IANAL, but it is technically possible to use a "spare" part (e.g. CP-7961G=) rather than the part that includes the software license (e.g. CP-7961G-CH1). There is a difference of opinion on the Internet as to when the license is required, but Voiplink.com claims (Syburgh: I neither purchased from, nor have any affiliation with them):

The spare "CP-79xxG=" parts come with the phone, corded handset, English language stickers, cardboard box, and miscellaneous warranty/safety papers. They DO NOT include a power adapter, network cable, or SMARTnet contract.

Q. Do I need a Call Manager License to operate the phone with another IP PBX such as Asterisk?
A. No you only need a license to operate the phone with Call Manager or Call Manger Express. Licensing is the responsibility of the customer. ...

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Asterisk auto-dial out Chinese

June 13, 2015, 8:40 pm

≫ Next: Call Center Software

≪ Previous: Standalone Cisco 7941/7961 without a local PBX

Asterisk Call Files

Asterisk call files是個純文字檔，將它移至正確的目錄裡，就能透過asterisk自動撥打。Call files 是個很便利的自動撥打方式，而不用透過其它較複雜的asterisk功能如 AGI, AMI, 和 dialplan, 這些得需要一些技術才能實現。

The Asterisk dial plan extensions.conf responds to someone calling an extension on a channel.若你要從外部應用程式來撥出一通電話，有底下幾種方式可以實現。

asterisk 要啟動自動撥號功能有4種方法

使用.call檔，它是個純文字檔，必須放在正確的目錄裡才行
使用 manager API去啟動撥打。詳見 Asterisk manager dialout
使用指令列 Asterisk CLI originate 這個指令
使用 FollowMe這個指令，從 Asterisk 1.4 版本起，它就有能力實現多方通話(create multiple calls) 但它可能會被濫用於外撥(譯者注:我猜是被用來盜打)

See also additional Digium documents.

New in Asterisk 1.8: A new application Originate has been introduced, that allows asynchronous call origination from the dialplan. ...

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Call Center Software

June 14, 2015, 10:47 pm

≫ Next: Call Center Solutions

≪ Previous: Asterisk auto-dial out Chinese

Call center software is the software system that allows a company or organization to run a call center. This page lets you compare call center software providers.

There are hundreds of different providers of call center software across the globe, and every call center software system has its pros and cons. When selecting the right call center software for your business, contact center, or call center, it's important to decide which features you want your phone system to have.

Types of Call Center Software

ACD helps productivity by assigning inbound agents to incoming calls. The automatic call distributor uses a set of instructions to determine who gets the call in the system. The algorithm can route calls based on agent skill or whoever has an idle phone. ACD can use caller ID or automatic number identification, but usually interactive voice response is enough to help the system determine the reason for the call.

An automatic call distributor can also take advantage of computer telephony integration. Agents can receive relevant data on their computers along with the incoming call.

Computer telephony integration is a broad category of software that connects telephone and computer systems. Computer telephony integration software can have both desktop and server functions. Various applications make up a system that can control phones, display call information, and route and report calls.

Interactive voice response allows callers to route themselves to the appropriate department or use the company’s database for assistance. More sophisticated interactive voice response systems can access accounts and perform certain tasks, such as activating a credit card through a bank’s phone system. IVR involves using dial tone multi-frequency or voice commands. In the VoIP industry, a PBX auto attendant is near interchangeable with IVR. However, auto attendants are not capable of speech recognition.

A predictive dialer calls a list of phone numbers at once. Outbound agents are then connected to the numbers that answer. A predictive dialer uses calculations to minimize the idle time of agents and the potential of losing answered calls when no agents are available.

Contact Center Software

For contact centers, software includes applications for chat, email, and web interaction in addition to telephony functions.

Call Center Software Providers

This is a list of call center software providers and developers. Please keep this list in alphabetical order.

Ameyo Contact Center Software is an all-in-one software based communication solution that manages end-to-end customer journeys and consistently delivers exceptional customer experiences. It is a powerful and highly flexible IP-based Call Center Software platform that lets you have a personalized interaction with every customer across multiple channels, thereby driving customer engagement to a level par excellence. ...

