Least Call Routing (LCR)

[chasejordan1]

Has anyone set LCR up? I have been searching the "internet" and can't find much on it, any advise or examples you can throw my way.





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[williamconley]

LCR is available in many flavors, but has an inherent flaw for many call centers that fancy themselves as clever. when you change from a generic callerid per campaign to the more robust personalized callerid (using a "local" phone number to get a better response rate in answer percentage ...), you enter the realm of "Intra-LATA" instead of "Inter-LATA". Which is a different billing schema, and is NOT based purely on area code. You can call 352-269-XXXX from 321-436-XXXX and it could be Inter or Intra since they are in close proximity to one another, and the only way to know is if you have a copy of the database showing this relationship. Since this database is proprietary, that's a bit tricky.

That being said, if you have no fear of this situation (which, BTW, can be a HUGE price difference!), then LCR is not a big deal.

LCR can be handled in the dialplan using either excessive extensions representing the dial path for each area built to Lowest Cost for each possible path (excessive, like I said, but fast), or excessive key pairs in the asterisk berkeley database or in a mysql table. More often it is handled in an AGI script which hits a mysql table (or another data method, as AGI scripting is in perl or php and can use any scripting method you like to make the decisions). Some will execute this outside of the Vicidial system by passing calls through an LCR server which may serve other functions (such as recording all calls for legal purposes).

Often the carrier is actually a "broker" and already using LCR (since every percent of a penny counts when reselling minutes at an 8% margin ...).

So LCR can be implemented at several levels and for many purposes.

[chasejordan1]

Great thanks. The CID issue is not an issue for me. So what I set up was a separate server (8 cores 3.6ghz, 16gig ram, SSD drive) with elastix and a2billing all my asterisk/vicidial servers are passing calls thru the elastix/a2billing server. Everything works great so far and my bill has gone from .0115 to .0075, that is a big difference when your doing 15,000 minutes per day. Thank You for your information.

[vkad]

So is using a generic phone id better than using a more "robust" caller id closer to the customers phone number for billing purposes?

We are on LRN billing.

[vkad]

LCR is available in many flavors, but has an inherent flaw for many call centers that fancy themselves as clever. when you change from a generic callerid per campaign to the more robust personalized callerid (using a "local" phone number to get a better response rate in answer percentage ...), you enter the realm of "Intra-LATA" instead of "Inter-LATA". Which is a different billing schema, and is NOT based purely on area code. You can call 352-269-XXXX from 321-436-XXXX and it could be Inter or Intra since they are in close proximity to one another, and the only way to know is if you have a copy of the database showing this relationship. Since this database is proprietary, that's a bit tricky.

That being said, if you have no fear of this situation (which, BTW, can be a HUGE price difference!), then LCR is not a big deal.

LCR can be handled in the dialplan using either excessive extensions representing the dial path for each area built to Lowest Cost for each possible path (excessive, like I said, but fast), or excessive key pairs in the asterisk berkeley database or in a mysql table. More often it is handled in an AGI script which hits a mysql table (or another data method, as AGI scripting is in perl or php and can use any scripting method you like to make the decisions). Some will execute this outside of the Vicidial system by passing calls through an LCR server which may serve other functions (such as recording all calls for legal purposes).

Often the carrier is actually a "broker" and already using LCR (since every percent of a penny counts when reselling minutes at an 8% margin ...).

So LCR can be implemented at several levels and for many purposes.

So is using a generic phone id better than using a more "robust" caller id closer to the customers phone number for billing purposes?

We are on LRN billing.

[williamconley]

The numbers themselves are completely unrelated to LCR.

Always use phone numbers you own. Always discuss your callerID Name with your Telco.

If you own local numbers for those you are calling, use those callerIDs if it increases your answer percentage. Don't take anyone's word for it, though. Test it. It's different for everyone.