Why is my missed call app not disconnecting immediately?

3 min

When customers call on the ExoPhone that is connected to a missed call app, they hear tring-tring for a long time (6 or 7 times) before it gets disconnected. How can I make this shorter? (1 or 2 rings).

Solution: A typical missed call app will have either an SMS applet and/or a URL ping to your server (through passthru or a similar applet).

Here is an example of a typical missed call flow using the App builder:

The above flow will pass along the details of the caller to your server. If that URL returns back a text, it will send as an SMS and then the call is disconnected (This is now a missed call, that is, the call went "tring tring" and then after a few rings, the call got cut and the caller received an SMS. Because no one picked the call - The caller would not get charged for this call).

Here is how it would look if you use a variation of the missed call app:

The below installation of 'Miss Call Plus' app adds the caller's phone number to a List called "Test List" and sends an SMS confirming the same. It also passes the caller's information to a URL called http://yourserver.com/passthru.php

In both these cases, the caller will keep hearing a "tring-tring" as long as all these things happen:

Exotel calls the URL provided in the app

Your server returns back with a valid response

Exotel tries to send an SMS

Typically, Exotel will be very fast in calling your server and in sending SMS. The only other point to note here is the time it takes for Exotel servers to talk to your server. To reduce the time length - try to profile how long it takes for your server to return back with a response. Our tips on investigating if Passthru is slowing the call is relevant.