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Call Center Solutions

June 14, 2015, 10:50 pm

≫ Next: Call Center Technology

≪ Previous: Call Center Software

Call center solutions include any call center provider or kind of software that supports call centers. Call center solutions are products and services that solve the specific need for customer relationship management (CRM).

A call center solution is often a total package like unified communications or turnkey product, such as an outsourced call center. Software that runs a complete call center system would also be considered a call center solution.

Types of Call Center Solutions

Inbound call center solutions help companies with incoming calls, such as with customer service and tech support. Outbound call center solutions can help businesses with market research, lead generation and customer outreach. Telemarketers use outbound call centers.

Blended call center solutions can provide both inbound and outbound services.

A virtual call center solution can work for businesses with no central location or several locations. Call center agents can work from home.

Offshore call centers are outsourced companies outside of the business’ home country. Offshore call center solutions can save businesses on overhead expenses.

Web-enabled call center solutions allow customers to call in from their computers. A web-enabled call center is usually a contact center.

In many cases, call center solutions are actually contact centers with the ability to communicate in a wider variety than voice. See call center vs contact center.

Call Center Software

Software is always a part of modern call center solutions. A call center needs a server to run its phone system (such as a PBX) and software to integrate telephony and computer systems.
Not all software is all-in-one. For example, a company wishing to integrate CRM with its call center technology requires additional software.

Call center software can have useful features such as phone controls from the computer and screen popping a client’s profile/information.

Many call center services come with their own, proprietary software. When a company runs its own call center or contact center there are software solutions, both proprietary and open source, for the below functions:

Call Center Solutions

This is a list of call center solutions providers and software. Please keep this list in alphabetical order. ...

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Call Center Technology

June 14, 2015, 10:52 pm

≫ Next: Predictive dialer

≪ Previous: Call Center Solutions

Call center technology encompasses a wide range of telecommunications hardware and software including automated phone systems capable of answering incoming phone calls and performing outbound autodialing.

A call center is a department within an organization or a standalone company typically comprised of telephone agents (customer service reps, salesmen, etc) who either accept incoming calls or make outgoing calls. Call centers can be completely automated, processing incoming and outgoing calls using automation with no human agents involved in the process.

Software applications typically associated with calls centers are CRM (Customer Relationship Management) programs. The following technology is typically associated with a call center phone system:

IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
WFM (Workforce Management)
Softphone Software CTI enable phone applications
Customer Satisfaction Research to monitor agent behavior and effectiveness

Vendor Information

Call Center Simulation Models

Voice Broadcast Simulation Models and Analysis
IVR System Simulation Model Program
Autodialer Software Simulation Model Program

Call Center Applications

Ameyo Call Center Platform is an all-in-one communication suite for Contact Centers and Enterprises offering next-generation information and communications management capabilities including ACD, IP-PBX, CTI, IVR, Predictive dialer, Voice Logger, Unified Presence, Sales Management, Customer Care, and Reporting.
QueueMetrics is a powerful call-center monitoring and reporting suite for the Asterisk PBX, offering extensive statistics, QA and real-time views
WombatDialer is a dialer / telecasting application for the Asterisk PBX
Vicidial and Goautodial is a software that acts as a complete inbound/outbound call center center suite most used as a predictive dialer on telemarketing campaigns.
Call Center Management, from Voicent Communications - Powerful software tool to automatically monitor and manage regulatory compliance and call center training and efficiency.

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Predictive dialer

June 14, 2015, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Mitel MiCloud Reviews

≪ Previous: Call Center Technology

What Is A Predictive Dialer?

"A predictive dialer is a computerized system that automatically dials batches of telephone numbers for connection to agents assigned to sales or other campaigns. Predictive dialers are widely used in call centers." - Wikipedia

"Definitions of Predictive dialer on the Web:

A predictive dialer is an outbound call processing system designed to maintain a high level of utilization and cost efficiency in the contact center. The dialer automatically calls a list of telephone numbers, screens the unnecessary calls such as answering machines and busy signals, and then connects a waiting representative with the customer.

note: above text may be copyrighted by it's respective owners)

A VOIP Predictive Dialer, a.k.a. soft predictive dialer, is a software product capable of predictive dialing using VOIP service directly. Besides computer and internet connection, there is no equipment needed in order to use VOIP predictive dialer.

