Elk M1 making announcements while phone is still ringing ...

[electron]

So I configured my M1 to call me on my cell in certain situations, and for months now, something odd has been happening, but could not figure out why. Whenever I pick up the phone, it sounds like the announcement was half spoken already, so I missed a big chunk of it. Sometimes I would hear all of it, other times nothing, and that's after inserting a few delays in the message.

Today I was troubleshooting a problem with my phone, and while testing my phone, I heard the M1 dial out with this reminder. While I can hear my cell ring, I can also hear the M1 making the announcement on the phone line already, eventho I can hear the ringing on the line as well, so there obviously is not a connection. This explains why my messages are cut off, but I can't figure out how to fix this. Is this normal behavior?

 

[mustangcoupe]

I remember reading a thread about where the audio would be cut off, because it was also speaking audio in the house. This may be related in some weird way.

 

[Spanky]

I do not understand everything going on, but you can add commas to the end of the telephone number to introduce delays before it will speak.

 

[electron]

As soon as the M1 starts dialing, it starts repeating the message on the line, while it's still dialing/ringing.

 

[Spanky]

There was an option added which was used to make intercom announcements in which the number was dialed and the voice immediately came on. I can not remember the character in the dial string that turns on the feature, but it is one of the alpha characters. Are there any alpha characters in the dial string?

 

[electron]

The string is *82,,5551234

 

[tmbrown97]

what about adding 4 or 5 commas after the phone number?

 

[dutchyn]

There was an option added which was used to make intercom announcements in which the number was dialed and the voice immediately came on. I can not remember the character in the dial string that turns on the feature, but it is one of the alpha characters.

Where might we discover this option?

Chris D.

 

[Spanky]

There was an option added which was used to make intercom announcements in which the number was dialed and the voice immediately came on. I can not remember the character in the dial string that turns on the feature, but it is one of the alpha characters.

Where might we discover this option?

Chris D.

It "Should" be in the latest installation manual, but I will get a guru to comment.

 

[dlamb]

Chris D,

The option to dial and deliver voice messages without the preceding "please hold" and the ending "press pound to end message" is enabled by programming the first digit of the phone number with the digit "A". The actual voice message will start 1.5s after dialing and will only play once.

Dan,

In the standard mode of operation the M1G will automatically start the dialer's voice message approximately 10 seconds after the last digit of the phone number has been dialed. Depending on when you answer the call you might pick up while the first voice message is in progress. The message is repeated 3 times or ends when the pound key is pressed.

Regards,

 

[electron]

So if the phone has been ringing for a while, chances are you wouldn't hear the message at all?

 

[sic0048]

Well not just if the phone was ringing, but sometimes it can take a while to even connect to a cell phone. So if the message is relatively short, and the call is going out to a cell phone, I could imagine situations were you could miss most/all of a message.

A 10 second delay is probably enough time if the connection is made right away. Most people have voice mail or an answering machine that is going to pick up after about 4 rings. 2-3 seconds per ring is about 8-12 seconds to pick up the phone before it is answered by the machine/voice mail. But if the call isn't connected for 5-10 seconds before it even starts ringing, then I can see a problem.

Perhaps ELK can update the system where you could specify a delay time before the message started and leave 10 seconds as the default time. Of course if the delay is too long, then you risk the person answering the phone simply hanging up thinking no one is there. Probably not a problem if you have the ELK calling you, but it could be a problem for other numbers you might call.

 

[dlamb]

I probably should have added that a second dial attempt is made, if you do not answer or kiss-off the on the first attempt