[BSalita]

Does a dial plan wizard exist? Seems like someone must have written a dial plan wizard which enables a newbie to construct valid dial plans of any complexity.

I've seen so many "What is the dial plan to do ...?" posts that it seems to be an obvious need.

[mberlant]

I guess a Dial Plan wizard would be possible, but many factors vary widely based upon each person's mix of VoIP service providers (including * and # codes, etc.), PSTN provider and location (for -3000 users), physical location, etc.

For example, for users of SPA-1x and -2x devices I find myself crafting Dial Plans for customers and forum members that morph the dialing strings that the user is comfortable with into the dialing strings that the VoIP service provider requires.

My home in Japan is a good example of this. It would take me the better part of a year to teach my mother-in-law how to dial the VoIP phone using US conventions. She has a hard enough time grasping the concept that one of the phone lines has a US phone number on it. So, my Dial Plan converts 6d numbers into 011-81-ccc-xx-yyyy for her. It also converts long distance 0-9d numbers into 011-81-ccc-xx-yyyy for her. For international dialing it takes her 010- international access number and converts it into 1-10d or 011-, as appropriate. There is also an escape code for placing FWD calls and a delayed hotline function that rings our US home after 9 seconds if no digits are dialed.

Naturally, when you have a user with a -3000 the complexity grows, due to having to integrate the local numbering plan (including emergency numbers, toll free numbers, etc.) into the Dial Plan.

On top of all this, I have developed and posted here Dial Plans that are tailored to BroadVoice's two Unlimited World plans. These plans allow unhindered dialing to any country included in the plan, but require a special prefix to call any country not in the unlimited plan. Of course, these plans are crafted for a user who is located in Country Code 1, and would need to be modified for anyone who lives elsewhere.

If you have some idea for how to quantify and codify these processes, this is the place for us to hash out the details. I agree that such a wizard could be helpful to many people, but up to now have considered the variables to many to corral into a wizard. I welcome your collaboration.

[BSalita]

Thinking out loud.

Let's list the variables. I'll start.
1. Equipment (manufacturer and model).
2. Dial plan syntax. How many dial plan languages are there? Is Sipura's proprietary? What are the others?
3. Caller's locale specific rules (Country, city (311, 911)).
4. Callee's locale special rules
5. Provider's specific rules.
6. Provider's special numbers (411, 611, speed dial
7. Conveinence rules
8. Exclusions (specific numbers and sequences to exclude)
9. Delays - Long
10. Delays - Short
11. Pauses
12. Intersequence tones
13. Priority/ordering of dial plan sequences
14. Substitutions/Insertions (auto insertion of country/city codes)
15. Hot Line-ing

Tools:
1. Dial plan syntax verifier
2. Dial plan semantic evaluator (detects conflicts/redundencies,omissions)
3. Dial plan explainer (explains dial plan in English)
4. Dial plan designer - design by choosing desired scenario
5. Dial plan designer - design visually (drag and drop, draw relationships)
6. Dial plan designer - design by prompts

Databases:
1. Country codes
2. City codes
3. Provider specifics
4. Equipment specifics (ports)
5. Test dial strings
6. Scenarios
7. Prompts

Whew!

[PhoneBoy]

Let's see:

1. Cisco ATA-186 has a dial plan, but last I checked, it was cryptic as all hell. That device isn't used by too many people, thus the effort necessary seems more than it's worth.
2. Grandstream doesn't have a dial plan as near as I can tell.
3. Leadtek's Call in One device has a dial plan, but it's rather simplistic compared to Sipuras.
4. Packet 8's DTA-310 (which I believe uses similar hardware to Leadtek's device) has similar syntax.
5. The only device I hear dial plan questions on is Sipura.

As for the other stuff you've listed, yup, that's quite a lot of stuff to keep in mind.

[BSalita]

Issues:
1. How to read and update SPA device? PhoneBoy, how do your wizards do that? Parse the *ML, I suppose. Is there an SDK?
2. What will host the UI? PhoneBoy's wizards, VB?
3. Should the core logic be a VB class library?

Database:
8. Special locale numbers (911)
9. Special provider numbers (star numbers)

Tools:
7. Test plan creation tool. Creates a list of numbers that will test each facet of the dial plan (special locale numbers, prefixes, pauses, country codes, city codes, international dialing, special provider numbers, exclusions). Need test plan for each port. Test plan is dependent upon provider (special numbers (star codes) and features (voice mail)), device, scenario.

[mberlant]

I envision a database table that contains all of the Dial Plan elements we come up with and logic that creates a Pick List based upon user's country, target VoIP service and whether the device is a -3000 or not (assuming we start with Sipuras, since that's currently the largest audience).

There should also be facility that asks user preferences. This would include how to handle 911 or equivalent calls (send to provider, map to user-specified POTS number, block), how to handle 411 or equivalent calls (send to provider, map to user-specified POTS number or TellMe service, block), etc. Here is also where we ask the user's Country Code and City Code to enable local number dialing, regardless of whether there is a PSTN Line in the picture.

I recommend, as a start, that we lay off of @gwX elements (besides @gw0) more complicated than <#1,:>[x*#]xx.<:@gw1>, owing to the geometric increase in complexity that would introduce.

By the way, does anybody know if any VoIP service provider actually uses 0 or 00 to reach an Operator?

[PhoneBoy]

We don't read any information from the device itself, we write to it with an HTML POST form. It's actually pretty straightforward from that respect.