Software Only Predictive Dialer

New predictive dialing technology, together with faster computers and bigger broadband bandwidth, enables software only predictive dialers to work as good as or even better than hardware based dialers. Software based solution avoids expensive telephony board and associated hardware maintenance cost. It is easy to install and configure. For example, it is very easy to setup remote agent (at home agent).

SOFTWARE ONLY PREDICTIVE DIALER

Unique Call center Suite Predictive/ Progressive/Auto Dialer and Web CRM Solution. For more details contact: avil@uniqueperform.com

Ameyo Predictive Dialer Ameyo Proactive Outbound is equipped with capabilities that power multi-channel campaigns and proactive outbound communications across multiple channels (voice, SMS, social, and web). Ameyo dialer is the heart of proactive outbound communications, that offers outbound capabilities that ensures communications compliance with legal regulations and harbours loyal and long-term relationship with customers.

Texo.cc auto dialer is an Agile Customer Interaction hub on cloud, enabling you to build Personalized engagements across the customer journey. Texo.cc empowers users to quickly innovate with minimal technical Intervention, thereby challenging the status quo of traditional inbound, outbound, or blended contact centers. Contact Texo.cc for the best voip predictive dialer. The Texo.cc auto dialer has been trusted by leading outbound sales teams worldwide, checkout Texo.cc predictive dialer reviews for more.

Aavyukta Intel e Call Dialer and VoIP Solutions to Call Centers: Predictive Dialer (Unlimited Seats) + VoIP (US/UKLL/Canada) + Hosted/Cloud Server @ 1 US cent/Min, Reach us on www.dialerphilippines.com or catch us on skype on id avyukaindia +91-9549999916

3CLogic Cloud-Based Contact Center Solutions - No hardware is required. Agents can be working from home or multiple locations. Automatically initiate contact with the next prospect before a rep finalizes a call, reducing call center queue times and operational costs. With 3CLogic, you will have complete visibility into call center operations including advanced scripting and reporting.
Astral Predective Dialer Solutions from

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Mitel MiCloud Reviews

June 15, 2015, 2:34 pm

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The Mitel MiCloud is a single piece of software that is used to help manage telecommunications for every part of a business. There are several different levels of telecommunications that must be covered, and Mitel MiCloud does all this at the same time. The products and services listed below help explain how the Mitel MiCloud can manage telecom needs for a company that may stretch around the world.

Using new telecommunications products helps businesses increase productivity without the need to add products from several vendors. Mitel has brought all communications needs under one umbrella to provide businesses with the help they need to remain productive. Review each item to learn which will work best in the office today.

Business Phones

Business phones are needed throughout every office. There is a phone on the CEO's desk and there is a phone on every desk in the building including the maintenance closet. A single phone system must connect all these phone, and Mitel helps provide phones that will link with the service that Mitel provides.

There are desk phones and IP phones that may be connected to any network a business uses. Phones that come with their own Ethernet cables may be connected to a VoIP service, and traditional desk phones may be connected to the wall outlets. A business can modernize the office with new IP phones that work with the Mitel software.

MiVoice

MiVoice covers the services and products that help businesses communicate with their phones. Communications in the office must be done with telephones, and employees need phones that help them call on customers. The phones purchased by the business can be powered with the MiVoice service for perfect call quality and reliability.

Calls are dropped less on the MiVoice server, and MiVoice customer service helps resolve issues quickly. The system helps businesses manage their phone calls as simply as possible with minimal expense. A business that invests in the MiVoice service will have phone service coming through their Internet line at a reduced price compared to the phone company.

MiCloud

The MiCloud is a proprietary application that helps businesses store information and manage documents within each office. The MiCloud is offered in conjunction with other services from Mitel, and businesses investing the MiCloud will be able to access other Mitel services through the same portal.

The MiCloud comes with expandable storage space that can be accessed through the Mitel servers at any time. A business may purchase a package from Mitel that will help with storage, or the business may purchase a cloud that helps with sharing. Every business that uses the MiCloud saves time and money on document storage.

MiCollab

MiCollab is a meeting and collaboration tool that will help people in the office work with each other without leaving their desks. People in different locations can collaborate on projects, and meetings can be held without massive travel expenses. A business that wants to cut back on wasted time can use MiCollab to put together meetings that happen instantly on employee computers.

