Does Anyone Have Directed Call Pickup Working?

Upgraded to asterisk 1.4.18 and still no go. I've implemented the *8 group pickup which will have to do for now and is actually pretty flexible. Let me know if you need any assistance.

Chris

Working fine here, always has.

This box was installed from a trixbox 2.4.2 ISO CD and is on the trixbox rpm of 1.4.17-1

Should also mention running FreePBX 2.4 here but it also worked previously on 2.3

It looks like you are dialing *8 which will pick up any ringing extension in a group.

I have this capability.

I'm trying to get **ext working to use directed call pickup.

What I have noticed is that **xxx does work on internal calls. Try dialing from outside. I've tried *8xxx on ast 1.4.16, 17 and now 18. Only group pickup (*8) works.

in feature codes (freepbx), try changing the ** to *8

then make sure that you have each extension set up with callgroup and pickupgroup,

to pickup a ringing phone in a call group the pickup group must be the same number.

ie: at my home, callgroup is 1 for each phone in the house.
i have all phones in the house set for 1 to pick up the other ringing phones at home.

*8 does the job when another phone is ringing and i pick up on a different extension.

In my apartment in the city, i have call group set for 2. Each phone there has pickup group of two.

My wireless phone i have set to callgroup 1-2 and pickup group 1-2 which allows me to pickup phones at both my house and apartment, and allows for my home/apartment phones to pickup from my wireless.

hope this information is useful. they do work well when configured correctly.

It appears that a lot of helpful-minded people THINK that they have directed call pickup working in CE 2.4 when in fact they do not.

What they DO have working appears to be *8 pickup... Which picks up any ringing extension in a pickup group...

What I want is DIRECTED CALL PICKUP... The ability to pick up a PARTICULAR RINGING EXTENSION. This is accomplished in Asterisk by dialing "**ext#".

What this means is that if extension 203 is ringing... And if I'm at extension 201 and dial **203, I pick up the call coming in to 203..

What this DOES NOT MEAN is that if a call comes into 203 and I dial *8# from 201, I get the call... This feature is NOT "directed call pickup". This is group pickup. This feature picks up ANY ringing extension in a pickup group. If the call were ringing to 202 or 204 0r 205, then *8 would pick up the call from whatever extension were ringing.

I need the ability to pickup ONLY the extension I want to pickup...

If calls are coming in to 202, 204 and 205, I want the ability to dial **202 and pickup ONLY that call... I don't want to dial *8# and end up picking up the calls from 204 and 205.

I had this feature working in 2.2 and even in the 2.3 beta (2.4 RC4) But I can't get it working in 2.4!

Does anyone have this feature working in 2.4?

If Extension 307 is ringing and I dial **307 it picks the call up

Cheers
Garry

rrichiez, go to extensions, under device options, set your call group and pickup group to let's say 1. If all are in same group, you can pick each others calls by dialing *8. Play with that for starters, you can set different groups for let's say departments. If you need more help let me know.

Chris

your email address an will email them as they are quite large

Cheers
Garry

For all those interested, there is a sample fix by Jynger in the ticket posted above by philippel that WORKS!!! I have tested it on both incoming SIP & ZAP channels. The fix I used is listed below.

Add the following lines to the bottom of '/etc/asterisk/extensions_custom.conf':

[app-pickup-custom]
exten => _**.,3,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-did-direct)

And don't forget to restart Asterisk...

I 've got my secretary's phone fixed thanks to Jynger and Phillipe!

Directed call pickup is working like a champ!

I updated the extensions_custom.conf file yesterday and it worked great after I restarted Asterisk.

Today... Different story. Directed call pickup is no longer working.

The only thing that happened overnight was a scheduled backup.

But my extensions_override_freepbx.conf file is empty.

What do I do it? Do I put the same app there?

This fix worked for me but only if the incoming call goes directly to an extension. If the call pass from IVR system then **ext don’t work.

If someone solved this then feedback is appreciated.

