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\Invalid extension"message when attempting to Transfer to Voicemail."""

Posted by qzip on Mon, 03/09/2009

We just installed Thirdlane on a server last week. When we got to the point that we realized we could not transfer calls straight to a voice mail box, I searched the forums for a solution. Found a message about creating a feature code. Created the feature code, but can't seem to get it to work correctly. For the Feature Code line I chose _*6. and under voicemail prefix length chose 2. So what exactly am I missing here? There isn't much information anywhere on this topic.


Submitted by eeman on Mon, 03/09/2009 Permalink

so your saying if you want to send someone to the voicemail of extension 125 you want to transfer them to *6125 and release the call and have them hear the greeting, correct?

Submitted by qzip on Mon, 03/09/2009 Permalink

Yes sir. Everytime I attempt it, I get the invalid extension message. The display on the phone is not allowing for the last character either. It's a Polycom 501 phone.

Submitted by qzip on Mon, 03/09/2009 Permalink

Part of the problem is where I'm not quite sure what this means:

To use this script you need to set up a feature extension starting with a voicemail transfer prefix then the phone user will transfer a call by transferring to an extension equal to the prefix followed by a mailbox number. Mailbox is determined by stripping the prefix from the tarnsferred to exetnsion.

What is a "feature extension" and what does that apply to? Is it a completely "new" extension that has to be setup?

Submitted by eeman on Mon, 03/09/2009 Permalink

its basically saying that if you setup a pattern like _*6XXX then it will strip the *6 and use XXX@context as the mailbox id.

lets rule out polycom digit map for a second... while on hook dial the *6+extension and press the dial softkey.

Submitted by qzip on Tue, 03/10/2009 Permalink

Ok. If I just type *6206 then "dial" it prompts me to leave a message after the tone, which I can do and it sends the mail etc. etc. which would be fine if I personally want to leave a message. What I can't seem to grasp is when I get a call and I place them on hold, I then try to "transfer" the call using that code and it comes back with the invalid extension message. When we were using Trixbox, all you had to do was transfer using *206 and that would place the person straight to voicemail bypassing the extension's phone so the individual did not have to hear it ring. That's what I'm trying to accomplish with Thirdlane. Am I on the wrong track?

Submitted by eeman on Tue, 03/10/2009 Permalink

your issue is of a digit map on the polycom phone, not the dialplan. Transfer is an off-hook process which is bound by the digit map of the polycom phone. On-hook dialing does not use the digit map. The digit map tells the phone when to wait for more digits, and when to send the call based on a series of patterns. 911 never waits for more digits, for example.

Try this, change your pattern to _72XX and change the invoking character length to 1. Then transfer someone to 7206. Also, if you want to hear the unavailable message you need to put the 'u' in the options box.

Submitted by qzip on Tue, 03/10/2009 Permalink

I changed the pattern to *XXX in essense losing the 6 and that seems to have done the trick. Thank you so much for your assistance with this. One more question. Is it possible to insert a pause in the script so that when someone tranfers the call the is a time delay between the unavaible message and when the user presses transfer for the 2nd time?

Submitted by eeman on Tue, 03/10/2009 Permalink

there is no reliable way to do that; However, since you are using polycom phones, I recommend using the blind transfer feature when sending them to voicemail. This will:

1) avoid cropping the begining of the audio stream

2) preserve the original callerid so that the envelop and email headers show who left the message instead of who transferred the call.