Frequently asked questions about the AI phone agent

No. The agent is added as an extra destination over a SIP trunk. Your handsets, numbers and IVR menus stay as they are.

Any phone system or SBC that can set up a standard SIP trunk with G.711 and DTMF according to RFC 4733. That covers almost every business phone system of recent years. Older systems without SIP trunk support need a gateway or SBC.

Create a trunk, allow our address in the firewall or SBC, set up a route to the agent numbers and a route for the transfer numbers. We provide the details and test with you.

That depends on your phone system, your SBC and the change process in your organisation. As soon as we know which platform you use, we send you the trunk details and test with you. If you choose to forward calls to a number of the agent, there is less to set up.

Yes. With a SIP trunk connection or with call forwarding, your numbers stay with your current provider; the agent is simply added. If you move your telephony to Tibinet, you take your numbers with you through number porting.

Yes. The agent transfers to any number on your phone system that is on the list of agreed destinations, so also to extensions, groups or queues at another location that can be reached through that phone system. If each location has its own phone system, each one needs its own trunk to us. The maximum number of concurrent calls is agreed per connection.

No. We connect through open standards (SIP), not through a certification from the manufacturer.

Yes. Cold, where the caller is put straight through. Or warm, where your colleague first hears a summary and presses 1 or 2 to decide whether to take the call. If nobody answers, the caller stays with the agent.

The agent then transfers the caller to a member of staff, on a number you agree with us in advance, cold or warm. If nobody answers, or your colleague declines a warm transfer, the caller stays with the agent. The agent can then take down the caller's details. With call forwarding to a number, the agent transfers cold to a phone number you choose.

No. The agent only calls the numbers on your phone system that you agree with us in advance. No call ever goes out to the public telephone network over the trunk.

It can be. The trunk runs over TLS, with SRTP for the audio. You choose whether encryption is optional or mandatory.

We agree that per connection. Above the maximum, our platform responds with "busy" (486), so your phone system can choose another route.

Yes. Your phone system then registers with us using a username and password. That also works behind NAT.

G.711 A-law and µ-law. G.722 (HD voice) on request.

The agent takes down the details needed for the call. With a warm transfer, your colleague hears a short summary, which is also sent as a SIP header to your own phone system. Whether calls are recorded, which data is kept and for how long, we discuss with you before the agent goes live. We recommend telling callers in your welcome message that they are speaking to an AI agent.

Yes. You can take your telephony entirely from Tibinet, with the AI agent as a destination in your IVR menu or outside opening hours. See hosted telephony.

Yes, through number porting. This requires a request to us; your current provider cooperates with the switch.

SIP phones and softphones that register with a username and password. You can also call from the browser.

Yes. Several time blocks per day, and individual days as exceptions, for example at Christmas.

In the voicemail box, and if you set it up, also as an attachment in your email.

Yes. Set the agent as the destination when unanswered, when busy, as a queue overflow or outside opening hours.

Then you forward calls from your IVR menu or queue to a phone number of the agent. Most providers charge call minutes for this, and whether the caller's number is passed on depends on your provider.

With most providers, forwarding is an outbound call from your phone system, so it uses call minutes. Those minutes are charged by your own provider. With a SIP trunk connection, there are no forwarding minutes with your telecoms provider.