How to setup DN to auto-answer incoming calls and then play a custom recording.

[CraigKear]

I need to set up a DN to auto answer outside calls and play a recording (announcement maybe?) and then hang up without the option of leaving a voicemail. We're using CUCM ver 10.5. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Jaime Valencia]

You usually do that by simply using a call handler in CUC, playing the greeting, and setting the after-greeting action to hang-up.

[CraigKear]

Thanks Jaime.. 

Having issues with CUC getting the following java error trying to invoke the Media Master from the Edit Custom Recordings panel. From other posts, it looks like updating CUC to 11.5 will fix. Currently waiting on that to happen.  

initMMApplet: initMMAppletinstance failed to get instance. 

[Maren Mahoney]

Most folks will go to Unity Connection to do this, and that totally works. But you can do it in CUCM without sending the call to CUC. I set up the same thing in our lab for students to test their audio connection prior to class. Here is what I did:

How to set up the Remote Student Audio Test Announcement in CUCM:

In brief: We will be replacing one of the ‘call failure’ announcements (specifically the “Precedence Level Exceeded” which is hardly ever used) with an audio recording of our choosing. Then we will set up a Route Pattern that, instead of sending the call somewhere, will play that announcement and then disconnect the call. Easy!

Create your audio file:

1. Record the announcement. The format doesn’t really matter as we will be using a conversion tool to make it CUCM-compatible. (.mp3 works well, but almost any format will do.)
2. Go to: http://g711.org for the conversion.
3. Upload the audio file, select “Asterisk Standard (8kHz, Mono, 16-bit PCM)” as the format to convert to. I selected the option to increase the volume of the announcement and I recommend that you do the same.
4. Convert the file and download.

Upload the audio file to CUCM:

1. In CUCM, navigate to Media Resources > Announcement and click Find.
2. Look for the announcement “MLPP-UPA_00124” and click to open.
3. Choose the “Upload File” button.
4. Upload the file, selecting “English, United States” for the locale.
5. After the upload/conversion is complete, click “Close”.
6. Give your replacement announcement a new description. Also, there is a checkbox “Announcement by Locale”. Don’t uncheck this.
7. Save

Create the Route Pattern:

1. First, because CUCM can be a PITA, you will have to create a Route List to point the rejected call to (even though it’s not going anywhere…)
   • Navigate to Call Routing > Route/Hunt > Route List and click Add new.
   • Give your new route list a name (like: CUCM_PITA), select “Default” CM Group and click Save. Don’t worry about any warnings you may receive.
2. Navigate to Call Routing > Route/Hunt > Route Pattern and click Add New.
3. Configure the following:
   • Route Pattern: Something like 2222
   • Gateway/Route List: Whatever you created, like CUCM_PITA
   • Route Option: Block this Pattern and select Precedence Level Exceeded as the reason.

Dial 2222 and you will hear the announcement and then the call will be disconnected.

Maren

[CraigKear]

Maren,

Thanks for your reply, your suggestions works for internal calls but external calls get a different recording 'Equal or higher precedence calls have prevented the completion of your call. Please hang up and try again'. Did I miss something?  

[CraigKear · Accepted solution]

As it turns out, upgrading CUC to version 11.5 fixed the java issues we were having trying to upload .wav files via Media Master. Was then able to set up a call handler and used an alternate greeting to get the desired results.