First of all: Make sure you also look at app_followme as introduced in Asterisk 1.4!

The following example shows how to create a follow me script to allow Asterisk to ring from your desk phone to a cell phone then back to voicemail. If you are not available to answer the cell phone (or choose not to) it will ring back to Asterisk voicemail.


Explanations:

• The c after the TRUNK command is what causes the connection to wait until the # key is pressed to complete the call.
• You can use something other than ,r which causes the caller to hear ringing while the call is being placed to the cell phone. Using ,m as an option will play music on hold until someone answers.

Contributed by Jeffry Maynard 7/26/2004

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An alternative approach is to allow the user to redefine their own number dynamically. This code assumes a few things: 1) that there is something preventing the outside world from getting to 6900 (toll fraud is bad, mmkay?) and 2) that there is somewhere in your dialplan that traps calls to 69XX and passes them there. Your implementation of the portable-extensions context will vary to match your system.

[portable-extensions]
exten => _X.,1,SetVar(ARG1=${EXTEN})
exten => _X.,2,NoOp(${TIMESTAMP} call to portable extension ${ARG1} from ${CALLERIDNUM})
exten => _X.,3,DBGet(target=portable/${ARG1})                   ; jumps to +101 if key is not found
; this has to be this way - we can't timeout a goto...
exten => _X.,4,Dial(IAX2/astpbx-fieldrd/${target}@in-iax2,15)  ; phone back into this pbx using IAX2, ring for 15 seconds, then tear down the call so we don't dump into the target's voicemail box
exten => _X.,5,Goto(testvm,1)
exten => _X.,104,Goto(testvm,1)

; Allow users to register and unregister a target for their portable number
exten => 6900,1,Goto(portable-extensions-6900s,s,1)

exten => testvm,1,MailboxExists(${ARG1}@default)                ; Check if the portable number is a valid local mailbox (ignore the unavail/busy prefix)
exten => testvm,2,SetVar(PRI_CAUSE=42)                          ; if not, then return congestion 'cause this isn't a known number
exten => testvm,3,Playtones(congestion)
exten => testvm,4,Wait(5)
exten => testvm,5,Hangup()
exten => testvm,102,Goto(voicemail-routing,u${ARG1},1)          ; if does exist, then transfer to it


[portable-extensions-6900s]
exten => s,1,Answer()
exten => s,2,Background(portable-number-ivr/pleaseenternumber)  ; "Please enter your four digit portable extension number."

exten => _69XX,1,MailboxExists(${EXTEN}@default)
exten => _69XX,2,Goto(i,1)
exten => _69XX,102,VMAuthenticate(${EXTEN}|s)
exten => _69XX,103,Set(targetpn=${EXTEN})                       ; Store the target portable number for later use
exten => _69XX,104,Goto(portable-extensions-6900,s,1)

exten => i,1,Playback(portable-number-ivr/invalidnumber)        ; "That's not a valid portable extension number. Please try again."
exten => i,2,Goto(s,1)


[portable-extensions-6900]
exten => _s,1,DBGet(targetrn=portable/${targetpn})              ; Retrieve the target real number from the database
exten => _s,2,SayDigits(${targetpn})                            ;
exten => _s,3,Playback(portable-number-ivr/isforwardedto)       ; "...is currently forwarded to..."
exten => _s,4,SayDigits(${targetrn})                            ;
exten => _s,5,Background(portable-number-ivr/presstodeactivate) ; "Press 1 to deactivate or 2 to program a new target."

exten => _s,102,Playback(portable-number-ivr/notarget)          ; "This portable extension number is ringing directly to voicemail"
exten => _s,103,Goto(portable-extensions-6900gather,s,1)

exten => 1,1,DBDel(portable/${targetpn})                        ; Erase the target real number from the database
exten => 1,2,Playback(portable-number-ivr/deactivated)          ; "Deactivated. All calls will transfer directly to voicemail.)
exten => 1,3,Playback(goodbye)
exten => 1,4,Hangup()

exten => 2,1,Goto(portable-extensions-6900gather,s,1)


[portable-extensions-6900gather]
exten => s,1,Background(portable-number-ivr/entertarget)        ; "Enter the number to forward calls to followed by the pound key. Remember to include a leading 9 for external numbers."

exten => _X,1,SetVar(newtarget=${newtarget}${EXTEN})
exten => _X,2,Set(TIMEOUT(response)=5)

exten => _#,1,Goto(portable-extensions-6900commit,s,1)

[portable-extensions-6900commit]
exten => s,1,Playback(portable-number-ivr/youentered)           ; "You entered..."
exten => s,2,SayDigits(${newtarget})
exten => s,3,Background(portable-number-ivr/presstoaccept)      ; "Press 1 to reenter or 2 to accept."

exten => 1,1,SetVar(newtarget=)
exten => 1,2,Goto(portable-extensions-6900gather,s,1)

exten => 2,1,DBPut(portable/${targetpn}=${newtarget})
exten => 2,2,Playback(portable-number-ivr/programmed)           ; "Target programmed."
exten => 2,3,Playback(goodbye)
exten => 2,4,Hangup()

Contributed by Kris Boutilier (kb1_kanobe) 5/26/2005, Updated 4/27/2006

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See also:

• Asterisk cmd FollowMe: Native Asterisk 1.4 solution
• Asterisk tips findme: A hand-made solution for parallels follow-me calls (dated March 2006)
• Asterisk agent channels: How to use chan_agent to find & ring an agent
• Asterisk tips and tricks
• Asterisk ZAP Channels
• Asterisk cmd DIal

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Asterisk | Asterisk Configuration | The Dialplan - extensions.conf