CALLING CARD SOLUTIONS

Calling cards are frequently used to access toll voice services. In traditional calling card solutions, expensive TDM-based equipment is required to support Interactive Voice Response (IVR) capabilities to retrieve calling card, PIN, and dialed number information. Long distance voice channels are typically backhauled to centralized IVR equipment and calling card databases over expensive toll voice circuits.

"Call Tromboning" is another common problem in traditional solutions. When an IVR/VRU session is completed, the call is typically redirected from the IVR equipment to the called party resulting in two voice circuits and two IVR/VRU ports being required for the duration of the call.

Convedia media servers offer scalable IVR capabilities for next generation VoIP calling card solutions, at a fraction of the cost of TDM-based solution alternatives. Calling card application servers can control a Convedia media server to collect and report calling card digits for authorization, and dialed digits to call routing. Once call information is captured, the calling card application server can establish a VoIP call across the IP backbone directly from the calling card subscriber to the called party. This eliminates "call tromboning", which decreases transport costs while reducing the number of media processing ports required.

Convedia’s features for supporting carrier class VoIP calling card solutions include:

• Customized, multi-language voice prompts and announcements
• Dynamically generated announcements
  (e.g. calling card account balances)
• Carrier scale DTMF processing port densities
• DTMF detection and generation (either inband or RFC 2833)
• Automatic speech recognition (ASR)
• Text-to-speech (TTS)

Convedia’s calling card service partners have leveraged the media processing power of Convedia Media Servers to offer many enhanced call card service benefits including prepaid account setup and management, reseller management and service branding, zero-touch provisioning for new subscribers, real-time call rating and billing, online credit card recharge, and customizable user interfaces.