How to trigger phone calls via web forms
June 25, 2010 1:21 PM Subscribe
Web designer helping a friend and trying to advise on setting up a particular type of web-based automated phone call system.
As a designer doing some webwork for a friend as a favor, I'm a bit over my head on some technical requirements.
He's looking for a setup where a customer would enter a code in a web form, and then a pre-recorded message (which would most likely be the same for any code entered) would be sent to one of several unique phone numbers, one that's affiliated on the back end with the code the user entered.
I assume there are call center and answering services that could provide this service, but my Googling hasn't revealed quite the program I'm looking for, and I'm reluctant to call any and speak to sales people without having a better idea of what I need. Specific vendors/software you may have experience with or general thoughts about the best way to do this both welcome - Thanks!
As a designer doing some webwork for a friend as a favor, I'm a bit over my head on some technical requirements.
He's looking for a setup where a customer would enter a code in a web form, and then a pre-recorded message (which would most likely be the same for any code entered) would be sent to one of several unique phone numbers, one that's affiliated on the back end with the code the user entered.
I assume there are call center and answering services that could provide this service, but my Googling hasn't revealed quite the program I'm looking for, and I'm reluctant to call any and speak to sales people without having a better idea of what I need. Specific vendors/software you may have experience with or general thoughts about the best way to do this both welcome - Thanks!
Best answer: Tropo looks like fun, but you could do this in-house by running an instance of FreeSWITCH or Asterisk on the/a server. Once you have a VoIP provider to deliver the calls to landlines, scripting the calls and playing a message (with confirmation that it's been heard) isn't too hard.
posted by dirm at 1:41 PM on June 25, 2010
posted by dirm at 1:41 PM on June 25, 2010
Yeah, you could do this on Tropo. I used this post and built a click to call app in about 30 minutes. I'm not a programmer. I think it would be a lot easier than building and managing your own.
posted by reddot at 2:01 PM on June 25, 2010
posted by reddot at 2:01 PM on June 25, 2010
Best answer: See also, Twilio. I had not seen Tropo before, but it looks very similar to Twilio. Simple API to handle the "phone" (voice or SMS) part of your PHP/Ruby/Python/etc app.
posted by stop sign at 6:28 PM on June 25, 2010
posted by stop sign at 6:28 PM on June 25, 2010
Response by poster: Exactly what I was looking for - thanks all!
posted by jalexei at 7:21 PM on June 25, 2010
posted by jalexei at 7:21 PM on June 25, 2010
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posted by null terminated at 1:23 PM on June 25, 2010