When I make outbound calls from a Grandstream GXP2140 desk
phone to various POTS numbers in 406-685-XXXX (Harrison, MT:
3 Rivers Telephone Coop), the onscreen call timer starts as soon
as ringing begins. (And I've confirmed in my VOIP.MS records
that billing begins when the ringing begins.) This is unusual:
normally, the Grandstream's timer doesn't begin until the call is
answered. The calls aren't being forwarded at the 3 Rivers end,
so I think the early indication of a connection is occurring entirely
within 3 Rivers' system.
My VOIP provider is VOIP.MS, but I'm pretty sure that this has
nothing to do with them. I don't have other VOIP providers to test
with.
I'm curious about this because I have a friend in Harrison with a
3 Rivers POTS line. My motive here is not to save the microscopic
expense of the early billing. Rather, I'm interested because in the
past I've seen occasional odd behavior when calling my friend's line,
including system recordings in the voice of the woman who does
the default recordings in Asterisk. And those recordings make me
wonder if 3 Rivers is running their POTS on an Asterisk system
(and perhaps a funky one).
If you find this interesting, I suggest that you use a VOIP
phone to make some test calls to this other 3 Rivers number in
the same town: 406-685-3436. That's the Harrison post office,
which is closed outside of business hours, so if you call it on
Sunday or at night, you're unlikely to bother anyone. I've found
that calls to that number result in early initiation of billing during
ringing, just like calls to my friend's number.
Do you have any theories about why these calls result in the early
initiation of billing?
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