SMS on Abandoned calls

[Soli]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a way to trigger an SMS via a 3rd party provider whenever a call is abandoned in a 3CX V20 Queue.

The Setup:

• Version: 3CX V20
• License : Pro
• Constraint: The "Destination if no answer" (Timeout) is already configured for a different business logic after X seconds, so I cannot use it to route abandoned calls to a CFD.
• Goal: I want to catch the event where a caller hangs up while waiting in the queue and trigger an SMS notification to the caller.

I am familiar with the Call Flow Designer (CFD) and can easily build the SMS logic there, but I'm struggling with the trigger. Since the caller hangs up, I can't "route" them anywhere.

Has anyone successfully implemented this in V20? or have any idea?

I succeed to do so with a script and CDR but it's not very good to me since the CDR in the PBX can't auto delete after X MB and I can't send the CDR to other place but the PBX itself

 

[VoIPTools]

As you noted, the most straightforward approach would be to route the destination no answer to a CFD, and the CFD handle the notification, and then have the CFD route the call to wherever it is being routed to now. If there is some reason that this is not possible, then you have to look at other options.

If I were going to write the solution, I would create a service (Windows or Daemon) that subscribes to the call control API and watches for either (1) calls routed to the destination no answer, or (2) monitor for calls that were waiting in a queue and the user hung up before an agent could answer the call.

Once we have identified the correct phone call, then it is typically straightforward to send a native SMS using your carrier's SMS API. But there are some things to consider when discussing sending SMS. For example, what happens if the user responds to your SMS? Is that going to come back through 3CX and be handled by an agent there? Have you gone through the process of getting authorization from your carrier to send SMS?

Help us understand why the Destination No Answer cannot be a CFD, that then forwards the caller, after sending the SMS, to the same place where you are currently sending the call.

 

[Soli]

First of all, thank you. To clarify my requirements:

1. Timeout Routing: After a call has been waiting for XXX amount of time, I need to route it to an external destination without triggering an SMS ( I use the Destination if not answer for that).
2. Abandoned Call Trigger: If a caller hangs up while waiting in the queue, I need an automatic trigger to send them an SMS. I handle the actual SMS execution on my backend; I only need the PBX to provide the trigger.

Please note that we are running the PRO edition of the PBX on Linux. Due to the API limitations of the PRO version, I am looking for a workaround or a specific way to capture these events

 

[KyriacosS_3CX]

Hi,

You might be able to build something that polls the Abandoned Queue Calls report periodically and triggers of that.

 

[VoIPTools]

Ah, you are correct, there are two possible ways of getting an abandoned call -- only one is handled by the timeout route. In that case, one option would be to monitor the creation of CDR files, created by 3CX in real-time. These files have a call-chain field that lists the last extension to touch the call. That will tell you if the call never got out of the queue. My assumption is another field will list the call being transferred to the outside party.

Perhaps you are looking to handle after-hours support calls? Is that why you are forwarding the calls to an outside phone number (answering service)?

If this is what you are trying to handle, then you may want to take a look at our 3CX On Call Manager tool. One of the scenarios we handle is sending inbound calls to a queue. We look at a recurring schedule to ensure the correct people are logged into the queue before routing the call to the queue. If nobody answers the call, typically we would forward the caller to voicemail. From there we would start sending multi-channel notifications to support agents (phone, email and SMS text).

But after all these years, you have highlighted a case where if the caller hangs up before the queue timeout is reached, we do nothing but log the event. It seems reasonable that we might want to do more to communicate with the customer, and the person(S) on call so you can chase them. Might be very important if this was a crisis hotline, and the person in trouble gave up waiting. Interesting... I guess we better do more in that scenario. I will change that in our software. Thanks for the idea.