VICIdial remote agent and answering machine troubleshooting

START asks your VICIdial server to set the remote agent entry to Active. The row changes only when VICIdial answers that the change worked. Otherwise it stays on START and the page shows no error. The toast “Bulk Operation Initiated … Processing 1 agents in the background” means the request was queued, not accepted.

Likely reasons: the API user on Integrations may not change remote agents; VICIdial has no entry for that User ID (the page links existing agents and creates none); the row’s Dialer Connection points at a different server; the connection on Integrations is switched off; VoiceOI’s master server is not on your VICIdial allow-list, so the request times out; or your VICIdial lacks the remote agent update function in its API. A Test connection pass does not prove START works: it only means the web server answered and VICIdial’s reply held no login or API error.

Wait about 30 seconds. START runs in the background and VoiceOI waits up to 5 seconds for VICIdial’s answer for each agent, so allow longer with several agents. If the row still shows START, VoiceOI did not get a success answer from VICIdial.

In your VICIdial admin, open Remote Agents and check that the entry for that User ID exists, and read its Status and lines.

On Integrations, check that the connection shows Live, not “Switched off”, then press Test connection. A failure message points at the URL, the credentials or the allow-list.

If the VICIdial entry does not exist, ask the VoiceOI team to create it. Do not add a second entry by hand with another User ID.

Ask your VICIdial admin to confirm that the API user may change remote agents, and check that the master and bot server addresses the team gave you are on your allow-list, on every server of a cluster. The team can check the API user with you.

With more than one VICIdial connection, set Dialer Connection in Edit Details. Check Internal Name and User Group first (see what each button does) and that Lines matches the VICIdial entry. Then press Update Bot and press START again.

If the connection shows “Switched off”, or your VICIdial may lack the remote agent update function, send the details below to support and the team will check.

The status is what VoiceOI saved after the last accepted START, so it can stay ready while VICIdial has no entry, an Inactive entry, or an entry on another server. Common reasons: the row’s Dialer Connection is a different VICIdial server from the one you are looking at, or someone set the entry Inactive in VICIdial after the START.

In your VICIdial admin, open Remote Agents, search for the row’s User ID and compare the campaign, lines and Status with Edit Details. Then look for the agent’s lines in the live agent view for the campaign.

Correct the row in Edit Details (User ID, Dialer Connection). Check Internal Name and User Group first (see what each button does). Then press Update Bot, or ask the VoiceOI team to do it.

To send START again when the row already shows a ready status, press START in Manage Bot, which always offers both START and STOP. Check that Lines matches the VICIdial entry first.

The row shows VoiceOI’s last saved result, so it can show OFFLINE while the entry is Active in VICIdial, for example when the entry was set Active in VICIdial itself or by the VoiceOI team. It can also happen after a START on an entry that VICIdial already had Active: VICIdial’s API notes list a notice instead of a success message for that case (and for STOP on an entry that is already Inactive), so the row keeps its old status although nothing is wrong.

In your VICIdial admin, open Remote Agents and check the entry’s Status, then check the live agent view for the campaign.

Nothing needs fixing on the calling side. To make the row match, check that Lines matches the VICIdial entry, then press STOP and START from Manage Bot when no calls are running.

VICIdial still has a call recorded on the line after the call ended. The Remote Agents page cannot show this, because its status is only the last START or STOP. It can happen when a call that the bot ended itself, such as an answering machine or dead air, was not released in VICIdial, or when a bot restart or update during live calls left lines in this state. The VoiceOI team checks the bot server’s side of the call.

Open the live agent view in VICIdial’s admin and find the line. A line that stays on a call for several minutes after calls have stopped, with no lead on the phone, is stuck.

Open the last call on that line in Call Logs. If it shows as ended while VICIdial still shows the line on a call, send the details below to support.

Do not press STOP or Update Dialer Parameters to clear one line: both apply to every line of that agent. Send the details below to support so the team can check the bot server’s side of the call.

The External Extension must be the full number your dialplan hook expects: the prefix plus the VICIdial User ID of the bot, for example 888881001 for User ID 1001 when the prefix is 88888. Your prefix may differ, and the VoiceOI team tells you yours. A value of only 88888 carries no User ID, so the call cannot be matched to a bot.

Rows end up short because Single Agent starts with 88888 and stores what you type, and Import CSV stores 88888 on every row when you use the template as it is, because it has no extension column. Bulk Fleet adds each User ID to Base Ext. Extension for you. The Single Agent extension box and the Bulk Fleet Base Ext. Extension box are one box that Edit Details does not clear, so check that it holds only the prefix before you add more agents. The number VICIdial dials is on VICIdial’s own entry. START sends the row’s value, but VICIdial’s API notes list no extension field for that call, so editing the row alone may not change it.

