Thanks Chris, I've moved to a perl dialplan based on the freeswitch controller.pl example. I'm basically seeing the same thing where the custom variables set via originate seem not to be available until the call is bridged. I do see the variables listed on the console well before the bridge. Perhaps the way i'm trying to get to the variable is the issue. I seem to only have access to the standard channel variables when using $session with GetVariable. Juan.