A whole team may congregate in just one office to meet with a group from another location. A manager can hold court from their desk, and a team leader can update their team from the field. The MiCollab product helps get collaboration done in the same place as the other Mitel services.

MiContact Center

The MiContact Center is the place where customers and employees come together to get the information they need. The contact center is the place that customers call when they need assistance, and the contact center can become a help desk for people in the office who are experiencing trouble.

The MiContact Center software helps route calls to the right places when customers call in. Call center workers may be placed anywhere in the world by the business, and the contact center software sends calls to the right people. The MiContact Center software collects customer information when they call in, and the people in the office can see the record of the caller's information at the moment the call is picked up.

Customers that are in need of immediate assistance need not repeat their information once their call is answered, and the employees who pick up the phone may immediately access information for each account. Account access makes service much easier for the call center employee, and endless searches for information are eliminated.

Combining Services

Mitel services help businesses combine products to get the best results in the office. ...

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WebRTC

June 15, 2015, 11:15 pm

≫ Next: Alaris Labs

≪ Previous: Mitel MiCloud Reviews

Synopsis

The practical implementation of VoIP was started on hardware based IP Phones. The idea was well received and was transferred into the concept of Soft Phones or software based IP Phones. These softwares always required some additional installation to the native Operating System. Most common examples of Softphones or Software based SIP client is Counterpath's X-Lite and Bria.

Page Contents

The Evolution of Software Development made it possible to translate or formulate equivalent of almost every desktop based application to web based application. This brought major shift in Software Industry as the web browsers are integral part of almost every Operating System. SIP clients, were also transformed into Web Extensions. Most of the time, Flash was used to develop such extensions however, it always required extra plugin installation, thus decreasing system performance, and increasing chance to troubleshoot as it required additional resources to be deployed. And this problem gave rise to the concept of WebRTC.

Overview

WebRTC provides the functionality of realtime multimedia applications without any installation of additional plugins, downloads or extensions. The ideal form of WebRTC describes such web based Real Time Communication independent of Browser being used by user. It's a Javascript based API originally being developed to develop browser to browser communication applications for Voice, Video and Peer to Peer File Sharing tasks.

Architecture

The architecture of WebRTC, as described by W3C looks something like this:

Design

Major components of WebRTC include:

getUserMedia, which allows a web browser to access the camera and microphone
PeerConnection, which sets up the audio/video calls
DataChannels, which allow browsers to share data via peer-to-peer

Support

Chrome WebRTC Development Team

Discussion List: https://groups.google.com/group/discuss-webrtc
Google Plus Page: https://plus.google.com/113817074606039822053
Chrome WebRTC Issue Tracker: http://code.google. ...

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Alaris Labs

June 16, 2015, 5:40 am

≫ Next: Alaris SMS Platform v.3.4. HTTP API support and SMS channels control

≪ Previous: WebRTC

About company

Alaris Labs is a vendor of software solutions for telecom carriers and service providers.

The company focuses on development of telecom billing and routing systems as well as various business process automation tools for voice and SMS wholesales operators.

Alaris Labs has got more than 10 years of technological and marketing expertise in the telecom business.

Products

Alaris inVoice— an integrated billing and routing system for VoIP and SMS with a wide range of tools for rate management, traffic analysis and reporting;
Alaris LCR Engine— a high capacity routing system for voice and SMS; compatible with any carrier infrastructure, capable of managing both VoIP and TDM switches;
Alaris SMS Platform— acomprehensive SMS management solution comprising a 3 in 1 system for SMS trafffic switching, billing, and routing;
Alaris MNP/LNP Server— an advanced tool for ported numbers data management to interact with external MNP/LNP-databases and to provide dipping services to local carriers.

Trial versions

To request a trial version of any product please fill in the feedback form.

