ViciAMD vs Standard Asterisk AMD: What's Different

VICIdial gives you more than one engine for answering machine detection (AMD (answering machine detection)). The default is the built-in Asterisk AMD application. The other is ViciAMD (ViciAMD), a different AMD type you can select per campaign. They aim at the same job, separating people from voicemail, but they are not the same under the hood.

Standard Asterisk AMD

The built-in AMD application is the default AMD Type and the one most campaigns start with. It listens to the opening of the answered call and measures timing: how long the greeting runs, how much silence follows, how many words it hears. From those numbers it returns a status (Status (lead status)) and a cause. It is fast, it needs no extra software, and it works entirely inside Asterisk. The tradeoff is that it gives you a verdict and not much else. There is no transcript, just the timing-based decision.

Because it relies on timing thresholds, the built-in AMD is sensitive to your leads and your telecom lines. Tuning it well is the main lever for reducing false positives (AMD false positive) where a real person gets flagged as a machine.

ViciAMD

ViciAMD is a separate AMD type you choose on the campaign's AMD screen. Its standout difference is that it can transcribe the customer side of the start of the call. That transcript feeds the ViciAMD Agent Display feature, which shows the AMDSTATUS, AMDCAUSE, and those opening words to the agent the instant the call routes in. With plain AMD there is nothing to display, since it never produces a transcript.

So the practical split is this: standard AMD makes a timing decision and routes the call; ViciAMD makes a decision and can also hand the agent readable context about what the caller said.

Choosing between them

flowchart TD
  A[Need AMD on campaign] --> B{Want agent transcript and display}
  B -->|No keep it simple| C[Standard Asterisk AMD]
  B -->|Yes show opening words| D[ViciAMD type]
  C --> E[Tune AMD parameters]
  D --> F[Enable ViciAMD Agent Display]

Pick standard AMD when you want a lightweight, proven path and you are comfortable tuning timing thresholds. Pick ViciAMD when the value of giving agents the call opening outweighs the extra setup, for example on campaigns with high not-sure rates or where the first few seconds drive the conversation. Both still respect the same routing logic afterward, including whether a detected machine is hung up or sent to a voicemail drop (Voicemail drop).

One more note on the AMD Type setting itself: you should only move it off the default if you have confirmed the correct routing extension with whoever administers your system. The same dropdown is where third-party engines for call progress detection (CPD (call progress detection)) would be selected, so changing it casually can break routing.

What stays the same

Whichever engine you choose, several things do not change. Both run only on auto-dial methods, never on MANUAL or INBOUND_MAN. Both feed the same downstream decisions: whether a detected machine is hung up, sent to the Answering Machine Message, or handed to an agent (Agent). Both also add processing time to every answered call, not just the machines, because the engine has to listen before it can decide. That processing cost is the price of detection no matter which type you pick, so neither engine is a free upgrade in raw speed.

Reporting overlaps too. The AMD Log Report on the Admin Utilities page collects the statuses your campaign produces, which lets you compare how each engine classifies your traffic before you commit. If you are unsure which to run, set up a small test campaign on each and read the log side by side.

A simple rule of thumb

If your campaign is straightforward and agents do not need to see the call opening, standard AMD is the lower-effort choice and it is what most teams run. Reach for ViciAMD when the transcript and agent display genuinely change how your agents handle the first few seconds, or when you are chasing down a stubborn pattern of borderline calls and want more visibility into what the caller actually said.

For the broader context on detection engines, read our AMD and CPD complete guide, and see exactly what the agent sees in ViciAMD Agent Display.

Not sure which engine fits your traffic? See VICIfast pricing and let us match the detection setup to your campaigns.