Dial codes via mobile for forwarded calls? (Without using “Ring my extension and my mobile at the sa

[mamo]

Hi,
under http://www.3cx.com/blog/voip-howto/dial-codes/ you can read about the so called "Mobile Agent Service".
At the top there is also an important note:

For the Mobile Transfer Service to work, the option “Ring my extension and my mobile at the same time” must be enabled in the extension’s properties.

As I tested this feature, I found it working as advertised. My only problem is the limitation mentioned in the note I cited.

I don't see much sense in ringing my extension and my mobile at the same time. What I really want is to be able to forward all my calls to my mobile without ringing my extension at the same time. In theory this could be an easy task. Just switch to "away" and configure "Forward to my mobile" for this status. In practice this setup leads to losing the ability to use dial codes. With the forwarding rule in place, dial codes typed at my mobile are transmitted to the other end of the line as acoustic beeps (in contrast to method “Ring my extension and my mobile at the same time” where signal transmission is silent) and don't produce any effect.

Any suggestions how to change this behavior and enable dial codes on forwarded calls?
I imagine, it might be possible to work around with additional extensions for mobile phones, but well... keeping a system with only one extension per person seems like a cleaner / more logical and therefore desirable approach.^^

 

[leejor]

With the forwarding rule in place, dial codes typed at my mobile are transmitted to the other end of the line as acoustic beeps (in contrast to method “Ring my extension and my mobile at the same time” where signal transmission is silent) and don't produce any effect.

Very interesting that there would be a difference given that both calls should be seen as identical incoming calls. I can duplicate the same thing with my (four year old) Samsung Rugby Pro using 3CX for Android Ver 14.

Came across this, http://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-qu ... -call.html
I haven't had a chance to see if the option is available on some newer android phone that I have, or if it makes a difference. It isn't on the 4.0.4 version I currently have in my hand.

 

[mamo]

I might even have a possible explanation for the different behavior of DTMF: Another interesting detail, I observed, is the number of active calls. If I do forwarding, 3CX-Dashboard will show "Number of calls in use: 1/4". If set “Ring my extension and my mobile at the same time”, it will say "Number of calls in use: 2/4".
(side note: This is also a rather unexpected and unpleasant surprise, as it will probably require a licence upgrade in the near future, that would not have been necessary otherwise)

My guess now is, that with “Ring my extension and my mobile at the same time”, 3CX will make a new call with it's own codec settings in place and do transcoding between the incoming and the outgoing call, whereas in case of forwarding, it will just hand over the data stream and leave the codec untouched as whatever the caller delivers. Hence the mobile would receive a different encoding, depending on the forwarding / ring mobile at the same time setting, and react accordingly.


Regarding the Android setting, you found: I have a LG G5 with Android 6.0.1 and can not finde this setting.

 

[leejor]

My guess now is, that with “Ring my extension and my mobile at the same time”, 3CX will make a new call with it's own codec settings in place and do transcoding between the incoming and the outgoing call, whereas in case of forwarding, it will just hand over the data stream and leave the codec untouched as whatever the caller delivers. Hence the mobile would receive a different encoding, depending on the forwarding / ring mobile at the same time setting, and react accordingly.

Which would tend to make sense, if, you were calling to the 3CX Android App on the phone (SIP from A to B). In your case, both calls are being sent to the mobile provider. They have complete control over the voice stream (codec) between themselves and your mobile. I'm wondering if calls, from 3CX (both forwarded, and Ring my mobile) sent via a PSTN gateway would behave any differently. If calls are sent via a VoIP provider then "additional" information can be sent which could explain the DTMF working in the case of one type of call.