News and Articles

11.06.2015 — Alaris SMS Platform v.3.4. HTTP API support and SMS channels control (news)
27.05.2015 — Alaris inVoice v.3.4. Extended routing and rate management capabilities (news)
15.04.2014 — Alaris LCR Engine: Smart Routing (news)
22.12.2011 — Basic billing and routing functions (article)
21.12.2011 — Alaris inVoice v.2.7.0. New traffic analysis capabilities (news)

Contacts

website: www.alarislabs.com
email: sales@alarislabs.com
phone: +65-3158-6739

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Alaris SMS Platform v.3.4. HTTP API support and SMS channels control

June 16, 2015, 5:43 am

≫ Next: Free Conference Companies

≪ Previous: Alaris Labs

Alaris Labs, a leading developer of telecom carrier software products, announces a new release of Alaris SMS Platform— multifunctional solution for SMS traffic management. The key innovations of version 3.4 are API for interaction over HTTP and ability to control capacity of SMS channels and to schedule their activity.

In addition to SMPP in the new version of SMS platform support of HTTP protocol is implemented. HTTP API allows establishing connection both with customer and vendor sides. To send a request a special URL format is used. This feature provides fast and reliable integration of Alaris SMS Platform with third party equipment which is particularly important at the current stage of wholesale SMS market.

The new release includes a number of enhancements to control SMS channels. Capacity of SMS channels can be limited which is especially important when it is restricted on the vendor side. If traffic exceeds the limits the extra messages are stored in the buffer to be delivered later. It is now possible to plan the best time to deliver SMS from a specific client; for this purpose the buffer of a channel is set to accumulation mode and switches to processing mode at the predefined time.

New routing rules allow blocking SMS traffic from certain numbers or prefixes that helps to protect against fraudulent traffic. A system administrator can also set up replacement of an incorrect caller ID to numbers from specified list or generated from a template.

Other improvements of the new version are related to financial module, analytics and rate management. The new version of Alaris SMS Platform will be made available to all customers starting from June 11, 2015. For any questions concerning Alaris Labs products please contact sales@alarislabs.com.

About Alaris Labs
Alaris Labs is a leading developer of telecommunication carrier-grade solutions. The company offers billing & routing systems and business automation tools for wholesale interconnect and voice transit operations. Alaris Labs has got more than 10 years of technological and marketing expertise in the telecom business. Company website: www.alarislabs.com.

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Free Conference Companies

June 16, 2015, 6:03 am

≫ Next: Asterisk sound files international

≪ Previous: Alaris SMS Platform v.3.4. HTTP API support and SMS channels control

Here is a list of free conference companies in the united states. Some even support VOIP!

FreeConference.com– the original Free Conference Calling service, since 2001. Includes VOIP, WebRTC and mobile free conference calls.
http://usemybridge.com Free conference bridges. No signup. No limits. No cost - ever. UseMyBridge donates a portion of every minute to a charity of your choosing.
Free Conference Video Conference company supporting VOIP and video (in the future) built on Asterisk
No Cost Conference No Cost Conference
For a conference call check out the services of Free Conference Calling.
Free Conferencing Corporation Free Phone Conferencing.

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Asterisk sound files international

June 16, 2015, 10:21 am

≫ Next: How to start a VOIP Business

≪ Previous: Free Conference Companies

This page contains information about international Asterisk sound files.

HOW TO GET YOUR NEW LANGUAGE ADDED TO THE ASTERISK DISTRIBUTION

As of October 2009, it is possible for new languages to be added to Asterisk if you or your company is willing to have the recordings made and then contribute them under the Creative Commons license. They will then appear in the menus of different languages which can be selected at build time. Find these instructions for details and procedures: http://svn.digium.com/view/asterisk/trunk/doc/lang/language-criteria.txt?view=markup Everyone who has submitted a language below is encouraged to re-package their sound files for addition. Questions can be sent to John Todd (jtodd@digium.com) regarding language additions.

Use language= in a .conf file, or use the CHANNEL(language) function (1.4+) resp. the SetLanguage() application in extensions.conf

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How to start a VOIP Business

June 17, 2015, 7:51 am

≫ Next: Asterisk Consultants Italy

≪ Previous: Asterisk sound files international

The first thing to do is decide what part of VOIP marketplace you want to serve. Here are some possibilities:

VOIP Provider services
VOIP consulting
Independent Sales/Service Agent for existing VOIP service providers
Value Added services with VoIP
etc.