[BSalita]

Ideally, the software should be able to read the device's values. This would be useful to validate or update a dial plan, etc.

There is way too much effort and resources involved in getting people up and running on Sipura devices. The setup needs to become much easier, less error prone, with little human intervention required. Without improvements, I see things being frozen in the early adopter stage unable to move on to the mass market due to complexities. While this forum is helping people, it seems that every sale requires support.

[PhoneBoy]

I think Sipura's primary market is service providers, which means the stuff can be a bit cruftier than it would/should be for the average person. Granted, a Dial Plan Wizard would be fabulous.

The way the dial plan is set up on the IX66 SIP Switch is a lot better than what Sipura does. It's not quite as flexible as Sipura's dial plans are, but it's sure a lot simpler to follow and understand.

I think a reasonably simple dial plan Wizard could be devised where a series of elements are created in serial. For instance, we ask a couple of basic questions like:

1. What is your country code?
2. What is your area/city code?
3. What international dialing method does your VoIP provider require (011+country code+number, 00+country code+number, country code+number, something else)

Once we get the basics, then we can present a series of options like:

1. I want to dial "local" calls as if I were local (e.g. 7 digit dialing in the US). We ask questions like how many digits is a local call, does a local call begin with a zero, 2-9, do we want to route these calls to PSTN or some other gwX provider. Do they need to dial a special dialing prefix?
2. I want x11 calls to go via my PSTN line (SPA3000 only). Present checkboxes for each x11 number, then generate a dial plan entry
3. National calling. Similar questions as #1
4. International dialing. Again, similar questions to #1 except we also ask how they prefer to dial international calls. We provide some translation.

Present these questions in a loop, do some intellegent sorting of the dial plan options, and present a completed dial plan string. Not terribly intelligent, but I don't think it needs to be.

[mberlant]

I have started compiling the information we wll need to craft the wizard. I have a list of proposed questions for the wizard to ask:

Please choose your device
- Sipura SPA-1000
- Sipura SPA-1001
- Sipura SPA-2000, Line 1
- Sipura SPA-2000, Line 2
- Sipura SPA-2100, Line 1
- Sipura SPA-2100, Line 2
- Sipura SPA3000, Line 1
- Sipura SPA3000, PSTN Line
- Sipura SPA-841, Line 1
- Sipura SPA-841, Line 2
- Sipura SPA-841, Line 3
- Sipura SPA-841, Line 4

Who is your service provider?
- AdvanceCall
- Bankoi
- BroadVoice
- DialPad
- Free World Dialup
- Go2Call
- Gossiptel
- iConnectHere
- inPhonex
- Musimi
- Net2Phone
- Nikotel
- Sipgate.de
- Sipgate.co.uk
- SIPphone
- Stanaphone
- Telefin
- Terracall
- TrueVoIP
- VoiceEclipse
- VoicePulse (Connect or Open Access)
- VoIPTalk (TelAppliant)
- Vonage Softphone Account

What service plan do you have? (For carriers with various international calling packages.)

What country do you live in? (Choose from dropdown box.)

What is your City Code? (For countries with City Codes.)

How long is your telephone number (without the City Code)?
- 4 digits
- 5 digits
- 6 digits
- 7 digits
- 8 digits

What number do you dial to call the Police? <suggest from country list>

What should happen when you dial <answer from previous question>?
- Dial <answer from previous question>
- Dial an alternate number. Enter number: ______________
- Block calls to <answer from previous question>.

What number do you dial to call in case of Fire? <suggest from country list>

(If different from Police,)
What should happen when you dial <answer from previous question>?
- Dial <answer from previous question>
- Dial an alternate number. Enter number: ______________
- Block calls to <answer from previous question>.

What number do you dial to call for an Ambulance? <suggest from country list>

(If different from Police and Fire,)
What should happen when you dial <answer from previous question>?
- Dial <answer from previous question>
- Dial an alternate number. Enter number: ______________
- Block calls to <answer from previous question>.

What number do you dial for Directory Assistance? <suggest from country list>

What should happen when you dial <answer from previous question>?
- Dial <answer from previous question>
- Dial an alternate number. Enter number: ______________
- Block calls to <answer from previous question>.


Additional questions for SPA3000

What line should dial out to call the Police?
- PSTN Line (gw0)
- Line 1 VoIP service

(If different from Police)
What line should dial out in case of Fire?
- PSTN Line (gw0)
- Line 1 VoIP service

(If different from Police and Fire)
What line should dial out to call for an Ambulance?
- PSTN Line (gw0)
- Line 1 VoIP service

What line should dial out for Directory Assistance?
- PSTN Line (gw0)
- Line 1 VoIP service

What line should dial out for local calls?
- PSTN Line (gw0)
- Line 1 VoIP service

Should toll free calls for <your country> be dialed on your PSTN Line (gw0)?
- Yes/No

--------------

I also have compiled a list of countries, including "Country Code", "International Prefix", "Intercity Prefix", Toll Free Code(s), Police, Fire, Ambulance, "Directory Assistance", any Special Code (like a short code to call a neighboring country), and any Note (like "Alternative international codes are not available."). This part is pretty much complete.

The third piece I've started working on is the basic Dial Plan elements that each provider expects. This piece is pretty much empty as yet.

My hope is that you guys are better at knitting the pieces together than I am, so i figured to contribute the input bits.