[VoIP] extensions.conf unhandled extensions

[Spock71]

Ian, I believe many users here in the States are trying also to emulate legacy tones and conditions exsisting pre-E.S.S. and/or pre-Equal Access.  There are a few different eras that exsisted though.  Some users prefer using an era-of-conditions when they were teens, pre-teens, kids, or maybe even toddlers (lol).  I prefer the era in the mid-late '60s up to the mid-'70s myself; this I believe was the era BEFORE Jane Barbe came onto the recorded-announcement scene.  A single recording was played which the woman (I think local or regional) spoke the message twice {The number you have reached is not in service -- please check the number in your directory and dial again.  [<repeats...]; if you remain on the line, and "Operator" will answer.  Thank You -- This is a recording.}.  The call was then put into an Intercept cue at the local Directory Assistance/Information operator to answer if she had no D.A. calls in her cue waiting, and she would give referral or new numbers, or status of temp. disconnects if she had that info.

This was usually what we got in the Harrisburg, PA area in both SxS and No. 5 X-bar offices; (we had no Panel switches within our approx. 15-mile local radius rate-center, since it was all Bell, except for Continental Telephone and United Telephone which had an 'unusual' crossbar office I don't remember; and for United - XY step switches.  For the tones, the step switch in Harrisburg STILL had the howler "cry-baby" almost up until it was completely replaced in 1975 (I think) with No. 1 E.S.S., used for incorrect NXX or incorrect-level.  Also, dialtone was the legacy tone before Precise Dialtone came on the scene, like we have now.  I know there was even an OLDER dialtone (higher-pitched) in some local SxS offices that pre-dated that Legacy step dialtone, and it sounded a bit wavery in some offices.

With the flexibility of the extensions.conf file, (and with sufficient memory for extra audio), a myriad of different responses can be yielded for different dial patterns and/or conditions that Asterisk encounters.  I think GIJones' "How to do more than one thing..." thread is a great starting point to attempt legacy emulation of old offices, although I don't know one HALF of how to implement the full power of extensions.conf yet -- but I'm LEARNING.  :)
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ian Jolly 
  To: Voice Over IP Tandem for Analog Switches 
  Sent: Friday, February 15, 2008 5:45 PM
  Subject: Re: [VoIP] extensions.conf unhandled extensions



  Over in the UK, Au and NZ  we've gone down a different avenue to you guys in 
  the US. We use the old public STD (DDD) dialling codes and tones to recreate 
  the telephone networks as they were many years ago. A number of us have the 
  original public exchanges from that era which we are connecting to CNET 
  using their original STD(DDD) dialling codes.  We've also set up the local 
  dialling codes between exchanges that existed at the time where applicable.

  Hence we've developed a way of giving the correct tones that the public 
  network would have given at the time that STD/DDD was introduced.    If you 
  are dialling into a 'heritage' exchange you get 'number unobtainable' tone 
  and the same applies now applies if you dial another number on the Asterisk 
  box. We didn't have recorded messages until much later.

  Hence the little macros :-)   We are now working on creating a few 'manual' 
  exchanges.  Just in the process of recording the voices of  the original 
  operators from the original manual exchanges :-)   That bit gets harder as 
  the last manual exchange in the UK went automatic in 1976!

  Ian Jolly
  ...