Some general suggestions:

Pick an area that plays to your strengths. For example, if your strength is sales and marketing, pick an area where you can leverage those abilities
Learn all you can about the maketplace
Attend industry tradeshows
Read industry magazines, blogs, forums, etc
Read books
Do market research - talk to your potential customers
Ask questions
- Tradeshow exhibits usually have knowledgable people available ready to answer questions
- Many websites (like this one) let you ask questions
Test the waters — to the extent possible try before you buy, test the waters before making large commitments of time or money

Value Added services

If you have experience with VoIP or already in VoIP business, you can get benifit / new customers by introducesing some value added services on VoIP. Few value added services are mentioned in following, Within each service there are many choices.

PBX sales and service
- Hosted PBX
- Virtual Numbers
- Hosted IVR / Auto attendents
- etc

Message broadcasting / Call Center Solutions
- Voice broadcasting / Auto dialer
- here is a guide about starting new business for "Voice, FAX and SMS broadcasting services"
- Appointment remainders, Emergency alert
- Fax broadcasting
- Call Centers
- etc

Prepaid Cards
- Retail prepaid cards from existing wholesale providers
- Start your own brand of prepaid cards using services from existing wholesale providers
- Start a new prepaid card provider company
- Create new software package for prepaid card services
- Create a Free Phone Booth
- etc.

VoIP Business - Startup No Money Down:

Start a VOIP Business with no money down using ITSPtec Hosted Systems to do HostedPBX, Carrier/Termination, Residential and Callingcard Services.
See the Hosted Model

Become a VoIP provider without heavy investments. Speedflow offers hosted Class 5 Softswitch at a special price. You can use it either with our high-quality termination or with your own VoIP routes. No setup fee, no hidden payments.

VoIP Business: Buy, Build or Resell?

Starting a VoIP business can be tricky Its a lucrative business that makes it a very Competitive business too. ...

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Asterisk Consultants Italy

June 18, 2015, 1:14 am

≫ Next: Telecom Fraud

≪ Previous: How to start a VOIP Business

Lista dei consulenti Asterisk in Italia, suddivisi per regione e provincia, che forniscono consulenze per l'installazione e l'amministrazione di centralini telefonici basati su Asterisk.
E' possibile avere supporto online in italiano attraverso la rete IRC freenode, canale #asterisk-it

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Telecom Fraud

June 18, 2015, 2:42 am

≫ Next: Asterisk cmd Goto

≪ Previous: Asterisk Consultants Italy

The note below describes one possible type of Telcom fraud — for a more information or to report VOIP fraud see the Additonal Resources section at the bottom of this page.

Yet Another Kind of Internet Thievery (YAKOIT)
I've recently come across yet another kind of internet thievery. This time it is perpetrated against voice over IP (VOIP) providers. The amount stolen can easily run into the hundreds of thousands, and perhaps even millions of dollars (US).

This thievery requires that the thief be well schooled in the arts of national and international telephone regulation and the settlement system through which telephone providers pay money to one another for various aspects of handling calls.

An important part of these settlement transfers is the fee that the destination carrier charges to handle the final leg of the call - i.e. the job of of making the called person's phone ring. In other words, for each call the destination carrier receives money from the upstream providers, the carriers closer to the person making the call.

Countries that do not have a nationalized telephone systems usually have administrative and regulatory procedures through which entities can qualify to become telephone providers.

Such providers make their money from revenue streams for outgoing calls made by their subscribers. Incoming calls also generate revenue via the settlement payments from the upstream providers. It is this latter flow of money that is of interest here.

Today there are many nascent VOIP providers - these range in size from giant telcos to intermediate companies such a Vonage to small ones such as nufone.

These VOIP providers have to pay settlement charges for those calls made by their subscribers when those calls have to be completed via the public switched telephone network (PSTN). In other words, when a subscriber to a VOIP service places a call to a PSTN number, that VOIP provider has to pay a charge to some PSTN provider.

Here's how the thievery works:

1. A thief goes through the regulatory process in some country to qualify as a telco carrier. In some countries this may be as simple as filling out some forms and paying a filing fee. (Note - there a a lot of good folks who also do this - no one except the large telephone companies would benefit if it became virtually impossible for innovative providers to qualify as carriers.)

The next steps must occur relatively quickly - usually within a few days.

2. The thief publishes a very high completion charge for some or all of its numbers.

3. The thief then creates a pool of these high-incoming-tariff priced telephone numbers. These numbers are just virtual numbers - they are nothing more than some software in some computer. But they actually seem to ring when called and they do answer incoming calls. Typically these numbers, once they answer, will never hang up. Some just play elevator music in order enhance the pretense that these are real phone lines being used for real calls.