Read External Extension in Edit Details, then read it on the remote agent entry in your VICIdial admin. Both should be the same full number.

Correct the row in Edit Details. Check Internal Name and User Group first (see what each button does). Check that Lines matches the VICIdial entry, because START sends it. Then press Update Bot, press START again from Manage Bot and place a test call.

If VICIdial’s own entry is wrong, ask the VoiceOI team to correct it. Your VICIdial admin can do it with the team’s guidance.

The message after Bulk Fleet always reads “Linked: N, Skipped: 0”, and rows that failed to save are not listed. Import CSV reports “Imported” and “Skipped” counts, but no reason per row. Rows with a blank User ID or a value that is too long are counted in neither figure.

Look for: a blank User ID; a CSV User ID column not named vicidialUser (the importer also reads vicidial_user); a value too long for its field (External Extension holds at most 20 characters); or a Start User ID or Total Bots value in Bulk Fleet that is not a number, which shows an error and adds nothing. A missing name or vicidialUserGroup column loses no rows: each row gets a default name and the User Group AGENTS.

A User ID already on the page is not skipped but added again as a second row (see the duplicate rows entry), so Skipped normally stays at 0. The tools only add rows. They do not check VICIdial, whatever the “Auto-Verification Enabled” box in Bulk Fleet says.

Search the page with Filter by name or User ID... for the missing IDs, and compare the Total Fleet tile with the number you expected.

Press Download Template under Bulk Actions and compare its headers with your file.

Run the import again with only the missing IDs, using the template headers. Uploading the whole file again would add every existing row a second time.

The import also reads the columns externalExtension, numberOfLines and vicidialCampaignId if you add them, so the file can hold the full extension and the lines.

Without those columns, the import sets External Extension to 88888 and Lines to 1 on every row. START, STOP and Update Dialer Parameters send that Lines value to VICIdial and would cut a larger entry to 1 line. After a CSV import, set the full External Extension and Lines in Edit Details on each row (see the callout under what each button does), or ask the VoiceOI team to link a large set.

After an entry is set Inactive, VICIdial may need a short time before it stops sending calls. Other reasons: the STOP was not accepted, so the row still shows a ready status; the row’s Dialer Connection is a different server from the one running the campaign; or a second row or VICIdial entry for the same bots, or another remote agent entry in the campaign, is still Active.

Wait a minute or two, then check that the row shows OFFLINE and the entry in VICIdial shows Inactive. Search the page for the User ID to see whether there is a second row, and look in VICIdial for other remote agent entries in the campaign.

Fix Dialer Connection first if it is wrong. Check that Lines matches the VICIdial entry, because STOP sends it. Then press STOP again from Manage Bot.

Remove duplicates as described in the duplicate rows entry. To stop all dialing at once, pause or stop the campaign in VICIdial.

Update Dialer Parameters sends Active Lines and the Status switch together, for every line of that agent. With the Status switch off, VoiceOI sets the entry Inactive. The switch starts on only when the row is not OFFLINE, so a row that wrongly shows OFFLINE turns it off and stops a working agent.

Check the entry’s Status and number of lines in your VICIdial admin.

Open Manage Bot, turn Status on, set Active Lines, and press Update Dialer Parameters. Do this when no calls are running, because it applies to every line.

Purge Agent and the bulk purge button delete only the row on this page. The remote agent entry in VICIdial keeps its status. If it was Active, VICIdial keeps routing calls to it, and you no longer have a button for it.

In your VICIdial admin, open Remote Agents and look for the User ID.

Ask your VICIdial admin to set the entry Inactive, or ask the VoiceOI team to link the agent again so you can press STOP. Next time press STOP first, wait for the row to show OFFLINE, then purge.

The same User ID was linked more than once, for example with Single Agent and then Import CSV, or with Bulk Fleet run twice. The page does not check for an existing row. START and STOP on either row act on the same VICIdial entry, and a duplicate usually starts at 1 line.

Line numbers can also overlap. In VICIdial, each extra line of a remote agent gets its own User ID, counting up by one from the starting User ID. A row with User ID 1001 and 5 lines covers 1001 to 1005, so another agent with User ID 1003 overlaps it. VoiceOI also uses these ranges to tell which dialer a line belongs to, so overlaps between two dialers cause wrong-server problems.

Search the page for the User ID. Two rows with the same User ID are duplicates. The Total Fleet tile counts rows, and one row can hold several lines.

If any agent has more than 1 line, check that no other agent’s User ID falls inside its range.

