Twilio: pro-actively initiate daily, pre-scheduled conference calls? - twilio

Scenario is this (I think #2 below is the key question/unknown):
User1 & User2 have provided a mutual daily scheduled time (and their phone numbers of course) for when they want to initiate a phone call between each other.
Twilio calls User1 & User2 to initiate the daily conference call each day at the designated time
Conference call is initiated once both parties pick up.
Conference call ends after either hangs up.
FYI: conference call is only a maximum of 5 minutes.
Thanks!

Twilio developer here.
You can definitely build outbound conference calls like this with Twilio.
Building an application like this is a two step process:
First, you need to initiate an outbound call to each participant using the Twilio REST API. This page in our documentation has instructions and code samples for most popular programming languages:
https://www.twilio.com/docs/api/rest/making-calls
When you make that outbound call, you will need to supply a url parameter in your POST request to https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/{AccountSid}/Calls.
That URL should point to a part of your application that responds with TwiML, Twilio's markup language. The TwiML you need is pretty simple:
<Response>
<Dial>
<Conference>Daily call</Conference>
</Dial>
</Response>
You can find more sample TwiML responses for conference calls in our official docs:
https://www.twilio.com/docs/api/twiml/conference#examples
I hope that helps!

Related

Is there a way to start a Twilio phone conference via an api call

I played around a lot now and still can't figure out if there is a way of starting a conference via the API.
What do I want to achieve:
I would like to set up a conference, keep all participants still listening to music and than start that conference on a button press.
After reading the documentation about the conference API, I saw you can update the conference object status:
https://www.twilio.com/docs/voice/api/conference-resource?code-sample=code-update-a-conference-to-end-it&code-language=Ruby&code-sdk-version=5.x
The update to end the conference works fine (the example):
conference = #client.conferences('CFXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX')
.update(status: 'completed')
But as soon as I try to use .update(status: 'in-progress') to start the conference i get:
in-progress is not a valid choice
https://www.twilio.com/docs/errors/20001
The documentation sounds like you are able to do it:
The new status of the resource. Can be: Can be: init, in-progress, or completed. Specifying completed will end the conference and hang up all participants
Do I miss something?
Yes there are more than 2 calls connected, both of them with 'startConferenceOnEnter' set to false.
Twilio developer evangelist here.
You can use the REST API to generate a call to your client.
The URL you pass to this call should point to an endpoint on your server that will return the TwiML to start the conference:
<Response>
<Dial><Conference>{insert Conference room name}</Conference></Dial>
<Response>
During this request where you return the conference call TwiML, you can also kick off a new request to start a call to the phone number you want to dial using Twilio's REST API as mentioned here using curl.
Alternatively, you could maybe do it with Twilio Studio like this.
Let me know if this helps at all!

Not able to do simple twilio call

I am not able to do simple 2 way audio call between 2 numbers using twilio.
I have attached my python (Django) code. when I run the code, call Get connected and but after accepting call it get's disconnected immediately. also, I am not able listen to anything on Laptop.
I have joined the code and twiml from twilio.
def call_m(request):
account_sid = os.environ['TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID']
auth_token = os.environ['TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN']
client = Client(account_sid, auth_token)
call = client.calls.create(
url='twiml_url',
to='+91985XXXXXXX',
from_='+132YYYYyYYY',
)
print("sid ",call.sid)
return render(request, 'calls/incall.html')
Here's my twiml.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
</Response>
if i changed My twiml to this
<Response>
<Dial>+9198xxxxxxxx</Dial>
</Response>
then after accepting call from "To" number, It say's number is busy please call later.
I think you may have some misconceptions about how Twilio works when making calls.
When you generate a call with Twilio using the REST API that creates a call leg between the to number and Twilio (not between your laptop and the phone).
When that call is answered on the end of the to number, Twilio then makes an HTTP request to the url that you passed to the API. That URL should respond with TwiML to tell Twilio what to do with the call next.
Now, when your application responded with an empty TwiML response (<Response></Response>) that tells Twilio that there is nothing left to do in this call, so Twilio hangs up.
When your application responded with a <Dial>, like this:
<Response>
<Dial>+9198xxxxxxxx</Dial>
</Response>
my guess is that the number in the dial was the same number that you used in the to parameter to make the call. In this case, Twilio placed a call to your number in response to the REST API request and then placed another call to your number as directed by the TwiML <Dial> and that second call found that your number was busy because you are already on the line with Twilio.
If you used a different number in the <Dial> then Twilio would place a call to that number and when they answered the phone you would be connected to them.
If you want to connect two callers with their own phones, then using <Dial> like this is the way forward.
If you want to place a call from your laptop to another device, then you will need a bit more than just the REST API. In this instance you need to build an application using the Twilio Voice SDK which allows you to make calls from a web browser or iOS or Android application. If this is of interest to you then I recommend you check out the getting started guide for the JavaScript voice SDK.
The call needs TWiML to stay active, so that explains why it ends the call when you are returning an empty TwiML reponse. You must keep feeding it TwiML to keep the call up.
Specific to calling the number, there could be an issue dialing that number that Twilio support could investigate, if geographic permissions allow international calls to that destination.