Thanks

Yes the problem is in groups. From my IVR calls goes to groups. I tried ext-group context but no luck. Also i notice that if the call goes to queue directed pick up work fine. Something is wrong with ring groups.

Please confirm that.

Yes it works with custom contexts installed. The problem is in ring groups. i have post this above but i have none reply.

After my 'Directed Call Pickup' feature dumped on me again, (only to find out afterwards it was my doing), I did some research and came up with this simpler more effective dialplan.

This updated dialplan gets asterisk to find the first ringing channel that is ringing the extension and picks up. Basically, this makes asterisk search for which ever context the ringing extension is in using the special context name 'PICKUPMARK'. Instead of the need for multiple 'Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@every_context_you_have' lines. Works for both internal & external calls on my system so far.

Just modify your [app-pickup] context in 'extensions_additional.conf' to:

[app-pickup]
include => app-pickup-custom
exten => _**.,1,Noop(Attempt to Pickup ${EXTEN:2} by ${CALLERID(num)})
exten => _**.,n,SET(GLOBAL(PICKUPMARK)=${EXTEN:2})
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@PICKUPMARK)

This ?MAY? solve the ring groups not being able to pickup due to not knowing which context those ringing extensions are in.

My Bad!

Place the code in 'extensions_override_freepbx.conf' as reminded by KodaK! You will need to paste the COMPLETE dialplan as listed into that file. Don't forget to reload or restart asterisk to pickup the new dialplan!

If you want to check what context will be executed, to verify your work, enter the following command in the asterisk cli:

dialplan show app-pickup

extensions_override_freepbx.conf is preferred instead of using extensions_custom.conf for changes or is it best for modified existing functions as against new ones being placed in extensions_custom.conf

Cheers
Garry

Hi all,
I tried the code suggested by rstebih but with it, the directed pickup **EXT behaves exactly like the "blind" *8 group pickup. To confirm this I've checked that when an extension is ringing, if I dial **WHICHEVEREXT I always pickup the ringing one.

My PARTIAL solution (it doesn't work for extensions ringing for a call to a group or a queue but only for direct calls from other extensions or from dialing during IVR from external) is:

[app-pickup-custom]
exten => _**.,3,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-did-direct)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-internal-additional-CUSTOM1)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-internal-additional-CUSTOM2)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-internal-additional-CUSTOM3)

"from-internal-additional-CUSTOMx" are my internal manual custom contexts to allow extensions call with specific trunks.
As stated this doesn't work when the extension is ringing for a call to its group or queue.
Has anyone a solution for picking a call to an extension coming from a group or queue, only by using **EXT

Regards

Rocco77

Anyone get any solution for this, i have an gxp2000 i cant get direct pickup to work.

Internal it works great.

I think that it is a problem i have reported to the freePBX forum a long time ago, when version 2.3 came to life.

I've found that the new V2 ring strategy had broken the call pickup.

Some tests i've made today have shown that upgrading asterisk to version 1.20 destroyed as well call pickup with V1 ring strategy.

The problem exhibit not only with ring group, but with follow me as well.

I think that the FreePBX code would need to be reworked for call pickup to work again, as it is not possible to use a modern telephone system without this function.

I would be interested to know if this is working fine in the commercial version of Trixbox Pro.

see: http://freepbx.org/trac/ticket/2510 for an update

beh theres confusion about this..

Theres always otherways to get things accomplished when using asterisk.
The *8 originaly came from old trixbox (a@h)
Its not used anymore unless your manually trying to do so..

This is what you can do to get call pickup working across the board:

1)Disable the callpickup feature on the features codes page of
trixbox in order to make a custom pickup extension.