Keep the row with the correct External Extension, Lines and Dialer Connection. Do not press START or STOP on the duplicate: it sends its own Lines to the real VICIdial entry. Purge the extra row, which removes only the row on this page.

For overlapping ranges, ask the VoiceOI team to renumber.

VoiceOI picks the dialer from the remote agent’s Dialer Connection first, then from the connection set on the campaign, and for calls from the address the call came from when the account has two or more connections. Otherwise it falls back to the most recently updated VICIdial connection, which can be the wrong server.

If two dialers use the same or overlapping User IDs, VoiceOI cannot tell which one a call belongs to, and refuses some writes, such as notes for the closer, rather than guess.

Read the Dialer Connection column for each row on Remote Agents. On Integrations, check that each VICIdial connection shows Live (switched on) and press Test connection.

Set Dialer Connection on every remote agent in Edit Details instead of leaving the default. Check Internal Name and User Group first (see what each button does). Leave the Active Mode switch in Edit Details on for bots that take calls: it does not start or stop the bot in VICIdial, but VoiceOI can ignore a row that is off when it matches a line to a dialer by User ID range.

Ask the VoiceOI team to set the connection on each campaign, and to cover every server of a cluster. Keep the User ID ranges different on each dialer, then press Force bot sync on Integrations.

VICIdial decides which ready agent gets an answered call. A bot is a remote agent assigned to a campaign, so if people are logged into the same campaign, VICIdial can choose them. VoiceOI does not route between people and bots. The other reason is a mismatch: the remote agent entry in VICIdial belongs to a different campaign from the one that is dialing.

In the live agent view in VICIdial’s admin, list who is logged into the campaign. In your VICIdial admin, open the remote agent entry and read its Campaign.

Ask your VICIdial admin to keep people on a separate campaign, or to use a campaign that has only the bots.

If the campaign on the entry is wrong, ask the VoiceOI team to correct it. START does not change a VICIdial entry’s campaign.

Any reason in the first table of the previous section can hang up on a real person. A rule on Immediate Hangups can match words the person said (see the next entry), including background noise, a television or a second person that the recognizer wrote as a greeting. An AM Detect step can treat a long first answer as a machine.

A pre-recorded script that heard nothing for several turns in a row, or a script that ran very many steps or came back to the same step many times, logs AM by default. The loop case ends with the event “Runaway call force-ended” and a reason.

Open the call in Call Logs and expand the row. The User Spoke lines show what was heard.

Press Show System Nodes. The event that ended the call starts with “Answering Machine:” and names the rule or the reason, or it reads “Runaway call force-ended” and gives the reason.

To see the calls of one campaign that ended as AM, set Campaign and set Status to “AM · Answering machine” in Call Logs.

If a rule matched, fix the rule as described in the next entry.

For long-answer cut-offs or a “Runaway call force-ended” event, open the script in Scripts and look at the AM Detect step, or for a step that loops back to an earlier one. The VoiceOI team can review it with you.

If many calls end for silence, treat it as an audio problem. See audio troubleshooting.

Rules match whole words and phrases anywhere in what the person says, on every turn, and ignore capitals. A short or common phrase in a rule, such as “not available”, also matches a person who says “I’m not available on Tuesdays”. The same applies to the DNC Keywords category: a word in a rule there ends the call and logs DNC whenever a person uses it.

Read the User Spoke lines in Call Logs and press Show System Nodes to see which rule is named on the “Answering Machine:” event. On Immediate Hangups, type a word from the person’s sentence into the search box and look at the active rules that contain it.

For a rule in Machines (Voicemail/Beeps): replace a short phrase with a longer one that only a greeting would contain, such as “the person you are trying to reach is not available”, or switch the rule off with its Status switch.

For a rule in DNC Keywords (Profanity/Abuse): do not delete or switch off opt-out wording only to stop a false match. Narrow it to the exact words people use when they opt out, then re-test with real calls. A rule you remove no longer catches a real opt-out. You decide which wording to catch.

Then press Force bot sync on Integrations.

No active rule matches the words of that greeting. Rules match text only, so a beep does not count, and a greeting worded differently from your phrases, or misheard by the recognizer, slips through. Other reasons: the rule is switched off, the phrase sits in the DNC Keywords category so a match logs DNC instead of AM, or the account has no active rules at all.

In Call Logs, find long calls with one long speaker: the User Spoke lines show the greeting as the recognizer wrote it. Open Immediate Hangups and check that matching rules exist, are switched on, and are in the Machines (Voicemail/Beeps) category.

