Outbound dialing - simulate endpoint phone number

[vikas]

Hi Plum

We are planning to use http://outbound.plumvoice.com/webservice/queuecall.php for making an outbound call to one of the IVR from a web page once the submit button is clicked on the web page.

Everything is working great except one thing.The queuecall sends an outbound call to "phone_number" sent as a parameter meaning the IVR at "start_url" starts execution only when someone picks the outbound phone call. This is the part that we don't want i.e. we want the IVR to start execution without anyone picking the outbound call. Is it possible?

The goal is to use this outbound dialing to automate some IVR testing. The web form will send the required input parameters to the IVR at "start_url" rather than an actual caller at "phone_number".

Kindly suggest. Thanks.

[support]

Hi Vikas,

Could you provide some more information on what you are trying to accomplish? Our engineers would like to reproduce the scenario you are attempting so they can ascertain if it is possible and provide any suggestions.

Regards,
Plum Support

[vikas]

Sure, below are the details
Within a PHP file we are using CURL command to make an outbound call. The outbound call is working great and the call is going to the intended phone number.

What we are trying to build here is automated IVR testing using this outbound feature.
So we want to send the outbound call to a fake phone number rather than a real phone number. Is it possible?
The outbound IVR execution starts only when the caller to whom outbound call is sent picks up the phone call. We want to remove this limitation and have the IVR execute without the need for end user to pick up the phone call.
That way we can automate testing using a HTML / PHP interface.

Code: Select all

if (isset($_GET['Callme'])) {	
	$apple = 'tel:+1'.$_GET['PhoneNo'].';ani=8002522549';
	$banana =  $_GET['FullName'];
	$orange = $_GET['ReloadAmount'];
	$chiku = $_GET['ReloadPackNumber'];
	$papaya = $_GET['SelectedCardId'];
	$guava = $_GET['EmailID'];
	$params = [
			'phone_number' => $apple,
			'login' => 'BlissIVRPreprod@bhnetwork.com',
			'pin' => '42887299',
			'start_url' => 'http://vikasprasad23.co.nf/ivr.php',
			'message_reference' => $banana,
			'call_parameters' => $orange.'-'.$chiku.'-'.$papaya.'-'.$guava,
	];
   // make the request to queue calls web service
   $ch = curl_init();
   // set curl options
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30);
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "http://outbound.plumvoice.com/webservice/queuecall.php");
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
   curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, http_build_query($params));
   // execute curl request
   $result = curl_exec($ch);
   curl_close($ch);

[support]

Hi Vikas,

Thank you for the additional details. Unfortunately there is currently no way to simulate a call in the way you are describing. In order for an outbound call to process it requires some form of input from the callee (either speech or DTMF input). While it might be possible to fake the call connection, we cannot fake the inputs needed to initiate the call.

While it is not currently available with our existing platform, it is something we could investigate as a custom project or feature request for future platform releases. We would suggest discussing it with your account manager if it is something you would like to pursue.

Regards,
Plum Support

[vikas]

Great. Can you please give more detail on how to fake the call connection?
We are just looking to get the IVR execution started so not concerned of User input at this point. A "no input" would still be fine.

[support]

Hi Vikas,

We apologize for the misunderstanding. The simulated call connection is something we could enable through a future platform update, but it is not currently possible.

Regards,
Plum Support