Difficulty receiving DTMF tones

jason@wellkeeper.com · Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:34 pm

Background: We have an application which delivers voice notification of an alarm event to users.--going through a phone list to call one after another until one of them agrees to handle the problem.

Because these tend to happen at very odd hours, our prompts are done with

bargein="false

" to prevent groggy users from assuming they know why the call occurred, and pressing 7 to acknowledge the event and hangup without listening to the message.

The possible key presses are declared in a pretty simple form... python snippet below. I could get an actual filled in example if people needed.

Code: Select all

<form id="alarm_info">
  <field name="response">

    <grammar type="application/x-jsgf">1|7|8|9</grammar>

    <prompt timeout="6s" bargein="false">
      <!-- The outbound call I-D is <value expr="ob_id"/>. -->
      %(final_text)s
      Press one to hear the alarm information again,
      press nine to acknowledge the alarm and end this call,
      press seven to acknowledge all recent alarms at this site,
      or press eight or just hang up to end this call without
      acknowledging the alarm.
    </prompt>

    <filled>
      <if cond="response==1">
        <goto next="#alarm_info"/>
      <elseif cond="response==7"/>
        <submit next="%(OUTBOUND_ACK_URL)s" method="get" namelist="ob_id ack_all"/>
      <elseif cond="response==8"/>
        <goto next="#bye"/>
      <elseif cond="response==9"/>
        <submit next="%(OUTBOUND_ACK_URL)s" method="get" namelist="ob_id ack"/>
      </if>
    </filled>

  </field>
</form>

1 ) Sometimes we have issues with our users hitting the button too early or late in the system, and I'd like to fix that while still disallowing bargein, but aren't really sure how to go about it.

2) The *real* problem: Recently we've had a series of calls in which users claim they're unable to acknowledge any alarms--we're not getting 7 or 9--submits just aren't happening to the outbound_ack URL.

Is there any way I can get a better call log to debug/troubleshoot what's going on here? I've got 500 calls a day on my main system and can't reproduce it during testing--so the call log is useless to me.

I'd like to get a record of *any* button hit in the call and the time they press it. Also--are there perhaps application settings that need to be configured to cause the system to detect more of the presses or something else likely to be misconfigured?

[/code]

support · Post by **support** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:07 pm

Hi,

About 1), you could try using the IVR property, termtimeout, and adjusting the value for that to give users enough time to enter the digit.

About 2), what kind of phones are your users using for DTMF input? Are they using land line phones or cell phones?

About the IVR call logs...the IVR call log is really the best way of troubleshooting what happened on the IVR call. For example, if you see a "noinput" in the IVR call log, then that could mean that the user tried to bargein too early and no input was captured.

Regards,
Plum Support

jason@wellkeeper.com · Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:32 pm

Thanks for the timeout suggestion--I'll look at getting that coupled with the application to try to expand the default key press range some more.

In terms of DTMF--our users are all over the place--but I'd estimate it's probably about a 50/50 split. The particularly confusing and frustrating part about the problem is that it works sometimes for them, but not others. I've got one user who has probably handled a hundred alarms since he's been on our system--but last Saturday he just couldn't get the keypress to take (that was a cell)

Normally I'd suspect an update--but nothing has changed on our end in a few months. I guess with the call logs the best I can do is try to make sure I catch the problem within the last...50 calls or so to get the log?

support · Post by **support** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:02 pm

Hi Jason,

We have tried to reproduce this IVR behavior with both cell phones and land lines, but have been able unable to do so.

Please let us know if you notice in an IVR call log that a DTMF entry is being made, but no submit is being done by the IVR.

Regards,
Plum Support

tom.rhoads@elynxtech.com · Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:34 pm

I am also having this problem intermittently. I am using a Cisco IP Phone. When the DTMF tones work, they work great. When they do not work, no key press seems to work. I am using an XML similar to the following. Why is this intermittent?

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<vxml version="2.0">
<form>
<property name="inputmodes" value="dtmf"/>
<var name="voicecallouttracking" expr="'VCID;69173;2207037;955;0;-1;1-918-493-8681;-1'"/>
<field name="alarmprompt" type="digits?length=1">
<prompt>
<voice name="Jill">Test Test Voice Call Out has alarmed. Value: 22.9 is < 100 10/27/2009,02:51 PM Central Daylight Time. Press 1 to acknowledge this alarm.. Repeating message. Test Test Voice Call Out has alarmed. Value: 22.9 is < 100 10/27/2009,02:51 PM Central Daylight Time. Press 1 to acknowledge this alarm.. Repeating message. Test Test Voice Call Out has alarmed. Value: 22.9 is < 100 10/27/2009,02:51 PM Central Daylight Time. Press 1 to acknowledge this alarm. Press 9 to repeat this message. </voice>
</prompt>
<filled>
<if cond="alarmprompt==1">
<submit next="https://TestDomain/VoiceCalloutPlumVoic ... wledge.xml" namelist="alarmprompt voicecallouttracking" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"/>
<clear/>
<elseif cond="alarmprompt==9"/>
<clear namelist="alarmprompt"/>
<else/>
<clear namelist="alarmprompt"/>
</if>
</filled>
</field>
<noinput count="1">
<reprompt/>
</noinput>
<noinput count="2">
<exit/>
</noinput>
<nomatch>
<prompt>
<voice name="Jill">Repeating message. </voice>
</prompt>
<reprompt/>
</nomatch>
</form>
</vxml>

