Followme: announcement surpresses/supersedes initial ringing

General Help
1

asterisknow: 1.5
freepbx: 2.5.1.5
followme: 2.5.1.8

On the Follow Me screen, we’ve created and selected an Announcement (“Hello. Please hold while we try to connect you. This call may be…”)

When the extension is called, the announcement plays followed by the ringallv2 ringing being heard. What we’d prefer is that there be one or two rings heard by the caller as a soother, then the announcement, and then the ringallv2 ringing. The first one or two rings need not (should not) ring any actual extension (destination), just be heard by the caller as a soother.

The ring-less announcement is too sudden for most callers taste as they comment on it often; without an opening ring, it seems to catch the callers off guard.

We’ve played with the initial ring time setting, but it doesn’t create the desired three-step. Depending on the ring strategy, it will ring the extension for, say, six seconds and then stop ringing on the extension and the fire the announcement, and then re-ring the extension + the other ext’s in the follow-me list. We don’t want this initial opportunity to answer the phone without the “call maybe …” having been played.

Is there a way this freePBX tadpole can add this pre-announcement ring-soother/ring-leader in front of the announcement?

With thanks.

2

On your inbound route you can try checking ‘Signal Ringing’ and the ‘Pause before Answer’ to some delay like 6-8 seconds before sending to the followme. Otherwise, record some ringing at the beginning of the announcement:-)

3

Thanks.

We had thought of including “ringing” in the recorded announcement but was under the impression that ringing was a modulated “signal” and otherwise quite different in the scheme of things from playback.

We’ve tested your idea of “checking ‘Signal Ringing’ and the ‘Pause before Answer’” over on the Inbound Route screen and it is producing the three-step sequence – soother/leader ring, announce, and then ringallv2 ringing of the follow-me list of destinations.

:slight_smile:

We’ve put it on one real power user’s DID/extension and we’re monitoring for effect and any caller comments. She will definitely let us know!

Thanks very much!