2) Add the following to address the call pickup issues:

FILE:
/etc/asterisk/features_general_custom.conf
CONTAINS:
pickupexten=**

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=--==-=-=-=-=-
FILE:
/etc/asterisk/extensions_custom.conf
CONTAINS:
[from-internal-custom]
exten => _**.,1,Pickup(${EXTEN:2})
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@ext-group)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@ext-local)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-trunk)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-pstn)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-internal)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-did-direct)

-=-=-=-=-=-=---=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==--==-=-=-=-=-=-

PM me if you have any issues.
Thanks
Christopher Brown
trixbox support

Your just confusing people now. ..

christopherb,
I didn't read your post carefully enough, my bad (and btw, thanks for the beer), concerning your instructions:

FILE:
/etc/asterisk/features_general_custom.conf
CONTAINS:
pickupexten=**

This simply replaced *8 with **, it is still not directed call pickup. It requires that you have callgroups and pickupgroups defined and will pickup up any extension configured just like *8 (because it is *8 redefined). So you are back to the 'use *8' as a solution, which it is not.

Is there any chance to get back the old good direct pickup?... :(

I have tried this in FreePBX 2.5 and 2.4 and have mixed results. I have a production system with Trixbox 2.6 and FreePBX 2.4 and all Aastra 57i phones. On that system I have ext 1157 with a button configured for a BLF on ext 1104 and I can answer an internal call on 1104 by using the button on 1157. If I try to configure this same setup on different extensions it will not pickup the call, it just acts as a blf/speed dial button.

I also have a test box with Trixbox 2.6 and FreePBX 2.5 and the same extension configuration I listed above does not work. I am not sure if I have to configure a button on my extensions specifically for pickup or if a blf button is supposed to do that also. Below is a snip from my test system. I have looked at the tickets that you listed above Philippe but I don't know if that means this should work in FreePBX 2.5 or if I need to patch it.

Thanks in advance...

/code
[Oct 14 15:57:04] VERBOSE[7257] logger.c: -- dialparties.agi: dbset CALLTRACE/2101 to 2102
[Oct 14 15:57:04] VERBOSE[7257] logger.c: -- dialparties.agi: Filtered ARG3: 2101
[Oct 14 15:57:04] VERBOSE[7260] logger.c: == Manager 'admin' logged off from 127.0.0.1
[Oct 14 15:57:04] VERBOSE[7257] logger.c: -- AGI Script dialparties.agi completed, returning 0
[Oct 14 15:57:04] DEBUG[7257] app_macro.c: Executed application: AGI
[Oct 14 15:57:04] VERBOSE[7257] logger.c: -- Executing [s@macro-dial:7] Dial("SIP/2102-b7702d80", "SIP/2101|15|tr") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:04] VERBOSE[7257] logger.c: -- Called 2101
[Oct 14 15:57:05] VERBOSE[7257] logger.c: -- SIP/2101-08b081d8 is ringing
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[2360] logger.c: Extension Changed 2100[ext-local] new state InUse for Notify User 2101 (queued)
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [**2101@from-internal:1] NoOp("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "Attempt to Pickup 2101 by 2100") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [**2101@from-internal:2] Pickup("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "2101") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] NOTICE[7261] app_directed_pickup.c: No target channel found for 2101.
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [**2101@from-internal:3] Pickup("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "2101@from-internal") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] NOTICE[7261] app_directed_pickup.c: No target channel found for 2101.
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [**2101@from-internal:4] Pickup("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "2101@from-did-direct") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] NOTICE[7261] app_directed_pickup.c: No target channel found for 2101.
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [**2101@from-internal:5] Pickup("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "FMPR-2101") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] NOTICE[7261] app_directed_pickup.c: No target channel found for FMPR-2101.
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [**2101@from-internal:6] Pickup("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "FMPR-2101@from-internal") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] NOTICE[7261] app_directed_pickup.c: No target channel found for FMPR-2101.
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [**2101@from-internal:7] Pickup("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "FMPR-2101@from-did-direct") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] NOTICE[7261] app_directed_pickup.c: No target channel found for FMPR-2101.
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [**2101@from-internal:8] Hangup("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: == Spawn extension (from-internal, **2101, 8) exited non-zero on 'SIP/2100-b77017f0'
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [h@from-internal:1] Macro("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "hangupcall") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] VERBOSE[7261] logger.c: -- Executing [s@macro-hangupcall:1] ResetCDR("SIP/2100-b77017f0", "w") in new stack
[Oct 14 15:57:15] DEBUG[7261] app_macro.c: Executed application: ResetCDR