Connect two persons through Twilio client

I have a task with this description:
Implement the call button:
When call icon is clicked, first Twilio calls the phone number #1 (Admin)
Once admin picked up the phone, the number #2 (provider) is called.
Both connected.
At this moment I figured out how to call through browser to phone numbers (like Admin can call to the provider in browser).
But I can't find any information, how to connect people through Twilio accordingly the task.
Is there any way to implement this solution?
I do not completely understand if you want to click a phone number on the website or if you want to completely connect two phone numbers automatically.
Scenario 1: User calls a number of your Twilio account
You setup a callback URL for that number and setup a web endpoint which generates a response similar to the following (XML, TwiML):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
<Dial callerId="${callerId}">${targetNumber}</Dial>
</Response>
In my example I use TypeScript/JavaScript templating to replace the callerId and targetNumber variables according to our systems logic.
Secenario 2: You want to connect two phone numbers via Twilio
In this scenario your software first makes sure that Twilio calls your Admin. This can be done via a REST call or Twilio's API. There are so many options depending on which programming language you use and if you want to use a library from Twilio. But the basic idea is documented here:
https://www.twilio.com/docs/voice/make-calls
And you would always end up making a REST call against /2010-04-01/Accounts/{AccountSid}/Calls to initiate the call.
In the request you again specify a URL where Twilio then can read back XML / TwiML to understand what it should do with the call one it is connected. And again here you can use almost the same TwiML as above:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
<Say>Just a second you are going to be connected to your provider.</Say>
<Dial callerId="${callerId}">${targetNumber}</Dial>
</Response>
In the above example I also added a <Say> statement such that the administrator knows, that they are going to be connected and need to be patient until the call is finally connected.
Important Notes:
In our application scenarios we are attempting to hide the phone numbers of the connected parties. The purpose is that the caller which dials into our system should have the opportunity to remain completely anonymous if desired. So we specify with callerId which caller id we want to send with outbound phone call. Bear in mind that this must be a phone number which you do own (is a number rented via Twilio or is a phone number you registered with Twilio).

Forwarding to multiple destinations with Twilio functions

I am new to twilio. I am trying to setup a phone number that rings multiple destinations.
I followed this blog and set up a twiML script like so.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
<Dial>
<Number>+1-777-777-7777</Number>
<Sip>sip:1777xxxxxxxxxx#in.callcentric.com;region=us2</Sip>
<Sip>sip:1777xxxxxxxxxx#in.callcentric.com;region=us2</Sip>
</Dial>
</Response>
However as reported by other users in the comments this does not seem to work for scenarios where the destinations are a mix of sip and numbers. In my case only the phone number rings. The sip destinations don't receive the call at all.
Is there a way to make this work? either with bins or the new twilio functions?
Twilio developer evangelist here.
It is not possible to use multiple <Sip> nouns in a <Dial>. From the documentation:
Currently, only one <Sip> noun may be specified per <Dial>, and the INVITE message may be sent to only one SIP endpoint. Also, you cannot add any other nouns (eg <Number>, <Client>) in the same <Dial> as the SIP. If you want to use another noun, set up a callback on the <Dial> to use alternate methods.
You could, instead, add the incoming caller to a queue with <Enqueue> and dial each of the numbers/SIP addresses using the REST API. Then, when one connects, connect it to the call in the queue and disconnect the other calls. You'd need to keep a reference to the original call SID so that could connect directly to it and to each of the generated call SIDs so that you can terminate them with the REST API too.
Let me know if that helps at all.

Can Twilio detect if a call to a Google Voice number gets forwarded to voicemail or an actual person?

I have an app that creates outbound calls to set up simple conferences.
I am having difficulty dealing with dialing out to Google Voice numbers as I use IfMachine to be able to determine if the call goes to voicemail for one or more participants so that I can "fail" the conference call attempt.
Here's the issue that I am having...
Google Voice answers the call attempt and asks you to say your name before forwarding your call onto the configured endpoint for that user.
I can use IfMachine to detect this and I can automate this portion and get Google Voice to forward the call, but then I can no longer detect if the call ultimately goes to voicemail or if an actual person picks up on the other end.
any ideas?
Twilio Evangelist here,
I think given that there are 2 points you need machine detection, you may want to use a <Gather> as secondary call screening before connecting the person to a conference.
When you make the outbound call to a number, you're using IfMachine to find out if you get to Google Voice. So that's great. But because you're passed that hurdle, it won't be triggered again.
What you could do is to use call screening, to manually detect a human with some TwiML like this:
<Response>
<Gather numDigits="1" timeout="15" action="/some-conference-path">
<Say>Press any key to be connected to the Something Something Conference</Say>
</Gather>
</Response>
Then, if the call is answered by a human, they can press any key on their keypad and be redirect to the actual conference call, or if the Gather times out, you most likely got their voicemail.
You're basically combining automatic and manual machine detection as you need to do it twice at different points of the same call.
Hope this helps!

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