support · Post by **support** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:46 pm

Hi Tom,

Have you checked your IVR call logs when "no key press seems to work"? If you are seeing unexpected behavior happening when a DTMF key entry has been logged, then please provide us with the IVR log in which this is happening.

However, if your IVR call log shows that no DTMF entries have been logged, this indicates a problem with the IP phone that you are using as opposed to a problem with your IVR code. Some IP phones have been known to have problems with inputting DTMF entries. Have you been able to reproduce the IVR issue with a land line or a cell phone?

Regards,
Plum Support

tom.rhoads@elynxtech.com · Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:16 am

I did not see any key presses in the log when this problem happened. It almost seems like the bargein is set to false or something when this happens. I can't describe it but the whole call seems different and no keys work. It is interesting that the problem would be my phone, I have had it for 4 years and have not had any problems with other menus. We used a Dialogic card for 3 years and I never saw this problem with my phone. Do you have any suggestions for anything I can try. We really need reliable key responses so that people can acknowledge alarms. Than you for your help.

support · Post by **support** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:29 am

Hi Tom,

A couple of things:

1) When looking at your IVR code, we noticed that you placed your noinput and nomatch handlers outside of your <field>:

Code: Select all

<noinput count="1">
<reprompt/>
</noinput>
<noinput count="2">
<exit/>
</noinput>
<nomatch>
<prompt>
<voice name="Jill">Repeating message. </voice>
</prompt>
<reprompt/>
</nomatch>

You would want to place this block of IVR code within your <field>:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<vxml version="2.0">
<form>
<property name="inputmodes" value="dtmf"/>
<var name="voicecallouttracking" expr="'VCID;69173;2207037;955;0;-1;1-918-493-8681;-1'"/>
<field name="alarmprompt" type="digits?length=1">
<prompt>
<voice name="Jill">Test Test Voice Call Out has alarmed. Value: 22.9 is < 100 10/27/2009,02:51 PM Central Daylight Time. Press 1 to acknowledge this alarm.. Repeating message. Test Test Voice Call Out has alarmed. Value: 22.9 is < 100 10/27/2009,02:51 PM Central Daylight Time. Press 1 to acknowledge this alarm.. Repeating message. Test Test Voice Call Out has alarmed. Value: 22.9 is < 100 10/27/2009,02:51 PM Central Daylight Time. Press 1 to acknowledge this alarm. Press 9 to repeat this message. </voice>
</prompt>
<filled>
<if cond="alarmprompt==1">
<submit next="https://TestDomain/VoiceCalloutPlumVoice/Acknowledge.aspx?CommandFile=Acknowledge.xml" namelist="alarmprompt voicecallouttracking" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"/>
<clear/>
<elseif cond="alarmprompt==9"/>
<clear namelist="alarmprompt"/>
<else/>
<clear namelist="alarmprompt"/>
</if>
</filled>
<noinput count="1">
<reprompt/>
</noinput>
<noinput count="2">
<exit/>
</noinput>
<nomatch>
<prompt>
<voice name="Jill">Repeating message. </voice>
</prompt>
<reprompt/>
</nomatch>
</field>
</form>
</vxml>

2) When checking a couple of your IVR call logs, we saw that there were noinput events in them, indicating that no DTMF entry was being sent from your phone. We've tried to reproduce the IVR issue using land lines and cell phone, but have found that DTMF entries were being detected just fine on these phones.

3) When you say, "I can't describe it but the whole call seems different and no keys work.", how is the call different? Does it continue to play the IVR prompt as you're trying to enter DTMF inputs?

Regards,
Plum Support

tom.rhoads@elynxtech.com · Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:58 am

Thank you very much for your quick response. Thank you for finding my errors in my script. I will see if that makes any difference in the problem I sometimes have.

Does it continue to play the prompt as you're trying to enter DTMF inputs? Yes, it does. On other calls, if any key is pressed there is an interruption in the message. When it does not work, there is no interruption when a key is pressed.

Thank you for your help.

Plum IVR Support