Numbers and carriers
A carrier is the company that connects your calls to the phone network. VoDialer reaches it over SIP, the standard protocol for phone calls over the internet. The connection to one carrier is called a trunk. On screen the word is “carrier”.
What a carrier must give you
Section titled “What a carrier must give you”Get these in writing before real traffic goes through. The page Setup, then Numbers and carriers shows the same checklist under What a carrier must give you.
- Call-centre traffic is allowed, in writing. Many carriers ban automated or high-volume outbound calling. Ask for permission, in the contract or an email, naming outbound call-centre traffic.
- Calls are signed with STIR/SHAKEN A attestation. STIR/SHAKEN is how carriers vouch for who a call is from. A attestation is the top level. Without it, phones show your calls as spam or block them. The carrier must be allowed to vouch for every caller ID you use.
- Two connection points for redundancy. Two servers or regions, so calls keep flowing when one fails. Add both as carriers, with the main one tried first. A second carrier gives you the same protection.
- US numbers and US termination. The carrier must deliver calls to US numbers and let you present US caller IDs.
Also ask for two limits: how many new calls per second and how many calls at once the carrier accepts. You enter both when you add a carrier.
Ask your lawyer to confirm the checklist matches your agreement. The product only holds the list; it does not check your contract.
What VoDialer asks for
Section titled “What VoDialer asks for”For each carrier, the address and port, how it connects (UDP, TCP, TLS or WebSocket), a username and password if the carrier uses them, the two limits, and the order calls try carriers in.
The page, top to bottom
Section titled “The page, top to bottom”| Section | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Carriers | Add, test, pause and remove carriers. |
| What a carrier must give you | The checklist above. |
| Numbers people can call | Numbers that answer inbound calls. See inbound numbers. |
| Media servers | The machines that carry call audio. See media servers. |
| Simulator — local testing only | Pretend people for testing. See the simulator. |
The numbers shown to the people you call (caller IDs) are managed with each campaign. See caller IDs.
Only owners and admins can change anything here.
Two drivers
Section titled “Two drivers”The call service runs with one telephony driver. On a developer’s computer it is the simulator. For real calls it is FreeSWITCH, the open-source phone switch that places the calls and mixes the audio.