4. The thief then searches for a VOIP provider that meets three criteria:

a) The provider will accept calls for these high-tariff phone numbers.

b) The provider's charges are lower than the high-tariff.

c) The provider has not yet realized that calls to these numbers are extraordinarily expensive and amended its own charges to its own customers to reflect these costs.

5. The thief then subscribes to this VOIP provider, creating a number of shills (usually computer programs, not people) that will be placing calls.

6. The thief then places a large number of calls through the VOIP provider to the high-priced numbers. The VOIP provider is then in a position of having to pay a large call-completion settlement charge for each call while receiving only a small amount of revenue from its billing of the customer (the thief's shill).

The VOIP provider may not become aware that is is being squeezed in a settlement-charge vise until weeks later when it receives the bills for its PSTN charges.

Someone might ask: Isn't the victim VOIP provider negligent in allowing calls to destinations when it does not know what the completion costs will be? My answer is this: I don't want to use the word "negligent" because that tends to carry implications that might in the minds of some excuse the actions of the thief. I would say that the provider was ingenuous. But I don't feel that this in any way reduces the culpability of the thief.

This is not a hypothetical problem. ...

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Asterisk cmd Goto

June 18, 2015, 5:44 am

≫ Next: Asterisk consultants USA

≪ Previous: Telecom Fraud

Synopsis

Jump to a particular priority, extension, or context

Description

Goto([[context|]extension|]priority)

Set the priority to the specified value, optionally setting the extension and optionally the context as well. The extension BYEXTENSION is special in that it uses the current extension, thus permitting you to go to a different context, without specifying a specific extension. Please note that the LEADING arguments to Goto() are optional, not the trailing arguments.

Variants

Goto(context,extension,priority)
Goto(extension,priority)
Goto(priority)
Goto(context,extension,label)
Goto(extension,label)
Goto(label)

Note

Inserting a space after the commas that separate parameters has unexpected results.
e.g.

Goto(confexisting, 1, 1)

looks for the extension " 1", i.e. with a preceding space character.

Examples

exten => 1,1,Goto(submenu,s,1) ; go to "submenu" context, "s" extension and priority 1
exten => 600,4,Goto(s,6) ; go to "s" extension, priority 6, current context

exten => s,1,Dial(${ARG2},20,r)
exten => s,2,Goto(s-${DIALSTATUS},1)
exten => s-NOANSWER,1,Voicemail(u${ARG1})
exten => s-CHANUNAVAIL,1,Voicemail(b${ARG1})
exten => s-BUSY,1,Voicemail(b${ARG1})
exten => _s-.,1,Voicemail(u${ARG1})

This example may not work due to dialplan sorting. Use show dialplan to check prior to use.

Asterisk consultants USA

June 18, 2015, 6:44 am

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This is a comprehensive list of Asterisk consultants in the USA (United States). Add your entry here (alphabetical order, by state and company), but stick to states where you have actual presence!

Feel free to add a few lines (max 5) describing your business. Don't forget to add VoIP telephone numbers, like a SIP URI. Use common courtesy with others' entries! No images!

ALABAMA

Asteria Solutions Group

http://www.asteriasgi.com
sales@asteriasgi.com
Digium | Asterisk Premier Solution Provider and Partner
Design, Configuration, and Installation of Asterisk PBX Systems
Deployment, Configuration, and 24-Hour support of our

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Fail2Ban (with iptables) And Asterisk

June 18, 2015, 8:45 am

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Page Contents

Fail2Ban

Fail2Ban is a standard Linux tool used to scan log files and then block IP's found in those log files using iptables. Fail2ban depends completely on the application (in this case Asterisk) to detect any intrusion/failure and log the user data, upon which fail2ban can then act. Fail2ban does not provide any type of intrusion detection, hack detection, etc., it depends completely on Asterisk to do that. As noted by Digium http://forums.asterisk.org/viewtopic.php?p=159984 fail2ban is not an intrusion detection / anti-hacking tool

Note that as of Asterisk 13 Digium is moving towards security events through the AMI, and moving away from log files. For now fail2ban is still compatible with Asterisk but consider fail2ban a short-term solution only. See this wiki page for alternatives: Asterisk security

You can get Fail2Ban, as well as more documentation, at www.fail2ban.org. At the time this is being written, the current release is 0.8.4.