daftech,
how is the call coming in. What it is trying to do is determine what extension in what context to look for. If you have follow-me but it is disabled, I would think we should still be able to pickup the call. The important part to see is how the call is coming in. For example, if the call comes in as a ringgroup number 650 and extensions 2101 is part of the ringgroup, we need to pickup "extension 650" cause that is what it is for Asterisk. We don't do that in 2.4, we try to do that in 2.5. I believe we put some more exhaustive attempts around Follow-Me as well in 2.5, but again need to see the exact scenario and then repro it in the lab if the traces are not enough - an the important part is the incoming call and then the static part of extensions_additional.conf where the pickup code is for that extension.

daftech,
if you run into issues on 2.5, post over on FreePBX.org with the data of what you are running into, or if you have the specific scenario not working that can be repro-ed with some good traces, then feel free to just file a ticket there with the details.

The answer is about 10 posts up.

I am really confused I have 2 asterisk servers both under module admin say they are up to date but on one I have a core of 2.4.1.1 and on the other I have 2.5.1.3 and o2.5.1.3 which is the older ser I have call pick while on the newer server 2.4.1 i don' have it working and cannot seem to get it to work.

the other question I have how does one make call recording work on demand *1 does nothing for me on both server.

Thanks

Just tried some testings with one of my old asterisk server ( asteirsk 1.2 and freepbx 2.2.3 installed).

Everything is working for BLF except one:
1. Ext 201 calls 202, and after 202 answered the call, 202 transfers to 206. Ext 208 is sitting beside 206 and wants to pick up the call made to 206. But it nevers works!!!!!

-- Executing NoOp("SIP/208-091f2260", "Attempt to Pickup 206 by 208") in new stack
Extension Changed 208 new state InUse for Notify User 203
-- Executing Pickup("SIP/208-091f2260", "206") in new stack
== Spawn extension (from-internal, **206, 2) exited non-zero on 'SIP/208-091f2260'
-- Executing Macro("SIP/208-091f2260", "hangupcall") in new stack

However below testing is fine so far:
2. Ext 201 calls 202, and Ext 208 pick up the call WITHOUT ANSWERING from 202, after that Ext 208 transfers back to 202; and If I tried to pickup the call from 208 again. IT WORKS!!!

any thoughts?

I may try trixbox 2.6 in a minute and updates accordingly.

I've done the following (thanks christopherb) but It wouldn't pickup the ringing phone if it was ringing because it is part of a group, It works if I dial **600 (the group number) Is this Likely to be "a context thing" extension 600 is in context [ext-group].

is there a way to answer a spacific extension by dialing **its ext no even if it is ringing because its part of a group?

When I can see that the phone is ringing and I want to answer it I won't know if it is ringing because it is a member of a group.

When I did answer calls by dialling **600 and there was more that one call ringing at the group I seemed to get the most recent call first and I would have thought that I should get the one that had been ringing longest first is there a soloution for this?

Thanks Dave

1)Disable the callpickup feature on the features codes page of
trixbox in order to make a custom pickup extension.

2) Add the following to address the call pickup issues:

FILE:
/etc/asterisk/features_general_custom.conf
CONTAINS:
pickupexten=**

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=--==-=-=-=-=-
FILE:
/etc/asterisk/extensions_custom.conf
CONTAINS:
[from-internal-custom]
exten => _**.,1,Pickup(${EXTEN:2})
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@ext-group)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@ext-local)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-trunk)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-pstn)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-internal)
exten => _**.,n,Pickup(${EXTEN:2}@from-did-direct)