________ ________ ________
2018-03-26 / \/ \/ / \
/ __/ /_ _/
Debbie Downer back at it again with / _/ / /
another buhu for the readers at home. \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
/ \/ \/ / \
Nah just kidding I'm going to talk about / _/ /_ _/
phone shit. /- / _/ /
\________/\________/\___/____/
(Audience: Fucking hell is he going talk
about his busted SDF VoIP again?)
No, smartass, my SDF VoIP works now.
Recently I have been fiddling with and have fallen way in love with
Asterisk.
When my SDF VoIP was busted (Audience: Fuck!) and I initially thought it
was just the voicemail I figured ok, in the spirit of the SDF if it's busted
and I can just roll my own I should just do that so I started tinkering with
Asterix with some success, it was actually really easy to get up and running
and the basic extensions/dialplan config is straight forward enough that I
could get my head around a simple answering machine.
In the end I got sidetracked and made a goofy thing that plays back a
random 90s Australian phone sex ad (should still be running if you want to
punch in ext. 1999 or 1999@sip.sdf.org or however direct calls work) and got
busy with work and life stuff before I could circle back and finish adding a
voicemail box.
The novelty of the phone sex thing wore off pretty quick though, it's
pretty much a one-shot gag, so I'm working on a couple of new things; one
being an automated dial-a-reading tarot line, an idea pretty much along the
same lines but a bit more interesting and gives me an excuse to try to set up
some IVR options (description of how the reading works/start the
reading/replay reading, etc) and to figure out how to pipe in background
music, either by automatically conferencing in two extensions or by using the
chanspy whisper or whatever.
Once I've got that figured out there's something else I want to try along
the same lines but less randomised and more interactive. We'll see.
Coincidentally I recently found a Telstra touchfone TF200 in a thrift
store, I've wanted a Touchfone for ages, long before I was active on the SDF,
just to have one around because they're really nostalgic for me. I'd spend
hours on one as a kid, talking AD&D and anime nonsense with friends.
Shortly after that I found a TF400 in really good condition and was like,
"well I always liked the TF400 better when I was a kid" so I got that one too
because it was a really good price but then, again, shortly after that I found
another TF400 for not as good a price but complete with manual and speed dial
"memory cards" and all so I picked that up too hahaha. I'll probably on-sell
the first TF400 or donate it, it didn't cost much and is missing the cover for
the speed dial.
I also have an eye out for the clever "hands free" bolt-on speakerphone for
the old Touchfone series. I saw one pop up on eBay but the bidding got a bit
too steep for me, which is fair enough since as far as I know they were pretty
rare. I only ever recall seeing one in real life, in a friends dad's shed I
think it was.
So anyway that all really snowballed and is a thing now I guess, at least
for the time being. I picked up a little Cisco ATA so I can use the phones
with a real VoIP provider or the SDF's VoIP. It's pretty nifty, I'd never
messed with VoIP much at all but setting all this up was a lot of fun and I'll
admit, there was a little rush of nostalgia for me when I found the settings
to replicate the Australian dial tone. It's way nicer than the default US dial
tone (sorry guys haha).
I've still got to get my head around the rest of the settings on the thing
and keep plugging away at Asterisk config ideas and problem-solving but it's
definitely keeping me really engaged in the short bursts I can actually work
on any of it.
EOF