Fail2Ban With Asterisk

The following describes how to setup Fail2Ban to work with Asterisk:

SECURITY NOTE: fail2ban is rather limited in its ability to detect attacks against asterisk.
More info http://forums.asterisk.org/viewtopic.php?p=159984
Consider a more comprehensive product like the free edition of SecAst www.telium.ca

Easy Install Script for Fail2ban version 0.8.4 / Red Hat

This script was written by Cédric Brohée in order to simplify and accelerate the integration of the solution in a basic Asterisk configuration on Red Hat.
Do not hesitate to read the bash script and make changes to match your own configuration.

Before running it, you will have to do chmod 755. ...

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IP Video Cameras

June 18, 2015, 10:53 am

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IP cameras are Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras that use Internet Protocol to transmit image data and control signals over a Fast Ethernet link. As such, IP cameras are also commonly referred to as network cameras. IP cameras are primarily used for surveillance in the same manner as analog closed-circuit television. A number of IP cameras are normally deployed together with a digital video recorder (DVR) or a network video recorder (NVR) to form a video surveillance system.
Cost advantages

Reduced system cost and added functionality due to general-purpose IP networking equipment infrastructure.
Lower cost of cabling in large installations (CAT5e instead of RG-59 coaxial cable).
Reduced space requirements in large (many camera) CCTV setups because video switching and routing is done via computer and does not need physically large and expensive video matrix switchers.

Extensible network infrastructure
Convergence onto new or existing IP cabling infrastructure, including sites with multiple buildings.
Ability to use Power over Ethernet allowing for one cable to handle power and data.
Capability for deploying with a wireless bridge.
Ability to use legacy coaxial cables with appropriate converters.
Ability to use fiber optic links with appropriate twisted-pair to fiber converters.
Transmission of commands for PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) cameras via a single network cable.
Simple to add one camera at a time to the system.

360 Degree Cameras

The primary components of the hemispheric camera include a fisheye lens, a high-resolution image sensor and image correction software that is integrated into the camera. Using an ultra-wide angle fisheye lens, the camera captures a 360° hemispheric image of the room and projects it onto a high-resolution image sensor.

When ceiling mounted, the image area of the hemispheric camera covers the entire room. The image in the hemisphere is convex, particularly near the image borders. These image sections are corrected for the viewer by the integrated distortion correction software, allowing a view of the scene from the usual perspective. The virtual PTZ feature allows you to enlarge or move image sections within the hemisphere, just like a PTZ camera yet, with Ip Cameras, this is achieved with no moving parts.

VoIP Functionality

Most IP Cameras support the SIP protocol and enable the use of each cameras to be programed as an extension on a pbx. Cameras from Mobotix offer complete 2 way duplex voice with their integrated microphones and speakers. This works to eliminate the redundancy of having a CCTV system and a paging system and combines it into a single package

Popular Brands

Mobotix
Panasonic
Grandstream
Foscam

Live Demonstrations Using Many Different Foscam IP Camera Models Both MJPEG and H.264 Based

Live Demos Click For Many Live Demos

Where to Buy

IP Cameras .e4 Technologies - Many SIP supporting cameras available 877.434.8647
Mobotix IP Cameras ProTelecomSupply. Certified Mobotix Partner. Reseller Pricing available on a full line of IP Cameras- 1-800-213-1896.

VoIPandGo.be Grandstream IP Cameras Delivery by UPS. Reseller Prices Available!!

NEW Wireless CCTV IP Camera systems http://www.cordless4u.com/LongRangeWirelessCCTVIPsystems. ...

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Personal VPN

June 18, 2015, 9:29 pm

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VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. A personal VPN is a secure connection between an end user and a secure server that allows the transfer of encrypted data to travel from user to server and vice versa. Personal VPNs are useful for securing a number of server situations such as WiFi hotspots, shared networks, hosted VoIP, and more. Many companies as well as large corporations and enterprises all have a VPN set up to ensure that their data and communications are protected. A personal VPN is a Virtual Private Network that can be set up by an individual.