Press Add Pattern, choose the Machines (Voicemail/Beeps) category, and add phrases copied from real greetings in User Spoke. Use phrases short enough to match, but not so short that a person would say them. Upload & Transcribe Audio can also turn a recording into phrases.

Press Force bot sync, then test again. Some greetings will still slip through, and VoiceOI cannot leave a message on them.

Detection works on words only (see how rules are matched). A beep or ring-back tone is not a word, and the category name “Machines (Voicemail/Beeps)” does not add tone detection.

In Call Logs, open a call that reached voicemail and read the User Spoke lines. If they hold the greeting words, a rule can match them. If they are empty, there is nothing to match.

Add phrases copied from the greeting words you can see, as in voicemails that get a pitch. Any machine detection you turned on inside VICIdial is VICIdial’s own, and VoiceOI does not change it.

The silence can include the time VICIdial takes to connect the answered call to the remote agent, and then the bot’s first step. VICIdial’s own install notes (dated 2010) warn that a remote agent needs extra time to dial a number out. The first step of a pre-recorded script may also be a listen step that waits for the person to speak. VoiceOI publishes no figure for this time.

Another cause is capacity. One bot takes one call at a time, so if VICIdial dials faster than there are free bot lines, an answered call can have no free bot. Dial level and drop settings belong to your VICIdial.

Place a test call to a phone you hold and time it. In Call Logs, compare the time of the first bot line (Bot Said, AI Opening, AI Voice or AI Bot) with the call’s start.

In VICIdial, compare the dial level with the number of Active lines.

Ask your VICIdial admin to lower the dial level, or ask the VoiceOI team about more lines or bots, and about the script’s first step. See why remote agents add a step.

If the bot goes quiet in the middle of a call instead, open the call in Call Logs. If the bot’s lines stop while the User Spoke lines continue, send the call to support. Otherwise see audio troubleshooting.

DAIR means VoiceOI heard no words from the person at any point in the call, even if there was noise on the line. This happens on a silent connect, or when the other side’s audio never reaches the bot.

NA is different: words were heard from the person, but nothing the bot could use as an answer. A person who picks up and says nothing is normally DAIR, even on a noisy line, unless the recognizer wrote the noise down as words. Then the call has words and is NA.

On Dialer Dispositions, pick the period and read the Dead air group. In Call Logs, filter the Status list on DAIR - Dead Air, and set Campaign to compare one campaign at a time. Call Logs has no list filter, so compare lists in your VICIdial reports.

Place your own test call and check that the bot hears you.

If only some lists or carrier routes show it, the cause is probably in that list or route. Check with your VICIdial admin, and send the examples below to support so the team can compare them.

If your own test call is also DAIR, treat it as an audio problem. See audio troubleshooting.

By default the AI agent finishes what it is saying, and a pre-recorded step plays to the end, so a person who talks early is talked over. The opposite problem is a bot that replies too soon: the AI agent decides a sentence is finished after a short pause, and a pause for breath looks the same.

In the editor, read Interruptions and How fast the agent replies on the Handoff tab. For a pre-recorded script, open the step and read the Allow Interruption switch.

To let people cut the agent off, turn Interruptions on, so it reads “The caller can cut the agent off”. Line noise can then cut the agent off too.

If the bot jumps in too early, raise Reply delay under How fast the agent replies. The editor suggests 700 ms for most campaigns and allows 300 to 1500 ms.

In pre-recorded scripts on this path, a Play Audio step always plays to the end. On a Listen step that uses Turbo or Turbo 2.0, turn Allow Interruption on. See AI Voice Agent editor and Script Builder.

VoiceOI ends a call on opt-out wording only if a rule in the DNC Keywords category contains it, or the AI agent chooses its “Do not call” outcome. No phrases ship by default, so wording that is not in a rule is not caught.

A call that ends as DNC is logged with that code. VoiceOI does not add the number to any list. On a VICIdial account the DNC status is written to the lead only if your campaign’s status list has it, and whether the lead is dialed again depends on your VICIdial campaign and list settings. You add the number to your own do-not-call list.

The default closing line of the AI agent’s “Do not call” outcome says “Understood, I will remove you from our list.” VoiceOI does not remove the person, so change that line on the Outcomes tab, or make sure you remove the number yourself.

Read the User Spoke lines in Call Logs for the exact words.

On Immediate Hangups, search for those words in the active DNC Keywords rules. For an AI agent, open the Outcomes tab and read the “Do not call” outcome.

Add the wording as a phrase to a rule in the DNC Keywords category, then press Force bot sync.

Add the number to your own do-not-call list, for example in VICIdial. Scrubbing against the registries that apply to you stays with you.