Thanks for the feedback.  

I have plenty of experience with IVRs and Dialogic cards (starting with D121/LSI120s and SS96s under DOS in the 90's all the way up to Intel's DM/Vs) and didn't ever have a problem with DTMF collection with ISDN PRI lines except occasionally with wireless and cell phones (Bad line quality).

These new cards are so much cheaper than the Dialogic cards were, I should just buy the version with the cancellers.

Tony


On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 11:36 AM, Steve Underwood <steveu@coppice.org> wrote:
David Knell wrote:
> Steve Underwood wrote:
>>> When there is Echo being generated from the far end, usually in a
>>> bridged call. If you application is just an IVR, with no far end
>>> connectivity, then you shouldn't need an echo can. If you are bridging
>>> calls, then at some point you may need it, depending on what else is
>>> in the loop.
>>>
>> This is VERY VERY WRONG. IVRs badly need echo cancellation. Without it
>> they give very poor reliability detecting DTMF while the prompts are
>> playing. If the system uses voice recognition, its reliability will be
>> even worse.
>>
> With respect, this is at best half true.  DTMF detection has always
> worked just fine
> without echo cancellation - the Dialogic, Aculab and Rhetorex cards
> which I used
> in the late 1990s managed it perfectly well; if the DTMF detection
> code in * and FS
> can't, then maybe that's something for its author to look at ;-)
Try reading the Dialogic and Aculab documentation. Those cards used
quite a bit of their DSP capability to remove the spillback of outgoing
voice into their DTMF receivers. You'll find the DTMF detector in
spandsp (not necessarily the ones in * or FS, which have been altered a
bit) is superior to either Dialogic or Aculab's.
> ASR - yes, maybe, but L&H's ASR1500 used to work perfectly well on the
> same
> hardware above back in the day.  I'd be interested to see results of
> testing an ASR
> engine in with echo; unfortunately, most vendors appear to prohibit
> the publication
> of test results in their licensing.
L&H used to work fine with the J series Dialogic cards. The Dialogic
documents go into considerable details about the echo cancellation
arrangements to make that happen.

Regards,